I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1021

To provide employment opportunities to unemployed individuals in high unemployment areas in programs to repair and renovate essential community

facilities.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 18, 1993

Ms. WATERS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Education and Labor

A BILL

To provide employment opportunities to unemployed individuals in high unemployment areas in programs to repair

and renovate essential community facilities.

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 ‘‘Neighborhood Infra5 structure Improvement and Inner City Job Creation Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF GRANT PROGRAM.

7 The Secretary of Labor (in this Act referred to as

8 the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall provide grants to eligible adminis-
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1 trative entities described in section 3(a) for the purpose

2 of establishing and carrying out programs that provide

3 employment opportunities to unemployed individuals

4 through payments for labor and related costs associated

5 with the repair and renovation of essential community fa6 cilities.

7 SEC. 3. ELIGIBLE ADMINISTRATIVE ENTITIES.

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—An administrative entity shall be

9 eligible to receive a grant under section 2 if the entity is—

10 (1) a private industry council (described under

11 section 102 of the Job Training Partnership Act (29

12 U.S.C. 1512)),

13 (2) a unit of general local government,

14 (3) a nonprofit private organization, or

15 (4) in the case of a grant involving a Native

16 American Indian tribe or Alaska Native Village, a

17 grantee designated under subsection (c) or (d) of

18 section 401 of the Job Training Partnership Act, or

19 a consortium of such grantees and the State,

20 that serves 1 or more eligible jurisdictions described under

21 subsection (b).

22 (b) ELIGIBLE JURISDICTION.—An eligible jurisdic23 tion described under this subsection is an area which has

24 a poverty rate in excess of 30 percent and which is—
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1 (1) a unit of general local government which

2 has a population of 50,000 or more individuals; or

3 (2) a Native American Indian tribe, band, or

4 group located on a Federal or State reservation, the

5 Oklahoma Indians, and any Alaska Native village or

6 group as defined in the Alaska Native Claims Settle7 ment Act, having a governing body.

8 (c) PRIORITY.—In selecting administrative entities

9 described in subsection (a) to receive a grant under section

10 2, priority shall be given to administrative entities that

11 give assurances to the Secretary in the application submit12 ted under section 4 that such entities will give priority

13 to individuals who are low-skilled workers in selecting indi14 viduals to participate in programs established and carried

15 out by such entities under section 5(a).

16 SEC. 4. APPLICATION.

17 The Secretary may not make a grant under section

18 2 to an eligible administrative entity unless the entity sub19 mits to the Secretary an application in such form and con20 taining such information as the Secretary may require.

21 SEC. 5. USE OF AMOUNTS.

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection

23 (b), the Secretary may not make a grant under section

24 2 to an eligible administrative entity unless the entity

25 agrees that it will use all amounts received from such
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1 grant to establish and carry out a program to provide

2 wages and related employment benefits to eligible individ3 uals described in subsections (a) and (b) of section 6 for

4 the purpose of employing such individuals to repair and

5 renovate essential community facilities that are located

6 within the eligible jurisdiction that the entity serves, in7 cluding—

8 (1) painting bridges;

9 (2) repairing and renovating public buildings

10 and other community facilities, including public li11 braries;

12 (3) repairing and renovating public housing

13 units;

14 (4) repairing water systems and water develop15 ment projects;

16 (5) erecting or replacing traffic control signs

17 and removing road sign obstructions;

18 (6) replacing school crossing, intersection, and

19 other road surface markings;

20 (7) repairing roads and streets;

21 (8) repairing and renovating parks and play22 grounds;

23 (9) installing and repairing drainage pipes and

24 catch basins in areas subject to flooding;
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1 (10) installing graded ramps for individuals

2 with disabilities; and

3 (11) weatherizing community facilities and car4 rying out other energy conservation activities.

5 (b) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—Not more than 25

6 percent of amounts received from a grant under section

7 2 for any fiscal year may be used for the cost of adminis8 tration and the acquisition of supplies, tools, and other

9 equipment.

10 SEC. 6. ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUALS.

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—An individual shall be eligible to

12 participate in a program described in section 5(a) only if

13 the individual—

14 (1) is an unemployed individual at the time of

15 enrollment in such program;

16 (2) has been unemployed, at a minimum, for

17 the duration of the 15-week period immediately pre18 ceding the date of such enrollment; and

19 (3) has made a good-faith attempt to obtain

20 employment during such 15-week period.

21 (b) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENT FOR SECONDARY

22 SCHOOL-AGE INDIVIDUALS.—

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—In addition to meeting the

24 requirements described in subsection (a), a second25 ary school-age individual shall be eligible to partici-
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1 pate in a program described in section 5(a) only if

2 the individual has not attended a secondary school

3 for any part of the 6-month period immediately pre4 ceding the date of enrollment in such program.

5 (2) SECONDARY SCHOOL-AGE INDIVIDUAL DE6 FINED.—For purposes of paragraph (1), the term

7 ‘‘secondary school-age individual’’ means an individ8 ual who has attained the age of 16 but has not at9 tained the age of 20.

10 (c) PRIORITY.—In selecting individuals described in

11 subsections (a) and (b) to participate in a program de12 scribed in section 5(a), priority shall be given to the indi13 viduals who, at the time of selection to the program, have

14 exhausted or are otherwise not eligible for unemployment

15 insurance benefits, particularly those individuals who have

16 been unemployed for the longest periods of time preceding

17 the date of their selection to the program.

18 SEC. 7. NONDISCRIMINATION.

19 No individual shall be excluded from participation in,

20 denied the benefits of, subjected to discrimination under,

21 or denied employment in the administration of or in con22 nection with any program described in section 5(a) be23 cause of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, dis24 ability, or political affiliation or belief.
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1 SEC. 8. LABOR STANDARDS.

2 The labor standards described under section 143 of

3 the Job Training Partnership Act (29 U.S.C. 1553) shall

4 apply for purposes of a program established under section

5 5(a).

6 SEC. 9. MAINTENANCE OF EXPENDITURES.

7 The Secretary may not make a grant under section

8 2 to an eligible administrative entity unless the entity

9 agrees that it will maintain its aggregate expenditures

10 from all other sources for employing individuals to repair

11 and renovate essential community facilities at or above the

12 average level of such expenditures in the 2 fiscal years

13 preceding the date on which the entity submits an applica14 tion under section 4 to the Secretary.

15 SEC. 10. REPORT.

16 The Secretary may not make a grant under section

17 2 to an eligible administrative entity unless the entity

18 agrees that it will submit, for any fiscal year in which the

19 entity receives a grant under such section, a report to the

20 Secretary describing the use of such grant and any other

21 information the Secretary determines to be appropriate.

22 SEC. 11. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be appro24 priated to carry out section 2 $5,000,000,000 for fiscal

25 year 1994 and such sums as may be necessary for each

26 succeeding fiscal year.
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1 (b) AVAILABILITY.—Funds authorized to be appro2 priated under subsection (a) shall remain available until

3 expended.

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