I
107TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4015
To amend title 38, United States Code, to revise and improve employment,
training, and placement services furnished to veterans, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 20, 2002
Mr. SIMPSON (for himself, Mr. REYES, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. EVANS,
Mr. QUINN, and Mr. SHOWS) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
A BILL
To amend title 38, United States Code, to revise and improve
employment, training, and placement services furnished
to veterans, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; REFERENCES TO TITLE 38,
UNITED STATES CODE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the
‘‘Jobs for Veterans Act’’.
(b) REFERENCES TO TITLE 38, UNITED STATES
CODE.—Except as otherwise expressly provided, whenever
in this Act an amendment or repeal is expressed in terms
of an amendment to, or repeal of, a section or other provi-
sion, the reference shall be considered to be made to a
section or other provision of title 38, United States Code.
(c) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of
this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; references to title 38, United States code.
Sec. 2. Priority of service for veterans in Department of Labor job training pro-
grams.
Sec. 3. Performance incentive awards for quality veterans employment, train-
ing, and placement services.
Sec. 4. Refinement of job training and placement functions of the Department.
Sec. 5. Additional improvements in veterans employment and training services.
Sec. 6. Committee to raise employer awareness of skills of veterans and benefits
of hiring veterans.
Sec. 7. Sense of Congress commending veterans and military service organiza-
tions.
Sec. 8. Study on economic benefits to the United States of long-term sustained
employment of veterans.
SEC. 2. PRIORITY OF SERVICE FOR VETERANS IN DEPART-
MENT OF LABOR JOB TRAINING PROGRAMS.
(a) VETERANS’ JOB TRAINING ASSISTANCE.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 42 is amended by
adding at the end the following new section:
‘‘§ 4215. Priority of service for veterans in Depart-
ment of Labor job training programs
‘‘(a) ENTITLEMENT TO PRIORITY OF SERVICE.—(1)
A covered person is entitled to priority of service under
any qualified job training program if the person otherwise
meets the eligibility requirements for participation in such
program.
‘‘(2) The Secretary of Labor may establish priorities
among covered persons for purposes of this section to take
‘‘(C) Any such program or service that is
a workforce development program targeted to
specific groups.
‘‘(3) The term ‘priority of service’ means, with
respect to any qualified job training program, that
a covered person shall be given priority over non-
veterans of the employment, training, and placement
services provided under that program, notwith-
standing any priority list, directive, rule, regulation,
or other order from any department or agency of the
United States.’’.
(2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec-
tions at the beginning of chapter 42 is amended by
inserting after the item relating to section 4214 the
following new item:
‘‘4215. Priority of service for veterans in Department of Labor job training pro-
grams.’’.
(b) EMPLOYMENT OF VETERANS WITH RESPECT TO
FEDERAL CONTRACTS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 4212(a) is amended
to read as follows:
‘‘(a)(1) Any contract in the amount of $100,000 or
more entered into by any department or agency of the
United States for the procurement of personal property
and nonpersonal services (including construction) for the
United States, shall contain a provision requiring that the
party contracting with the United States take affirmative
action to employ and advance in employment qualified cov-
ered veterans. This section applies to any subcontract en-
tered into by a prime contractor in carrying out any such
contract.
‘‘(2) In addition to requiring affirmative action to
employ such qualified covered veterans under such con-
tracts and subcontracts and in order to promote the imple-
mentation of such requirement, the Secretary of Labor
shall prescribe regulations requiring that—
‘‘(A) each such contractor undertake in each
such contract to list all of its employment openings
immediately with the appropriate employment serv-
ice delivery system (as defined in section 4101(7) of
this title), including local employment service offices,
one-stop career centers under the Workforce Invest-
ment Act of 1998, other appropriate service delivery
points, or America’s Job Bank (or any additional or
subsequent national computerized job bank estab-
lished by the Department of Labor), except that the
contractor may exclude openings for positions which
are to be filled from within the contractor’s organi-
zation and positions lasting three days or less;
‘‘(B) each such employment service delivery sys-
tem shall give such qualified covered veterans pri-
ority in referral to such employment openings; and
‘‘(C) each such employment service delivery sys-
tem shall provide a list of such employment openings
to States, political subdivisions of States, or any pri-
vate entities or organizations under contract to carry
out employment, training, and placement services
under chapter 41 of this title.
‘‘(3) In this section:
‘‘(A) The term ‘covered veteran’ means any of
the following veterans:
‘‘(i) Disabled veterans.
‘‘(ii) Veterans who served on active duty in
the Armed Forces during a war or in a cam-
paign or expedition for which a campaign badge
has been authorized.
‘‘(iii) Veterans who, while serving on active
duty in the Armed Forces, participated in a
United States military operation for which an
Armed Forces service medal was awarded pur-
suant to Executive Order 12985 (61 Fed. Reg.
1209).
‘‘(B) The term ‘qualified’, with respect to an
employment position, means having the ability to
perform the essential functions of the position with
reasonable accommodation.’’.
(2) CONFORMING
AND
TECHNICAL
AMEND-
MENTS.—Section 4212 is amended—
(A) in subsection (c)—
(i) by striking ‘‘suitable’’; and
(ii) by striking ‘‘subsection (a)(2) of
this section’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection
(a)(2)(B)’’; and
(B)(i) in paragraph (1) of subsection (d)—
(I) in the matter preceding subpara-
graph (A), by striking ‘‘of this section’’
after ‘‘subsection (a)’’; and
(II) by amending subparagraphs (A)
and (B) to read as follows:
‘‘(A) the number of employees in the workforce
of such contractor, by job category and hiring loca-
tion, and the number of such employees, by job cat-
egory and hiring location, who are qualified covered
veterans;
‘‘(B) the total number of new employees hired
by the contractor during the period covered by the
report and the number of such employees who are
qualified covered veterans; and’’; and
(ii) in paragraph (2) of such subsection, by
striking ‘‘of this subsection’’ after ‘‘paragraph
(1)’’.
(3) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made
by this subsection shall apply with respect to con-
tracts entered into on or after the date that is 60
days after the date of the enactment of this Act.
(c) EMPLOYMENT WITHIN THE FEDERAL GOVERN-
MENT.—
(1) PURPOSE.—The second sentence of section
4214(a)(1) is amended—
(A) by inserting ‘‘, competent’’ after ‘‘ef-
fective’’; and
(B) by striking ‘‘major’’ and inserting
‘‘uniquely qualified’’.
(2) 
APPOINTMENTS.—Section 
4214(b) 
is
amended—
(A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘read-
justment’’ and inserting ‘‘recruitment’’;
(B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘to—’’
and all that follows through the period at the
end and inserting ‘‘to qualified covered vet-
erans.’’;
(C) in paragraph (3)—
‘‘(f) AVAILABILITY FOR OBLIGATION.—Amounts re-
ceived in a performance incentive award under this section
may be obligated by the State during the program year
in which the award was received and the subsequent pro-
gram year.
‘‘(g) APPROPRIATIONS.—The Secretary shall carry
out the program under this section from amounts appro-
priated pursuant to the authorization under section
4106(b)(2) of this title. Such amounts shall only be avail-
able to carry out the program under this section.’’.
(2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec-
tions at the beginning of chapter 41 is amended by
inserting after the item relating to section 4111 the
following new item:
‘‘4112. Performance incentive awards for quality employment, training, and
placement services.’’.
(b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Section
4106(b) is amended—
(1) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ after ‘‘(b)’’; and
(2) by adding at the end the following new
paragraph:
‘‘(2) In addition to amounts authorized to be appro-
priated under paragraph (1), there are authorized to be
appropriated to the Secretary to carry out the program
of performance incentive awards under section 4112 of
this title the following: