I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3919 

To authorize the Secretary of Labor to award special recognition to employers 

for veteran-friendly employment practices. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 4, 2015 

Mr. CA ́RDENAS (for himself, Mrs. RADEWAGEN, Ms. BROWNLEY of California, 

Mr. JOLLY, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. JONES, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. SERRANO, Ms. JUDY CHU of 

California, Mr. HONDA, Mr. GARAMENDI, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. 

BUTTERFIELD, Mr. VEASEY, Mr. SABLAN, Ms. BORDALLO, Mr. KILMER, 

and Mr. VAN HOLLEN) introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to 

the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To authorize the Secretary of Labor to award special recognition to employers for veteran-friendly employment practices. 

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 ‘‘Honoring the Hiring 

5 of Heroes Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. VETERAN-FRIENDLY BUSINESS AWARDS. 

2 (a) AUTHORIZATION AND CRITERIA FOR AWARD.— 

3 Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this 

4 Act, the Secretary of Labor (in this Act referred as the 

5 Secretary) and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall 

6 jointly establish a program to award special recognition 

7 to employers for veteran-friendly employment practices 

8 and, in coordination with the Secretaries of Defense and 

9 Commerce, shall establish criteria for determining recipi10 ents of such awards. 

11 (b) RECOGNITION.—An award of recognition granted 

12 under the program established by the Secretary under this 

13 Act shall be known as an Employment Salute Award. 

14 (c) ELIGIBILITY.— 

15 (1) EMPLOYER DEFINED.—As used in this Act, 

16 the term ‘‘employer’’ means any person engaged in 

17 a business affecting commerce who has employees, 

18 but does not include the United States or any State 

19 or political subdivision of a State. 

20 (2) CATEGORIES.—The Secretary shall estab21 lish different categories of employers eligible for the 

22 awards based on the size of the employers. Recogni23 tion shall be awarded separately for employers hav24 ing from 1 to 50 employees, from 51 to 500 employ25 ees, and more than 500 employees. 


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1 (d) APPLICATION.—An employer seeking an award of 

2 recognition under this Act shall provide the Secretary with 

3 an application at such time and containing such informa4 tion as the Secretary shall require after establishing the 

5 criteria described in subsection (a). 

6 (e) APPLICATION FEE AND FUNDING.— 

7 (1) FEE AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary may as8 sess a reasonable application fee on employers seek9 ing such an award. 

10 (2) ESTABLISHMENT OF FUND.—There is es11 tablished in the Treasury of the United States a sep12 arate account for the deposit of fees collected under 

13 this subsection to be known as the Employment Sa14 lute Award Fund. 

15 (3) DEPOSIT.—The Secretary shall deposit any 

16 fees collected pursuant to paragraph (1) into the 

17 Fund established by paragraph (2). 

18 (4) USE.—Amounts in the Employment Salute 

19 Award Fund shall be available to the Secretary, as 

20 provided in paragraph (5), for making expenditures 

21 to carry out the program established pursuant to 

22 subsection (a). 

23 (5) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

24 There is authorized to be appropriated from the Em25 ployment Salute Award Fund to the Secretary for 


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1 each fiscal year in which fees are collected under 

2 this subsection an amount equal to the total amount 

3 collected during the previous fiscal year from fees 

4 assessed pursuant to this subsection. Such amounts 

5 are authorized to remain available until expended. 

6 (6) CREDITING AND AVAILABILITY OF FEES.— 

7 Fees authorized under paragraph (1) shall be col8 lected and available for obligation only to the extent 

9 and in the amount provided in advance in appropria10 tions Acts. 

11 (f) PUBLICIZATION.—The Secretary shall publicize 

12 the recipients of the award by listing such recipients in 

13 a separate section on the Department of Labor’s website 

14 and through such other methods as the Secretary may de15 termine. 

16 (g) NO MONETARY AWARD.—An award granted 

17 under a program established pursuant to subsection (a) 

18 shall be for recognition only and not be monetary in na19 ture. 

Æ 


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