I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5176 

To amend the National and Community Service Act of 1990 to establish 

a climate resiliency service corps to help communities withstand and 

respond to changes in the Earth’s climate with respect to natural disasters, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 19, 2019 

Ms. JUDY CHU of California (for herself, Mr. SARBANES, Mr. BLUMENAUER, 

Mr. CISNEROS, Ms. BARRAGA ́N, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Ms. LEE of 

California, Mr. NEGUSE, and Mr. GRIJALVA) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To amend the National and Community Service Act of 1990 

to establish a climate resiliency service corps to help 

communities withstand and respond to changes in the 

Earth’s climate with respect to natural disasters, and 

for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Climate Resiliency 

5 Service Corps Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) Every region of the United States is con4 fronting the effects of climate change and related 

5 natural disasters, including extreme heat and 

6 droughts, heavy rains and flooding, hurricanes and 

7 tornadoes, acidification of the oceans and sea level 

8 rise, wildfires, and mudslides, among other effects. 

9 (2) These changes affect the health, agriculture, 

10 food supply, infrastructure, energy supply, water 

11 quality and water supply, and have the potential to 

12 reduce the standard of living and quality of life in 

13 the United States. 

14 (3) The Fourth National Climate Assessment 

15 estimates that low-income communities will be dis16 proportionately impacted by climate change through 

17 higher rates of adverse health conditions, greater ex18 posure to environmental hazards, and more severe 

19 impacts and longer recovery from natural disasters. 

20 (4) The Fourth National Climate Assessment 

21 estimates that— 

22 (A) climate change will shrink the Amer23 ican economy by up to 10 percent by the year 

24 2100 and will result in losses up to 

25 $141,000,000,000 from heat-related deaths, 

26 $118,000,000,000 from sea level rise, and 


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1 $32,000,000,000 from infrastructure damage; 

2 and 

3 (B) proactive adaptation initiatives yield 

4 benefits in excess of their costs in both the near 

5 term and long term. 

6 (5) The frequency and severity of natural disas7 ters taking place each year is steadily and signifi8 cantly increasing. In 1970, there were 78 registered 

9 natural disasters. In 2017, there were 335 natural 

10 disasters, impacting approximately 96,000,000 peo11 ple and costing the United States more than 

12 $306,000,000,000. 

13 (6) Service and Conservation Corps, which are 

14 descended from the Civilian Conservation Corps of 

15 the 1930s, are trained for and have experience with 

16 the four stages of disaster: mitigation, preparedness, 

17 response, and recovery. 

18 SEC. 3. CLIMATE RESILIENCY SERVICE CORPS. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 122(a) of the National 

20 and Community Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12572) 

21 is amended— 

22 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (4) and (5) as 

23 paragraphs (5) and (6), respectively; and 

24 (2) by inserting after paragraph (3) the fol25 lowing new paragraph: 


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1 ‘‘(4) CLIMATE RESILIENCY SERVICE CORPS.— 

2 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The recipient may 

3 carry out national service projects through a 

4 Climate Resiliency Service Corps that improves 

5 community adaptation, mitigation, prepared6 ness, response, and recovery from natural dis7 aster and other trends related to climate change 

8 through activities such as those described in 

9 subparagraph (B) and improves performance on 

10 the indicators described in subparagraph (C). 

11 ‘‘(B) ACTIVITIES.— 

12 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—A Climate Resil13 iency Service Corps described in this para14 graph may carry out activities, including— 

15 ‘‘(I) mitigating the effects of dis16 asters and other trends related to cli17 mate change, including— 

18 ‘‘(aa) assessing community 

19 resilience; 

20 ‘‘(bb) collecting, monitoring, 

21 and analyzing data related to cli22 mate change and disasters; 

23 ‘‘(cc) developing a plan to 

24 improve community resilience 


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1 through resilient infrastructure; 

2 and 

3 ‘‘(dd) building and main4 taining resilient infrastructure, 

5 including— 

6 ‘‘(AA) preserving, pro7 tecting, and restoring habi8 tat; 

9 ‘‘(BB) stabilizing shore10 lines; 

11 ‘‘(CC) removing inva12 sive species and planting na13 tive species of trees, plants 

14 and groundcover; 

15 ‘‘(DD) constructing bio16 swales and water bars; 

17 ‘‘(EE) improving drain18 age systems through use of 

19 permeable surfaces and rain 

20 gardens; 

21 ‘‘(FF) removing haz22 ardous fuels; 

23 ‘‘(GG) conducting pre24 scribed burns; 


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1 ‘‘(HH) establishing de2 fensible space; 

3 ‘‘(II) retrofitting build4 ings; and 

5 ‘‘(JJ) planting urban 

6 forestry, trees, and land7 scapes; 

8 ‘‘(II) preparing communities for 

9 disaster, including— 

10 ‘‘(aa) organizing community11 based resiliency coalitions and 

12 working groups; 

13 ‘‘(bb) providing disaster pre14 paredness or community emer15 gency response team training to 

16 community-based organizations 

17 and residents; and 

18 ‘‘(cc) providing education on 

19 climate change, disaster, and re20 silience at community-based or21 ganizations and schools; 

22 ‘‘(III) responding to disasters, in23 cluding— 


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1 ‘‘(aa) establishing and man2 aging volunteers, distribution 

3 centers, and shelters; 

4 ‘‘(bb) supporting disaster re5 sponse activities and centers, in6 cluding fire camps; 

7 ‘‘(cc) clearing fallen trees 

8 and branches; 

9 ‘‘(dd) boarding up windows 

10 and doors and tarping roofs; and 

11 ‘‘(ee) mucking and gutting 

12 homes and buildings; 

13 ‘‘(IV) recovering from disasters, 

14 including— 

15 ‘‘(aa) clearing debris; 

16 ‘‘(bb) repairing and rebuild17 ing homes and buildings; 

18 ‘‘(cc) replanting native trees 

19 and plants; 

20 ‘‘(dd) restoring habitat: and 

21 ‘‘(ee) stabilizing shoreline 

22 and hillsides; 

23 ‘‘(V) addressing other unmet cli24 mate change needs as the Corporation 

25 may designate. 


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1 ‘‘(ii) PARTICIPATION.—In addition to 

2 the requirements for participants under 

3 section 137, in carrying out national serv4 ice projects under this paragraph, the re5 cipient shall, to the extent practicable— 

6 ‘‘(I) select as participants indi7 viduals who are at least 16 but not 

8 more than 25 years of age (including 

9 out of-school youth and other dis10 advantaged youth (such as individuals 

11 who are aging out of foster care, indi12 viduals who have limited English pro13 ficiency, homeless individuals, and in14 dividuals with disabilities)), and vet15 erans who have not reached the age of 

16 36, at the time of beginning the term 

17 of service; and 

18 ‘‘(II) provide each participant 

19 with team-based, highly structured, 

20 and adult-supervised work experience, 

21 education, career guidance, and coun22 seling, and employment training, sup23 port services, and mentoring. 

24 ‘‘(C) CLIMATE RESILIENCY SERVICE CORPS

25 INDICATORS.—The indicators for a Climate ReVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:23 Nov 30, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5176.IH H5176

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1 siliency Service Corps program described in this 

2 paragraph are— 

3 ‘‘(i) the number of acres, miles, 

4 homes, buildings or infrastructure projects 

5 built, improved, or treated for improved re6 silience and adaptation; 

7 ‘‘(ii) the number of individuals edu8 cated about and prepared for disasters and 

9 other trends related to climate change; 

10 ‘‘(iii) the number of individuals as11 sisted, including those rescued, evacuated, 

12 or provided shelter; 

13 ‘‘(iv) the number of tons of debris col14 lected; 

15 ‘‘(v) the number of homes or buildings 

16 treated, including those boarded up, 

17 tarped, mucked, or gutted during disaster 

18 response; 

19 ‘‘(vi) the number of acres, homes, or 

20 buildings restored during disaster recovery; 

21 ‘‘(vii) the number of trees and plants 

22 planted; 

23 ‘‘(viii) the number of infrastructure 

24 projects undertaken to improve resilience 

25 against future natural disasters; 


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1 ‘‘(ix) the number of economically dis2 advantaged individuals with access to job 

3 training and other skill enhancement; 

4 ‘‘(x) the number of economically dis5 advantaged individuals with access to in6 formation about job placement services; 

7 ‘‘(xi) the number of individuals receiv8 ing education or training in environ9 mentally conscious practices; 

10 ‘‘(xii) any additional indicator relating 

11 to natural disaster and other trends that 

12 the Corporation establishes, in consultation 

13 (as appropriate), with the Secretaries of 

14 the Departments of the Interior, Agri15 culture, Commerce, and Defense, the Di16 rector of the Federal Emergency Manage17 ment Agency, and the Administrator of the 

18 Environmental Protection Agency; and 

19 ‘‘(xiii) any additional local indicator 

20 applicable to a particular recipient and on 

21 which an improvement in performance is 

22 needed related to climate change.’’. 

23 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 122 of the 

24 National and Community Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 


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1 12572), as amended by subsection (a), is further amend2 ed— 

3 (1) in paragraph (b)(3), by striking ‘‘or (5)’’ 

4 and inserting ‘‘(5), or (6)’’; and 

5 (2) in paragraph (c)(1), by striking ‘‘(5)’’ and 

6 inserting ‘‘(6)’’. 

7 SEC. 4. CLIMATE RESILIENCY AMERICORPS VISTA. 

8 Section 103(a) of the Domestic Volunteer Service Act 

9 of 1973 (42 U.S.C. 4953(a)) is amended— 

10 (1) in paragraph (12), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

11 end; 

12 (2) in paragraph (13), by striking the period at 

13 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

14 (3) after subsection (13), by adding the fol15 lowing: 

16 ‘‘(14) in addressing the capacity of low-income 

17 communities to implement projects that increase re18 silience to shocks and stressors resulting from cli19 mate change.’’. 

20 SEC. 5. NONCOMPETITIVE HIRING AUTHORITY. 

21 A qualified corpsmember under section 122 of the 

22 National and Community Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 

23 12572) shall be eligible for appointment in the competitive 

24 service in the same manner as a Peace Corps volunteer 

25 as prescribed in Executive Order 11103 (22 U.S.C. 2504 


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1 note, relating to Providing for the Appointment of Former 

2 Peace Corps Volunteers to the Civilian Career Services). 

Æ 


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