I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1596 

To increase the employment of Americans by requiring State workforce agencies to certify that employers are actively recruiting Americans and 

that Americans are not qualified or available to fill the positions that 

the employer wants to fill with H–2B nonimmigrants. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 17, 2013 

Mr. DEFAZIO introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To increase the employment of Americans by requiring State 

workforce agencies to certify that employers are actively 

recruiting Americans and that Americans are not qualified or available to fill the positions that the employer 

wants to fill with H–2B nonimmigrants. 

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 ‘‘American Jobs in 

5 American Forests Act of 2013’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


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1 (1) H–2B NONIMMIGRANT.—The term H–2B 

2 nonimmigrant means a nonimmigrant described in 

3 section 101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(b) of the Immigration and 

4 Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(b)). 

5 (2) PROSPECTIVE H–2B EMPLOYER.—The term 

6 ‘‘prospective H–2B employer’’ means a United 

7 States business that is considering employing 1 or 

8 more nonimmigrants described in section 

9 101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(b) of the Immigration and Nation10 ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(b)). 

11 (3) STATE WORKFORCE AGENCY.—Except as 

12 used in section 3, the term ‘‘State workforce agen13 cy’’ means the workforce agency of the State in 

14 which the prospective H–2B employer intends to em15 ploy H–2B nonimmigrants. 

16 SEC. 3. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR. 

17 (a) RECRUITMENT.—As a component of the labor 

18 certification process required before H–2B nonimmigrants 

19 are offered employment in the United States, the Sec20 retary of Labor shall require all prospective H–2B employ21 ers, before they submit a petition to hire H–2B non22 immigrants, to conduct a robust effort to recruit United 

23 States workers, including— 

24 (1) advertising at employment or job-placement 

25 events, such as job fairs; 


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1 (2) advertising with State or local workforce 

2 agencies, nonprofit organizations, or other appro3 priate entities, and working with such entities to 

4 identify potential employees; 

5 (3) advertising in appropriate media, including 

6 local radio stations and commonly used, reputable 

7 Internet job-search sites; and 

8 (4) such other recruitment strategies as the 

9 State workforce agency considers appropriate for the 

10 sector or positions for which H–2B nonimmigrants 

11 would be considered. 

12 (b) SEPARATE PETITIONS.—A prospective H–2B em13 ployer shall submit a separate petition for each State in 

14 which the employer plans to employ H–2B nonimmigrants 

15 for a period of 7 days or longer. 

16 SEC. 4. STATE WORKFORCE AGENCIES. 

17 The Secretary of Labor may not grant a temporary 

18 labor certification to a prospective H–2B employer until 

19 after the Director of the State workforce agency— 

20 (1) has formally consulted with the workforce 

21 agency director of each contiguous State listed on 

22 the prospective H–2B employer’s application and de23 termined that— 

24 (A) the employer has complied with all re25 cruitment requirements set forth in section 3 


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1 and there is a legitimate demand for the em2 ployment of H–2B nonimmigrants in each of 

3 those States; or 

4 (B) the employer has amended the applica5 tion by removing or making appropriate modi6 fications with respect to the States in which the 

7 criteria set forth in subparagraph (A) have not 

8 been met; 

9 (2) certifies that the prospective H–2B em10 ployer has complied with all recruitment require11 ments set forth in section 3 or any other applicable 

12 provision of law; and 

13 (3) makes a formal determination that nation14 als of the United States are not qualified or avail15 able to fill the employment opportunities offered by 

16 the prospective H–2B employer. 

Æ 


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