II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1216 

To amend Public Law 91–378 to authorize activities relating to Civilian 

Conservation Centers, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 19, 2023 

Mr. MERKLEY (for himself, Mr. DAINES, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. ROUNDS, and Mr. 

KING) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To amend Public Law 91–378 to authorize activities relating 

to Civilian Conservation Centers, 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 ‘‘Civilian Conservation 

5 Center Enhancement Act of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CENTERS. 

7 Public Law 91–378 (16 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) is 

8 amended by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘TITLE III—CIVILIAN 

2 CONSERVATION CENTERS 

3 ‘‘SEC. 301. DEFINITIONS. 

4 ‘‘In this title: 

5 ‘‘(1) CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CENTER.—The 

6 term ‘Civilian Conservation Center’ means any resi7 dential workforce development or training facility for 

8 underserved youth operated by the Department of 

9 the Interior or the Department of Agriculture. 

10 ‘‘(2) COVERED GRADUATE.—The term ‘covered 

11 graduate’ means an individual who successfully com12 pleted a training program at a Civilian Conservation 

13 Center. 

14 ‘‘(3) COVERED STUDENT.—The term ‘covered 

15 student’ means an individual who is enrolled in a 

16 training program at a Civilian Conservation Center. 

17 ‘‘(4) SECRETARIES.—The term ‘Secretaries’ 

18 means— 

19 ‘‘(A) the Secretary of Agriculture; and 

20 ‘‘(B) the Secretary of the Interior. 

21 ‘‘SEC. 302. CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CENTERS WILDFIRE 

22 AND CONSERVATION TRAINING PROGRAM. 

23 ‘‘(a) SPECIALIZED TRAINING PROGRAMS.—The Sec24 retaries, in coordination with the Secretary of Labor, shall 


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1 offer at Civilian Conservation Centers specialized training 

2 programs focused on— 

3 ‘‘(1) forestry and rangeland management; 

4 ‘‘(2) wildland firefighting; or 

5 ‘‘(3) any other topic relating to the mission of 

6 the Forest Service or the Department of the Interior 

7 or the public interest. 

8 ‘‘(b) PRIORITIZATION.—The Secretaries shall 

9 prioritize offering specialized training programs under 

10 subsection (a) at facilities described in section 147(d) of 

11 the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 

12 3197(d)). 

13 ‘‘SEC. 303. WILDLAND FIREFIGHTING WORKFORCE DEVEL14 OPMENT PILOT. 

15 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 

16 ‘‘(1) EXPERIMENT, RESEARCH, OR DEMONSTRA17 TION PILOTS.—The Secretary of Agriculture, in co18 ordination with the Secretary of Labor, may carry 

19 out experimental, research, or demonstration pilots 

20 to provide career and technical education curricula 

21 and course offerings to advance the missions of the 

22 Department of Agriculture at Civilian Conservation 

23 Centers operated by the Department of Agriculture, 

24 including facilities described in section 147(d) of the 


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1 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 

2 U.S.C. 3197(d)). 

3 ‘‘(2) CURRICULA AND COURSES.—Curricula and 

4 courses described in paragraph (1) include— 

5 ‘‘(A) incident management and emergency 

6 response logistics; 

7 ‘‘(B) disaster response; 

8 ‘‘(C) forest products measurement; 

9 ‘‘(D) timber sale administration and prepa10 ration; 

11 ‘‘(E) heavy equipment operation; 

12 ‘‘(F) equipment and mechanical services; 

13 ‘‘(G) industrial electrical; 

14 ‘‘(H) machining; 

15 ‘‘(I) mill operations; 

16 ‘‘(J) forest restoration; 

17 ‘‘(K) habitat and water quality monitoring; 

18 ‘‘(L) watershed and habitat enhancement; 

19 ‘‘(M) range management; 

20 ‘‘(N) recreation access improvement; 

21 ‘‘(O) volunteers and visitors enhancement; 

22 and 

23 ‘‘(P) historic preservation. 

24 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS.—In carrying out subsection 

25 (a), the Secretary of Agriculture shall— 


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1 ‘‘(1) identify workforce needs in public land 

2 agencies, forest, conservation, and recreation indus3 tries, and rural communities, after consulting with 

4 State governments and agencies, Federal emergency 

5 management and public land agencies, local commu6 nities, institutions of higher education, and Indian 

7 Tribes; 

8 ‘‘(2) develop marketing, recruitment, and reten9 tion materials for the curricula and courses offerings 

10 provided under subsection (a); and 

11 ‘‘(3) provide specialized staff necessary to teach 

12 curricula and courses offerings provided under sub13 section (a), to the extent practicable. 

14 ‘‘SEC. 304. WILDLAND FIREFIGHTING WORKFORCE EN15 HANCEMENT. 

16 ‘‘(a) RECRUITMENT GOALS AND INVESTMENTS.— 

17 ‘‘(1) RECRUITMENT GOAL.—The Secretaries— 

18 ‘‘(A) shall each set goals of— 

19 ‘‘(i) hiring 300 covered graduates an20 nually to contribute to wildland firefighting 

21 or other critical workforce needs within the 

22 respective Department of each of the Sec23 retaries; 

24 ‘‘(ii) a certain percentage of covered 

25 graduates annually attaining employment 


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1 within the wildland firefighting, natural re2 sources, forestry, or a related field; and 

3 ‘‘(iii) a certain percentage of covered 

4 graduates annually attaining employment; 

5 and 

6 ‘‘(B) may make investments to support the 

7 recruitment, training, hiring, and retention of 

8 covered graduates. 

9 ‘‘(2) SIGNING BONUS.—The Secretaries may 

10 provide for a signing bonus to enable the successful 

11 employment and transition of covered graduates, in12 cluding for the purpose of securing housing in rural 

13 and remote communities. 

14 ‘‘(b) DIRECT HIRE AUTHORITY.—For fiscal year 

15 2023 and each fiscal year thereafter, the Secretaries may 

16 appoint, without regard to the provisions of subchapter I 

17 of chapter 33 of title 5, United States Code, other than 

18 sections 3303 and 3328 of that title, a covered graduate 

19 directly to a position for which the covered graduate meets 

20 Office of Personnel Management qualification standards. 

21 ‘‘(c) PATHWAYS TO EMPLOYMENT.—The Secretaries 

22 shall ensure that appropriate career pathways are devel23 oped for covered graduates of relevant Civilian Conserva24 tion Center training programs. 


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1 ‘‘(d) DISADVANTAGED YOUTH EMPLOYMENT.—Not2 withstanding any other provision of law, the Secretaries 

3 may employ covered students at regular rates of pay for 

4 necessary hours of work. 

5 ‘‘(e) USE OF COVERED STUDENTS FOR CONTRACTS, 

6 AGREEMENTS, AND GRANTS.—To the maximum extent 

7 practicable, the Secretary of Agriculture shall encourage 

8 the use of covered students to fulfill obligations under con9 tracts, agreements, and grants relevant to the training ad10 ministered by the Forest Service at a unit of the National 

11 Forest System where a Civilian Conservation Center is lo12 cated. 

13 ‘‘SEC. 305. WILDLAND FIREFIGHTING HOUSING PILOT PRO14 GRAM. 

15 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretaries shall establish 

16 a pilot program to employ covered students to improve and 

17 expand the housing stock owned by the Federal Govern18 ment for the purpose of housing wildland firefighters, vol19 unteers, partner crewmembers, interns, and other agency 

20 employees. 

21 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS.—In carrying out the pilot pro22 gram under subsection (a), the Secretaries shall— 

23 ‘‘(1) identify properties currently owned by the 

24 Federal Government that would be appropriate 


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1 housing for wildland firefighters, volunteers, partner 

2 crewmembers, interns, and other agency employees; 

3 ‘‘(2) identify areas where the construction of 

4 new housing described in paragraph (1) would be 

5 appropriate and sustainable; and 

6 ‘‘(3) submit to Congress a prioritized list of 

7 projects for renovation with a plan for how the Sec8 retaries will employ covered students to repair, ren9 ovate, and remediate the properties identified under 

10 paragraph (1). 

11 ‘‘SEC. 306. REPORT. 

12 ‘‘Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 

13 of this title, the Secretaries shall submit to the Committee 

14 on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate and 

15 the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representa16 tives a report— 

17 ‘‘(1) describing underutilized capacity at Civil18 ian Conservation Centers, based on an assessment 

19 conducted by the Secretaries; and 

20 ‘‘(2) identifying the investments, improvements, 

21 and efficiencies necessary to utilize the full capacity 

22 of Civilian Conservation Centers.’’. 

Æ 


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