I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1282

To provide employment opportunities to unemployed individuals in high unemployment areas in programs to repair and renovate essential community

facilities.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 21, 1995

Ms. WATERS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Economic and Educational Opportunities

A BILL

To provide employment opportunities to unemployed individuals in high unemployment areas in programs to repair

and renovate essential community facilities.

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 ‘‘Neighborhood Infra5 structure Improvement and Inner City Job Creation Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF GRANT PROGRAM.

7 The Secretary of Labor (in this Act referred to as

8 the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall provide grants to eligible adminis9 trative entities described in section 3(a) for the purpose
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1 of establishing and carrying out programs that provide

2 employment opportunities to unemployed individuals

3 through payments for labor and related costs associated

4 with the repair and renovation of essential community fa5 cilities.

6 SEC. 3. ELIGIBLE ADMINISTRATIVE ENTITIES.

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—An administrative entity shall be

8 eligible to receive a grant under section 2 if the entity is—

9 (1) a private industry council (described under

10 section 102 of the Job Training Partnership Act (29

11 U.S.C. 1512)),

12 (2) a unit of general local government,

13 (3) a nonprofit private organization, or

14 (4) in the case of a grant involving a Native

15 American Indian tribe or Alaska Native Village, a

16 grantee designated under subsection (c) or (d) of

17 section 401 of the Job Training Partnership Act, or

18 a consortium of such grantees and the State,

19 that serves 1 or more eligible jurisdictions described under

20 subsection (b).

21 (b) ELIGIBLE JURISDICTION.—An eligible jurisdic22 tion described under this subsection is an area which has

23 a poverty rate in excess of 30 percent and which is—

24 (1) a unit of general local government which

25 has a population of 50,000 or more individuals; or
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1 (2) a Native American Indian tribe, band, or

2 group located on a Federal or State reservation, the

3 Oklahoma Indians, and any Alaska Native village or

4 group as defined in the Alaska Native Claims Settle5 ment Act, having a governing body.

6 (c) PRIORITY.—In selecting administrative entities

7 described in subsection (a) to receive a grant under section

8 2, priority shall be given to administrative entities that

9 give assurances to the Secretary in the application submit10 ted under section 4 that such entities will give priority

11 to individuals who are low-skilled workers in selecting indi12 viduals to participate in programs established and carried

13 out by such entities under section 5(a).

14 SEC. 4. APPLICATION.

15 The Secretary may not make a grant under section

16 2 to an eligible administrative entity unless the entity sub17 mits to the Secretary an application in such form and con18 taining such information as the Secretary may require.

19 SEC. 5. USE OF AMOUNTS.

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection

21 (b), the Secretary may not make a grant under section

22 2 to an eligible administrative entity unless the entity

23 agrees that it will use all amounts received from such

24 grant to establish and carry out a program to provide

25 wages and related employment benefits to eligible individ-
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1 uals described in subsections (a) and (b) of section 6 for

2 the purpose of employing such individuals to repair and

3 renovate essential community facilities that are located

4 within the eligible jurisdiction that the entity serves, in5 cluding—

6 (1) painting bridges;

7 (2) repairing and renovating public buildings

8 and other community facilities, including public li9 braries;

10 (3) repairing and renovating public housing

11 units;

12 (4) repairing water systems and water develop13 ment projects;

14 (5) erecting or replacing traffic control signs

15 and removing road sign obstructions;

16 (6) replacing school crossing, intersection, and

17 other road surface markings;

18 (7) repairing roads and streets;

19 (8) repairing and renovating parks and play20 grounds;

21 (9) installing and repairing drainage pipes and

22 catch basins in areas subject to flooding;

23 (10) installing graded ramps for individuals

24 with disabilities; and
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1 (11) weatherizing community facilities and car2 rying out other energy conservation activities.

3 (b) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—Not more than 25

4 percent of amounts received from a grant under section

5 2 for any fiscal year may be used for the cost of adminis6 tration and the acquisition of supplies, tools, and other

7 equipment.

8 SEC. 6. ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUALS.

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—An individual shall be eligible to

10 participate in a program described in section 5(a) only if

11 the individual—

12 (1) is an unemployed individual at the time of

13 enrollment in such program;

14 (2) has been unemployed, at a minimum, for

15 the duration of the 15-week period immediately pre16 ceding the date of such enrollment; and

17 (3) has made a good-faith attempt to obtain

18 employment during such 15-week period.

19 (b) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENT FOR SECONDARY

20 SCHOOL-AGE INDIVIDUALS.—

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—In addition to meeting the

22 requirements described in subsection (a), a second23 ary school-age individual shall be eligible to partici24 pate in a program described in section 5(a) only if

25 the individual has not attended a secondary school
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1 for any part of the 6-month period immediately pre2 ceding the date of enrollment in such program.

3 (2) SECONDARY SCHOOL-AGE INDIVIDUAL DE4 FINED.—For purposes of paragraph (1), the term

5 ‘‘secondary school-age individual’’ means an individ6 ual who has attained the age of 16 but has not at7 tained the age of 20.

8 (c) PRIORITY.—In selecting individuals described in

9 subsections (a) and (b) to participate in a program de10 scribed in section 5(a), priority shall be given to the indi11 viduals who, at the time of selection to the program, have

12 exhausted or are otherwise not eligible for unemployment

13 insurance benefits, particularly those individuals who have

14 been unemployed for the longest periods of time preceding

15 the date of their selection to the program.

16 SEC. 7. NONDISCRIMINATION.

17 No individual shall be excluded from participation in,

18 denied the benefits of, subjected to discrimination under,

19 or denied employment in the administration of or in con20 nection with any program described in section 5(a) be21 cause of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, dis22 ability, or political affiliation or belief.

23 SEC. 8. LABOR STANDARDS.

24 The labor standards described under section 143 of

25 the Job Training Partnership Act (29 U.S.C. 1553) shall
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1 apply for purposes of a program established under section

2 5(a).

3 SEC. 9. MAINTENANCE OF EXPENDITURES.

4 The Secretary may not make a grant under section

5 2 to an eligible administrative entity unless the entity

6 agrees that it will maintain its aggregate expenditures

7 from all other sources for employing individuals to repair

8 and renovate essential community facilities at or above the

9 average level of such expenditures in the 2 fiscal years

10 preceding the date on which the entity submits an applica11 tion under section 4 to the Secretary.

12 SEC. 10. REPORT.

13 The Secretary may not make a grant under section

14 2 to an eligible administrative entity unless the entity

15 agrees that it will submit, for any fiscal year in which the

16 entity receives a grant under such section, a report to the

17 Secretary describing the use of such grant and any other

18 information the Secretary determines to be appropriate.

19 SEC. 11. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be appro21 priated to carry out section 2 $1,000,000,000 for fiscal

22 year 1996 and such sums as may be necessary for each

23 succeeding fiscal year.
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1 (b) AVAILABILITY.—Funds authorized to be appro2 priated under subsection (a) shall remain available until

3 expended.

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