II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3636 

To require the Director of the Office of Personnel Management to establish 

a pilot program to identify and refer veterans for potential employment 

with Federal land management agencies, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 23, 2024 

Mr. BRAUN (for himself and Ms. SINEMA) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To require the Director of the Office of Personnel Management to establish a pilot program to identify and refer 

veterans for potential employment with Federal land 

management agencies, 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 ‘‘Hire Veterans Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PILOT PROGRAM ON IDENTIFICATION, APPOINT2 MENT, OR REFERRAL OF VETERANS FOR PO3 TENTIAL EMPLOYMENT WITH FEDERAL LAND 

4 MANAGEMENT AGENCIES. 

5 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

6 (1) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON7 GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con8 gress’’ means— 

9 (A) the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of 

10 the Senate; 

11 (B) the Committee on Agriculture, Nutri12 tion, and Forestry of the Senate; 

13 (C) the Committee on Energy and Natural 

14 Resources of the Senate; 

15 (D) the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of 

16 the House of Representatives; 

17 (E) the Committee on Agriculture of the 

18 House of Representatives; and 

19 (F) the Committee on Natural Resources 

20 of the House of Representatives. 

21 (2) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

22 the Director of the Office of Personnel Management. 

23 (3) FEDERAL LAND MANAGEMENT AGENCY.— 

24 The term ‘‘Federal land management agency’’ 

25 means— 

26 (A) the Forest Service; 


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1 (B) the National Park Service; 

2 (C) the United States Fish and Wildlife 

3 Service; 

4 (D) the Bureau of Land Management; or 

5 (E) the Bureau of Reclamation. 

6 (4) NONCOMPETITIVE.—The term ‘‘noncompeti7 tive’’, when used with respect to an appointment, 

8 means an appointment made without regard to sub9 chapter I of chapter 33 of title 5, United States 

10 Code, other than sections 3303 and 3328 of that 

11 title. 

12 (5) PILOT PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘pilot pro13 gram’’ means the pilot program established by the 

14 Director under subsection (b). 

15 (6) RECOGNIZED POSTSECONDARY CREDEN16 TIAL.—The term ‘‘recognized postsecondary creden17 tial’’ has the meaning given the term in section 3 of 

18 the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 

19 U.S.C. 3102). 

20 (7) VETERAN.—The term ‘‘veteran’’ has the 

21 meaning given the term in section 101 of title 38, 

22 United States Code. 

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

24 the date of enactment of this Act, the Director (in con25 sultation with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, the SecVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:37 Jan 26, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3636.IS S3636

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1 retary of the Interior, and the Secretary of Agriculture) 

2 shall establish a pilot program to recruit veterans with rel3 evant strengths and abilities and refer the veterans to su4 pervisory or nonsupervisory positions in Federal land 

5 management agencies. 

6 (c) PUBLICATION OF INFORMATION APPLICATION.— 

7 (1) PUBLICATION.—The Director shall pub8 licize, and disseminate information about, the pilot 

9 program on the website of the Office of Personnel 

10 Management. 

11 (2) APPLICATION.—A veteran seeking to par12 ticipate in the pilot program shall submit to the Di13 rector an application in such form, in such manner, 

14 and containing such information as the Director 

15 may require. 

16 (d) TESTS OF STRENGTHS AND ABILITIES.— 

17 (1) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 180 days after 

18 the date of enactment of this Act, the Director (in 

19 consultation with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, 

20 the Secretary of the Interior, and the Secretary of 

21 Agriculture) shall issue guidance on the development 

22 of individual tests to be administered for the pur23 poses of the pilot program to determine the 

24 strengths and abilities of veterans for positions in 


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1 the following career fields at Federal land manage2 ment agencies: 

3 (A) Outdoor recreation management. 

4 (B) Management of volunteers. 

5 (C) Fire planning and fire analysis. 

6 (D) Firefighting. 

7 (E) Aviation. 

8 (F) Forest engineering. 

9 (G) Inventory monitoring of land under the 

10 management of a Federal land management 

11 agency. 

12 (H) Landscape restoration. 

13 (I) Ecology. 

14 (J) Sustainability of ecosystems. 

15 (K) Archeology. 

16 (L) Range management. 

17 (M) Analysis of geospatial data. 

18 (N) Biology. 

19 (O) Geology. 

20 (P) Land use. 

21 (Q) Physical sciences. 

22 (R) Civil Engineering. 

23 (S) Hydrology. 

24 (T) Land surveying. 

25 (U) Water reclamation. 


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1 (V) Finance, budget, and administration. 

2 (2) WAIVER.—For purposes of the pilot pro3 gram, the Director (in consultation with, as appro4 priate, the Secretary of Agriculture or the Secretary 

5 of the Interior) may waive any requirement for a 

6 recognized postsecondary credential for a position in 

7 a career field described in paragraph (1), if the Di8 rector determines that such a waiver is necessary. 

9 (3) ADMINISTRATION.—The head of a Federal 

10 land management agency shall— 

11 (A) administer a test developed described 

12 in paragraph (1) to each veteran who applies 

13 for participation in the pilot program; 

14 (B) develop assessments to measure the 

15 relative capacity and fitness of veterans de16 scribed in subparagraph (A) of this paragraph 

17 for positions in the career fields described in 

18 paragraph (1); and 

19 (C) refer each veteran described in sub20 paragraph (A) to the official employment 

21 website of the Federal Government. 

22 (4) MANAGEMENT.—The Director (in consulta23 tion with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs) shall de24 velop a method to oversee and manage the employ25 ment of veterans within Federal land management 


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1 agencies in positions in the career fields that are 

2 covered by the pilot program. 

3 (e) APPOINTMENT AND REFERRAL.—The head of a 

4 Federal land management agency (in consultation with the 

5 Secretary of Veterans Affairs), with respect to a veteran 

6 who has taken a test administered under subsection 

7 (d)(3)(A)— 

8 (1) if the veteran has demonstrated through the 

9 test the necessary strengths and abilities for a va10 cant supervisory or nonsupervisory position in a ca11 reer field covered by the pilot program in the Fed12 eral land management agency, as determined by the 

13 head of the Federal land management agency, may 

14 make a noncompetitive career-conditional appoint15 ment of the veteran to that vacant position; or 

16 (2) if the veteran has not demonstrated through 

17 the test the necessary strengths and abilities for a 

18 vacant supervisory or nonsupervisory position in a 

19 career field covered by the pilot program in the Fed20 eral land management agency, as determined by the 

21 head of the Federal land management agency— 

22 (A) shall refer the veteran to a recruiter of 

23 that Federal land management agency for par24 ticipation in a training program that the agency 

25 shall establish for the purposes of this section, 


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1 which shall provide the veteran with the 

2 strengths and abilities for a position in such a 

3 career field; 

4 (B) shall, after the participation by the 

5 veteran in a training program described in sub6 paragraph (A), re-administer that test, for the 

7 purpose of re-evaluation, to the veteran as fre8 quently as the head of the Federal land man9 agement agency determines appropriate until 

10 the veteran demonstrates through the test the 

11 necessary strengths and abilities; and 

12 (C) may, if the veteran has demonstrated 

13 through the test the necessary strengths and 

14 abilities, make a noncompetitive career-condi15 tional appointment of the veteran to a position 

16 in such a career field. 

17 (f) REPORTS.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

18 of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter until the 

19 termination of the pilot program, the Director (in con20 sultation with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and the 

21 heads of the Federal land management agencies) shall 

22 submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report 

23 on the pilot program. 


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1 (g) TERMINATION.—The pilot program shall termi2 nate on the date that is 5 years after the date on which 

3 the Director establishes the pilot program. 

Æ 


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