II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3063 

To require the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a grant program to 

address forestry workforce development needs, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 17, 2023 

Mr. KING (for himself, Mr. RISCH, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. CRAPO, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. MERKLEY, and Mrs. SHAHEEN) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, 

Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a grant 

program to address forestry workforce development 

needs, 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 ‘‘Jobs in the Woods 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FORESTRY WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT GRANTS. 

7 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

8 (1) CAREER PATHWAY.—The term ‘‘career 

9 pathway’’ has the meaning given the term in section 

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1 3 of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act 

2 (29 U.S.C. 3102). 

3 (2) ELIGIBLE AREA.—The term ‘‘eligible area’’ 

4 means an area that— 

5 (A) is a nonmetropolitan area that quali6 fies as a low-income community (as defined in 

7 section 45D(e) of the Internal Revenue Code of 

8 1986); 

9 (B) has access to or has a plan to achieve 

10 broadband service with— 

11 (i) at least 100 Mbps download and 

12 20 Mbps upload speeds; 

13 (ii) latency sufficiently low for real14 time, interactive applications; and 

15 (iii) network reliability of not more 

16 than 48 hours of outage time over any 

17 365-day period; and 

18 (C) has a population of 20,000 or fewer in19 habitants. 

20 (3) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti21 ty’’ means— 

22 (A) a nonprofit organization; 

23 (B) a State; 

24 (C) an Indian Tribe; 

25 (D) a unit of local government; and 

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1 (E) an institution of higher education (as 

2 defined in section 101 of the Higher Education 

3 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001)). 

4 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

5 the Secretary of Agriculture. 

6 (b) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 1 year after 

7 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall es8 tablish a competitive grant program to make grants to eli9 gible entities to carry out career pathway training pro10 grams in eligible areas with respect to forestry operations 

11 and forestry products industries. 

12 (c) APPLICATIONS.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive a 

14 grant under this section, an eligible entity shall sub15 mit to the Secretary an application at such time, in 

16 such manner, and containing such information as 

17 the Secretary may require, which shall include— 

18 (A) a demonstrated capacity to carry out a 

19 career pathway training program in accordance 

20 with subsection (b); 

21 (B) a demonstration of need for such pro22 gram within a region; 

23 (C) a projection of the extent of reach in24 tended for such program; 

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1 (D) a plan to ensure that such program is 

2 sustainable; and 

3 (E) a plan for the implementation of such 

4 program. 

5 (2) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this 

6 section, the Secretary shall give priority to eligible 

7 entities that— 

8 (A) propose to carry out activities to ad9 dress the issues of an aging workforce and 

10 youth migration; 

11 (B) will partner with secondary schools (as 

12 defined in section 8101 of the Elementary and 

13 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

14 7801)) to engage students; and 

15 (C) demonstrate the ability to assist with 

16 forestry workforce placement and hiring. 

17 (d) TERM; AMOUNT.—A grant made under this sec18 tion shall be— 

19 (1) for a period of not more than 4 years; and 

20 (2) in an amount that is— 

21 (A) not less than $500,000; and 

22 (B) not more than $2,000,000. 

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1 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

2 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

3 $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 through 2028. 

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