II

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1342

To allocate H–1B visas for demonstration projects in rural America.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

AUGUST 2, 2001

Mr. DORGAN (for himself and Mr. STEVENS) introduced the following bill;

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To allocate H–1B visas for demonstration projects in rural

America.

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 ‘‘21st Century Home5 steading Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds that—

8 (1) rural areas are suffering from—

9 (A) an out-migration of workers and loss

10 of population at a significantly higher rate than

11 the rest of the United States; and
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1 (B) higher rates of poverty and unemploy2 ment than the rest of the United States;

3 (2) rural areas have not enjoyed the same

4 growth in the technology industry as other areas of

5 the United States;

6 (3) recruiting high-skilled workers to rural

7 areas has been particularly difficult; and

8 (4) in order to allow rural areas to participate

9 fully in the unprecedented economic prosperity of

10 the rest of the United States, high-skilled workers

11 have to be recruited specially to these areas of the

12 United States.

13 SEC. 3. DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS FOR RURAL AMERICA.

14 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.—

15 (1) COORDINATION OF USE OF H–1B FEES

16 WITH DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH-TECH JOBS.—There

17 is established a program under which the Secretary

18 of Agriculture shall conduct up to 6 demonstration

19 projects involving the employment of H–1B workers

20 in rural areas, which projects shall serve to coordi21 nate the use of employer-paid immigration fees with

22 the development of high-tech employment opportuni23 ties in those areas.

24 (2) GRANT AUTHORITY.—
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1 (A) AUTHORIZATION.—Subject to the

2 availability of appropriations, the Secretary of

3 Agriculture is authorized to implement the pro4 gram established by paragraph (1) through the

5 award of grants to economic development plan6 ning districts in rural areas.

7 (B) APPLICATION PROCEDURES.—Each

8 economic development planning district desiring

9 a grant under this section shall submit an ap10 plication to the Secretary of Agriculture at such

11 time, in such manner, and accompanied by or

12 containing such information as the Secretary

13 shall reasonably require.

14 (C) CALCULATION OF GRANT AMOUNT.—

15 The amount of each grant awarded under this

16 paragraph to an economic development plan17 ning district in a fiscal year shall equal the

18 total amount of fees paid by employers under

19 section 214(c)(9) of the Immigration and Na20 tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1184(c)(9)) in that fis21 cal year with respect to the employment in that

22 district of H–1B workers described in section

23 4(a).

24 (D) DESIGNATION OF GRANT APPLICANT

25 AND RECIPIENT.—For each economic develop-
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1 ment planning district, the Secretary of Agri2 culture shall designate a single entity for pur3 poses of applying for and receiving grant funds

4 under this section.

5 (3) USES OF GRANT FUNDS.—Grants awarded

6 under paragraph (2) shall be available only for pro7 viding education, training, equipment, and infra8 structure in connection with the employment of H–

9 1B workers within that district.

10 (b) MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING.—For pur11 poses of eligibility for a demonstration project under the

12 program established by this section, the designated plan13 ning district may enter into a memorandum of under14 standing with 1 or more economic development planning

15 districts in an adjacent State.

16 (c) ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PLANNING DISTRICT

17 DEFINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘economic develop18 ment planning district’’ means an area designated by the

19 Secretary of Agriculture that meets following criteria:

20 (1) LOCATION OF DISTRICTS.—The district is

21 situated in a State that shares an international bor22 der with Canada.

23 (2) RESOLUTION OF SUPPORT.—The counties

24 or municipalities, or corporations established pursu25 ant to Public Law 92–203, as amended, that com-
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1 prise the district have signed a resolution of support

2 to bring high-tech development into the district.

3 (3) DECLARATION OF NEED.—The district has

4 executed a declaration of need confirming that the

5 district has experienced—

6 (A) an outmigration of at least 20 percent

7 of its population over the past 30 years;

8 (B) unemployment rates or poverty rates

9 that are substantially above the national aver10 age rate for unemployment or poverty, respec11 tively; or

12 (C) has a population that is 10 percent or

13 more Native American.

14 (4) PARTNERSHIP WITH INDUSTRY OR INSTITU15 TIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The district has es16 tablished a partnership with industry, or an institu17 tion of higher education, to recruit high-skilled work18 ers into the district.

19 (5) INCENTIVE PACKAGE.—The district has de20 veloped an incentive package for high-skilled work21 ers, including job offers, and other financial benefits.

22 (6) TRAINING PROGRAM.—The district has es23 tablished a training program for workers living in

24 the district.
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1 SEC. 4. ALLOCATION OF H–1B VISAS.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Effective October 1, 2001, of the

3 total number of aliens who may be issued visas or other4 wise provided nonimmigrant status under section

5 101(a)(15)(H)(i)(b) of the Immigration and Nationality

6 Act each fiscal year, not to exceed 12,000 aliens may be

7 issued H–1B visas or otherwise provided nonimmigrant

8 status under that section for employment in demonstra9 tion projects conducted under the program established by

10 section 3, of which number not to exceed 2,000 aliens may

11 be accorded such status for employment in any single dem12 onstration project conducted under that program.

13 (b) H–1B NONIMMIGRANT PETITION FEES.—

14 (1) ESTABLISHMENT OF ACCOUNT.—There is

15 established in the general fund of the Treasury of

16 the United States a separate account, which shall be

17 known as the ‘‘Twenty-first Century Homesteading

18 Account’’.

19 (2) DEPOSIT OF FEES.—Notwithstanding sec20 tion 286(s) of the Immigration and Nationality Act

21 (8 U.S.C. 1356(s)), fees collected under section

22 214(c)(9) of that Act (8 U.S.C. 1184(c)(9)) with re23 spect to the employment of H–1B workers described

24 in subsection (a) shall be deposited as offsetting re25 ceipts into the account.
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1 (3) USE OF FEES.—Fees deposited into the ac2 count shall remain available to the Secretary of Ag3 riculture until expended to carry out demonstration

4 projects conducted under the program established by

5 section 3.

6 SEC. 5. STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION.

7 Nothing in this Act shall supersede, amend, or repeal

8 the procedures under which an employer must file an ap9 plication with the Secretary of Labor for an H–1B visa

10 for a nonimmigrant in a specialty occupation.

11 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.

12 In this Act:

13 (1) H–1B VISA.—The term ‘‘H–1B visa’’

14 means a visa issued under section

15 101(a)(15)(H)(i)(b) of the Immigration and Nation16 ality Act.

17 (2) H–1B WORKER.—The term ‘‘H–1B work18 er’’ means an alien who holds a valid H–1B visa or

19 who otherwise has been provided nonimmigrant sta20 tus under section 101(a)(15)(H)(i)(b) of the Immi21 gration and Nationality Act.

22 (3) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The

23 term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the

24 meaning given the term in section 101(a) of the
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1 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.

2 1001(a))).

3 (4) NATIVE AMERICAN.—The term ‘‘Native

4 American’’ means—

5 (A) an Indian, as defined in section 4(d) of

6 the Indian Self-Determination and Education

7 Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450b(d)); and

8 (B) an Alaska Native, within the meaning

9 provided for the term ‘‘Native’’ in section 3(b)

10 of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43

11 U.S.C. 1602(b)).

12 (5) RURAL AREA.—The term ‘‘rural area’’

13 means an area that is located—

14 (A) outside a standard metropolitan statis15 tical area; or

16 (B) within a community that has a popu17 lation of 50,000 individuals or fewer.

Æ