II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1262 

To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a veterans 

conservation corps, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 27, 2013 

Mr. NELSON introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish 

a veterans conservation corps, 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 ‘‘Veterans Conservation 

5 Corps Act of 2013’’. 

6 SEC. 2. VETERANS CONSERVATION CORPS. 

7 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Veterans 

8 Affairs shall, in cooperation with the Attorney General, 

9 the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Commerce, 

10 the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Secretary of the 


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1 Interior, and the Chief of Engineers, establish a veterans 

2 conservation corps to assist veterans in the transition from 

3 service in the Armed Forces to civilian life and to employ 

4 veterans— 

5 (1) in conservation, resource management, and 

6 historic preservation projects on public lands and 

7 maintenance and improvement projects for ceme8 teries under the jurisdiction of the National Ceme9 tery Administration; and 

10 (2) as firefighters, law enforcement officers, 

11 and disaster relief personnel. 

12 (b) CONSERVATION, RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, HIS13 TORIC PRESERVATION, AND CEMETERY MAINTENANCE

14 AND IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—As part of the veterans con16 servation corps, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, 

17 the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Com18 merce, the Secretary of the Interior, and the Chief 

19 of Engineers shall— 

20 (A) employ veterans to carry out projects 

21 described in subsection (a)(1); or 

22 (B) award grants to, or enter into con23 tracts with, State governments, local govern24 ments, or nongovernmental entities to employ 


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1 veterans to carry out projects described in sub2 section (a)(1). 

3 (2) PRIORITY.—In employing or awarding 

4 grants or contracts to employ veterans under this 

5 subsection, the Secretaries referred to in paragraph 

6 (1) and the Chief of Engineers shall give priority to7 wards the employment of veterans who served on ac8 tive duty in the Armed Forces on or after September 

9 11, 2001. 

10 (3) COORDINATION.—The Secretary of Vet11 erans Affairs shall coordinate the activities of the 

12 Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Com13 merce, the Secretary of the Interior, and the Chief 

14 of Engineers to employ veterans as part of the vet15 erans conservation corps. 

16 (4) OVERSIGHT OF PROJECTS.—The Secretaries 

17 referred to in paragraph (1) and the Chief of Engi18 neers shall each provide oversight of the projects for 

19 which they employ veterans under subparagraph (A) 

20 of such paragraph or award grants or enter into 

21 contracts under subparagraph (B) of such para22 graph. 

23 (c) FIRST RESPONDERS.— 

24 (1) FIREFIGHTERS.—As part of the veterans 

25 conservation corps, the Secretary of Homeland SecuVerDate Mar 15 2010 04:35 Jul 03, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1262.IS S1262

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1 rity shall award grants under section 34 of the Fed2 eral Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 (15 

3 U.S.C. 2229a) to hire veterans as firefighters. 

4 (2) LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS.—As part of 

5 the veterans conservation corps, the Attorney Gen6 eral shall award grants under part Q of title I of the 

7 Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 

8 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3796dd et seq.) to hire veterans as 

9 law enforcement officers. 

10 (3) DISASTER RELIEF PERSONNEL.—As part of 

11 the veterans conservation corps, the Secretary of 

12 Homeland Security shall provide funds to increase 

13 participation by veterans in the FEMA Corps pro14 gram, which is a partnership between the Corpora15 tion for National and Community Service and the 

16 Federal Emergency Management Agency. 

17 (4) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants or pro18 viding funds under this subsection to hire veterans, 

19 the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Attor20 ney General shall give priority to the hiring of vet21 erans who served on active duty in the Armed 

22 Forces on or after September 11, 2001. 

23 (d) ASSISTANCE.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Veterans 

25 Affairs may provide assistance to the Secretaries reVerDate Mar 15 2010 04:35 Jul 03, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1262.IS S1262

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1 ferred to in subsection (a), the Attorney General, 

2 and the Chief of Engineers to carry out the veterans 

3 conservation corps. Such assistance may take the 

4 form of a transfer under paragraph (2). 

5 (2) TRANSFERS.—Except as otherwise provided 

6 in this subsection, of amounts appropriated or other7 wise made available to the Secretary of Veterans Af8 fairs to carry out this section, the Secretary of Vet9 erans Affairs may transfer such amounts as the Sec10 retary considers appropriate to carry out the vet11 erans conservation corps to the following: 

12 (A) The Attorney General. 

13 (B) The Secretary of Agriculture. 

14 (C) The Secretary of Commerce. 

15 (D) The Secretary of Homeland Security. 

16 (E) The Secretary of the Interior. 

17 (F) The Chief of Engineers. 

18 (3) ASSISTANCE FOR CONSERVATION, RE19 SOURCE MANAGEMENT, HISTORIC PRESERVATION, 

20 AND CEMETERY MAINTENANCE AND IMPROVEMENT

21 PROJECTS.— 

22 (A) APPLICATION.—If a Secretary referred 

23 to in subsection (b)(1) or the Chief of Engi24 neers seeks assistance under paragraph (1) to 

25 employ a veteran to carry out a project under 


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1 subparagraph (A) of subsection (b)(1) or to 

2 award a grant or contract to carry out a project 

3 under subparagraph (B) of such subsection, 

4 such Secretary or the Chief of Engineers shall 

5 submit to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs an 

6 application therefor at such time, in such man7 ner, and containing such information as the 

8 Secretary of Veterans Affairs may require. 

9 (B) SELECTION.—The Secretary of Vet10 erans Affairs shall, in consultation with the 

11 steering committee established under subpara12 graph (C), award assistance under this para13 graph in accordance with such criteria as the 

14 steering committee establishes. 

15 (C) STEERING COMMITTEE.— 

16 (i) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of 

17 Veterans Affairs shall establish a steering 

18 committee— 

19 (I) to establish selection criteria 

20 for the awarding of assistance under 

21 paragraph (1) to employ a veteran to 

22 carry out a project under subpara23 graph (A) of subsection (b)(1) or to 

24 award a grant or contract to carry out 


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1 a project under subparagraph (B) of 

2 such subsection; and 

3 (II) to provide the Secretary of 

4 Veterans Affairs with advice on 

5 awarding assistance under this sub6 section with respect to projects de7 scribed in subsection (a)(1) and car8 rying out the requirements of the vet9 erans conservation corps under sub10 section (b). 

11 (ii) COMPOSITION.—The steering com12 mittee shall be composed of the following: 

13 (I) The Secretary of Veterans Af14 fairs. 

15 (II) The Secretary of Agri16 culture. 

17 (III) The Secretary of Com18 merce. 

19 (IV) The Secretary of the Inte20 rior. 

21 (V) The Chief of Engineers. 

22 (iii) CHAIRPERSON.—The chairperson 

23 of the steering committee shall be the Sec24 retary of Veterans Affairs. 


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1 (iv) ADVISORY INPUT.—The Secretary 

2 of Defense, the Secretary of Labor, and 

3 the Chief Executive Officer of the Corpora4 tion for National and Community Service 

5 may provide advice to the steering com6 mittee. 

7 (4) ASSISTANCE FOR FIRST RESPONDERS.—Not 

8 more than 10 percent of amounts appropriated or 

9 otherwise made available to the Secretary of Vet10 erans Affairs to carry out this section may be trans11 ferred to the Attorney General and the Secretary of 

12 Homeland Security to employ veterans under sub13 section (c). 

14 (e) REPORTING FRAMEWORK.—The Secretary of Vet15 erans Affairs shall establish a reporting framework to reg16 ularly monitor and evaluate the veterans conservation 

17 corps to ensure proper oversight and accountability of the 

18 veterans conservation corps. 

19 (f) OUTREACH.—The Secretary of Veterans Affairs 

20 shall ensure that veterans employed under the veterans 

21 conservation corps are aware of benefits and assistance 

22 available to them under laws administered by the Sec23 retary of Veterans Affairs. 

24 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—There is available without 

2 further appropriation to the Secretary of Veterans 

3 Affairs to carry out this section, $600,000,000 for 

4 the period of fiscal years 2014 through 2018. 

5 (2) LIMITATION.—Of amounts appropriated or 

6 otherwise made available to carry out this section, 

7 not more than five percent may be spent to admin8 ister the veterans conservation corps. 

9 (h) VETERAN DEFINED.—In this section, the term 

10 ‘‘veteran’’ has the meaning given the term in section 101 

11 of title 38, United States Code. 

Æ 


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