II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 891 

To increase the employment of Americans by requiring State workforce agencies to certify that employers are actively recruiting Americans and 

that Americans are not qualified or available to fill the positions that 

the employer wants to fill with H–2B nonimmigrants. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 8, 2013 

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

to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To increase the employment of Americans by requiring State 

workforce agencies to certify that employers are actively 

recruiting Americans and that Americans are not qualified or available to fill the positions that the employer 

wants to fill with H–2B nonimmigrants. 

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 ‘‘American Jobs in 

5 American Forests Act of 2013’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


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1 (1) FORESTRY.—The term ‘‘forestry’’ means— 

2 (A) propagating, protecting, and managing 

3 forest tracts; 

4 (B) felling trees and cutting them into 

5 logs; 

6 (C) using hand tools or operating heavy 

7 powered equipment to perform activities such as 

8 preparing sites for planting, tending crop trees, 

9 reducing competing vegetation, moving logs, pil10 ing brush, and yarding and trucking logs from 

11 the forest; 

12 (D) planting seedlings and trees; and 

13 (E) preventing, controlling and extin14 guishing fires. 

15 (2) H–2B NONIMMIGRANT.—The term ‘‘H–2B 

16 nonimmigrant’’ means a nonimmigrant described in 

17 section 101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(b) of the Immigration and 

18 Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(b)). 

19 (3) PROSPECTIVE H–2B EMPLOYER.—The term 

20 ‘‘prospective H–2B employer’’ means a United 

21 States business that is considering employing 1 or 

22 more nonimmigrants described in section 

23 101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(b) of the Immigration and Nation24 ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(b)). 


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1 (4) STATE WORKFORCE AGENCY.—Except as 

2 used in section 3, the term ‘‘State workforce agen3 cy’’ means the workforce agency of the State in 

4 which the prospective H–2B employer intends to em5 ploy H–2B nonimmigrants. 

6 SEC. 3. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR. 

7 (a) RECRUITMENT.—As a component of the labor 

8 certification process required before H–2B nonimmigrants 

9 are offered forestry employment in the United States, the 

10 Secretary of Labor shall require all prospective H–2B em11 ployers, before they submit a petition to hire H–2B non12 immigrants to work in forestry, to conduct a robust effort 

13 to recruit United States workers, including— 

14 (1) advertising at employment or job-placement 

15 events, such as job fairs; 

16 (2) advertising with State or local workforce 

17 agencies, nonprofit organizations, or other appro18 priate entities, and working with such entities to 

19 identify potential employees; 

20 (3) advertising in appropriate media, including 

21 local radio stations and commonly used, reputable 

22 Internet job-search sites; and 

23 (4) such other recruitment strategies as the 

24 State workforce agency considers appropriate for the 


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1 sector or positions for which H–2B nonimmigrants 

2 would be considered. 

3 (b) SEPARATE PETITIONS.—A prospective H–2B em4 ployer shall submit a separate petition for each State in 

5 which the employer plans to employ H–2B nonimmigrants 

6 in forestry for a period of 7 days or longer. 

7 SEC. 4. STATE WORKFORCE AGENCIES. 

8 The Secretary of Labor may not grant a temporary 

9 labor certification to a prospective H–2B employer seeking 

10 to employ H–2B nonimmigrants in forestry until after the 

11 Director of the State workforce agency— 

12 (1) has formally consulted with the workforce 

13 agency director of each contiguous State listed on 

14 the prospective H–2B employer’s application and de15 termined that— 

16 (A) the employer has complied with all re17 cruitment requirements set forth in section 3 

18 and there is a legitimate demand for the em19 ployment of H–2B nonimmigrants in each of 

20 those States; or 

21 (B) the employer has amended the applica22 tion by removing or making appropriate modi23 fications with respect to the States in which the 

24 criteria set forth in subparagraph (A) have not 

25 been met; 


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1 (2) certifies that the prospective H–2B em2 ployer has complied with all recruitment require3 ments set forth in section 3 or any other applicable 

4 provision of law; and 

5 (3) makes a formal determination that nation6 als of the United States are not qualified or avail7 able to fill the employment opportunities offered by 

8 the prospective H–2B employer. 

Æ 


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