II

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2447

To amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to authorize

the Secretary of Agriculture to make competitive grants to establish

National Centers for Distance Working to provide assistance to individuals in rural communities to support the use of teleworking in information technology fields.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

APRIL 13, 2000

Mr. WELLSTONE (for himself, Mr. DASCHLE, and Mr. BAUCUS) introduced

the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee

on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

A BILL

To amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development

Act to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to make

competitive grants to establish National Centers for Distance Working to provide assistance to individuals in

rural communities to support the use of teleworking in

information technology fields.

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 ‘‘Rural Telework Act

5 of 2000’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

2 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—

3 (1) many rural communities and Indian res4 ervations have not benefited from the historic eco5 nomic expansion in recent years, and high levels of

6 unemployment and underemployment persist in the

7 rural communities and reservations;

8 (2) many economic opportunities, especially in

9 information technology fields, are located away from

10 many rural communities and reservations;

11 (3) the United States has a significant and

12 growing need for skilled information technology

13 workers;

14 (4) unemployed and underemployed rural em15 ployees represent a potential workforce to fill infor16 mation technology jobs;

17 (5) teleworking allows rural employees to per18 form skill intensive information technology jobs from

19 their communities for firms located outside rural

20 communities; and

21 (6) employing a rural teleworkforce in informa22 tion technology fields will require—

23 (A) employers that are willing to hire rural

24 residents or contract for work to be performed

25 in rural communities;
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1 (B) recruitment and training of rural resi2 dents appropriate for work in information tech3 nology fields;

4 (C) means of connecting employers with

5 employees through advanced telecommuni6 cations services; and

7 (D) innovative approaches and collabo8 rative models to create rural technology busi9 ness opportunities and facilitate the employ10 ment of rural individuals.

11 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are—

12 (1) to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to

13 make competitive grants to establish National Cen14 ters for Distance Working in rural areas to provide

15 assistance to individuals in rural communities to

16 support the use of teleworking in information tech17 nology fields;

18 (2) to promote teleworking arrangements, small

19 electronic business development, and creation of in20 formation technology jobs in rural areas for the pur21 pose of creating sustainable economic opportunities

22 in rural communities;

23 (3) to promote the practice of teleworking to in24 formation technology jobs among rural, urban, and

25 suburban residents, Indian tribes, job training and
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1 workforce development providers, educators, and em2 ployers;

3 (4) to meet the needs of information technology

4 and other industries for skilled employees by accel5 erating the training and hiring of rural employees to

6 fill existing and future jobs from rural communities

7 and Indian reservations;

8 (5) to promote teleworking and small electronic

9 business as sustainable income sources for rural

10 communities and Indian tribes; and

11 (6) to study, collect information, and develop

12 best practices for rural teleworking employment

13 practices.

14 SEC. 3. NATIONAL CENTERS FOR DISTANCE WORKING PRO15 GRAM.

16 Subtitle D of the Consolidated Farm and Rural De17 velopment Act (7 U.S.C. 1981 et seq.) is amended by add18 ing at the end the following:

19 ‘‘SEC. 376. NATIONAL CENTERS FOR DISTANCE WORKING

20 PROGRAM.

21 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:

22 ‘‘(1) CENTER.—The term ‘Center’ means a Na23 tional Center for Distance Working established

24 under subsection (b) that receives a grant under this

25 section.
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1 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE ORGANIZATION.—The term ‘eli2 gible organization’ means a nonprofit entity, an edu3 cational institution, a tribal government, or any

4 other organization that meets the requirements of

5 this section and such other requirements as are es6 tablished by the Secretary.

7 ‘‘(3) INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY.—The term

8 ‘information technology’ means any equipment, or

9 interconnected system or subsystem of equipment,

10 that is used in the automatic acquisition, storage,

11 manipulation, management, movement, control, dis12 play, switching, interchange, transmission, or recep13 tion of data or information, including a computer,

14 ancillary equipment, software, firmware and similar

15 procedures, services (including support services), and

16 related resources.

17 ‘‘(4) RURAL AREA.—The terms ‘rural’ and

18 ‘rural area’ have the meaning given the terms in sec19 tion 381A.

20 ‘‘(5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means

21 the Secretary, acting through the Administrator of

22 the Rural Utility Service.

23 ‘‘(6) TELEWORKING.—The term ‘teleworking’

24 means the use of telecommunications to perform

25 work functions over a distance and to reduce or
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1 eliminate the need to perform work at a traditional

2 worksite.

3 ‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT.—

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall estab5 lish a National Centers for Distance Working Pro6 gram under which the Secretary shall make competi7 tive grants to eligible organizations to pay the Fed8 eral share of the cost of establishing National Cen9 ters for Distance Working in rural areas to conduct

10 projects in accordance with subsection (c).

11 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE ORGANIZATION.—The Secretary

12 shall establish criteria that an organization must

13 meet to be eligible to receive a grant under this sec14 tion.

15 ‘‘(c) PROJECTS.—A Center shall use a grant received

16 under this section to conduct a 5-year project—

17 ‘‘(1) to provide training, referral, assessment,

18 and employment-related services and assistance to

19 individuals in rural communities and Indian tribes to

20 support the use of teleworking in information tech21 nology fields, including services and assistance re22 lated to high technology training, telecommuni23 cations infrastructure, capital equipment, job place24 ment services, and other means of promoting tele25 working;
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1 ‘‘(2) to identify skills that are needed by the

2 business community and that will enable trainees to

3 secure employment after the completion of training;

4 ‘‘(3) to recruit employers for rural individuals

5 and residents of Indian reservations;

6 ‘‘(4) to provide for high-speed communications

7 between the individuals in the targeted rural com8 munity or reservation and employers that carry out

9 information technology work that is suitable for tele10 working;

11 ‘‘(5) to provide for access to or ownership of

12 the facilities, hardware, software, and other equip13 ment necessary to perform information technology

14 jobs; and

15 ‘‘(6) to perform such other functions as the

16 Secretary considers appropriate.

17 ‘‘(d) ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA.—

18 ‘‘(1) APPLICATION AND PLAN.—As a condition

19 of receiving a grant under this section for use with

20 respect to a rural area, an organization shall submit

21 to the Secretary, and obtain the approval of the Sec22 retary of, an application and 5-year plan for the use

23 of the grant to carry out a project described in sub24 section (c), including a description of—
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1 ‘‘(A) the businesses and employers that

2 will provide employment opportunities in the

3 rural area;

4 ‘‘(B) fundraising strategies;

5 ‘‘(C) training and training delivery meth6 ods to be employed;

7 ‘‘(D) the rural community of individuals to

8 be targeted to receive assistance;

9 ‘‘(E) any support from State and local gov10 ernments and other non-Federal sources; and

11 ‘‘(F) outreach activities to be carried out

12 to reach potential information technology em13 ployers.

14 ‘‘(2) NON-FEDERAL SHARE.—

15 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—As a condition of re16 ceiving a grant under this section, an organiza17 tion shall agree to obtain, after the application

18 of the organization has been approved and no19 tice of award has been issued, contributions

20 from non-Federal sources that are equal to—

21 ‘‘(i) during each of the first, second,

22 and third years of a project, 1 non-Federal

23 dollar for each 2 Federal dollars provided

24 under the grant; and
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1 ‘‘(ii) during each of the fourth and

2 fifth years of the project, 1 non-Federal

3 dollar for each Federal dollar provided

4 under the grant.

5 ‘‘(B) INDIAN TRIBES.—Notwithstanding

6 subparagraph (A), an Indian tribe may use

7 Federal funds made available to the tribe for

8 self-governance to pay the non-Federal con9 tributions required under subparagraph (A).

10 ‘‘(C) FORM.—The non-Federal contribu11 tions required under subparagraph (A) may be

12 in the form of in-kind contributions, including

13 office equipment, office space, and services.

14 ‘‘(e) SELECTION CRITERIA.—

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall—

16 ‘‘(A) establish criteria for the selection of

17 eligible organizations to receive grants under

18 this section; and

19 ‘‘(B) evaluate, rank, and select eligible or20 ganizations on the basis of the selection cri21 teria.

22 ‘‘(2) FACTORS.—The selection criteria estab23 lished under paragraph (1) shall include—

24 ‘‘(A) the experience of the eligible organi25 zation in conducting programs or ongoing ef-
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1 forts designed to improve or upgrade the skills

2 of rural employees or members of Indian tribes;

3 ‘‘(B) the ability of the eligible organization

4 to initiate a project within a minimum period of

5 time;

6 ‘‘(C) the ability and experience of the eligi7 ble organization in providing training to rural

8 individuals who are economically disadvantaged

9 or who face significant barriers to employment;

10 ‘‘(D) the ability and experience of the eligi11 ble organization in conducting information tech12 nology skill training;

13 ‘‘(E) the degree to which the eligible orga14 nization has entered into partnerships or con15 tracts with local, tribal, and State governments,

16 community-based organizations, and prospective

17 employers to provide training, employment, and

18 supportive services;

19 ‘‘(F) the ability and experience of the eligi20 ble organization in providing job placement for

21 rural employees with employers that are suit22 able for teleworking;

23 ‘‘(G) the computer and telecommunications

24 equipment that the eligible organization has or
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1 expects to possess or use under contract on ini2 tiation of the project; and

3 ‘‘(H) the means the applicant proposes,

4 such as high-speed Internet access, to allow

5 communication between rural employees and

6 employers.

7 ‘‘(3) PUBLICATION.—The Secretary shall—

8 ‘‘(A) publish the selection criteria estab9 lished under this subsection in the Federal Reg10 ister; and

11 ‘‘(B) include a description of the selection

12 criteria in any solicitation for applications for

13 grants made by the Secretary.

14 ‘‘(f) STUDIES OF TELEWORKING.—

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—To promote the develop16 ment of teleworking in rural areas, the Secretary

17 may make grants to entities to conduct research on

18 economic, operational, social, and policy issues relat19 ing to teleworking in rural areas, including the de20 velopment of best practices for businesses that em21 ploy teleworkers.

22 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—The Secretary shall use not

23 more than $1,000,000 of funds made available for a

24 fiscal year under subsection (g) to carry out this

25 subsection.
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1 ‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATION.—There is

2 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section

3 $11,000,000 for each fiscal year.’’.

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