21st Century Civilian Conservation and Climate Corps Act
Bill: H.R.5229 | Sponsor: Rep. Kaptur, Marcy (D-OH)
Policy area: Labor and Employment

Summary:
21st Century Civilian Conservation and Climate Corps Act
This bill temporarily authorizes and provides funding for the President to establish and operate a Civilian Conservation and Climate Corps to employ young adults (ages 16-25) in connection with public conservation and climate projects.
If available funds are insufficient to employ every eligible individual seeking employment with the corps, preference must be given, in order, to (1) unemployed veterans, (2) unemployed individuals who have exhausted their unemployment benefits, (3) individuals who are otherwise eligible for unemployment benefits, (4) members of groups determined to have suffered economic or social disadvantages to finding decent work, and (5) other unemployed individuals.
The corps must pay employees wages comparable to wages paid to public-sector employees. The corps may also provide room, board, and clothing for employees, but the cost of these accommodations must be deducted from wages.

To authorize the President to establish the Civilian Conservation and 
Climate Corps as a means of providing gainful employment to unemployed 
and underemployed youth through the performance of useful public work, 
                        and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``21st Century Civilian Conservation 
and Climate Corps Act''.

SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT AND OPERATION OF CIVILIAN CONSERVATION AND 
              CLIMATE CORPS.

    (a) Establishment and Purpose.--In order to relieve the acute 
problem of youth unemployment in the United States, and to provide for 
the restoration of depleted natural resources and the achievement of a 
sustainable natural environment, the President may establish and 
operate a Civilian Conservation and Climate Corps to employ otherwise 
unemployed or underemployed youth aged 16 through 25, in carrying out 
works of a public nature in connection with conservation projects to 
meet the challenges of climate change, to be undertaken in consultation 
with relevant government agencies and private not-for-profit 
conservation organizations at the Federal, State, local, and Tribal 
level throughout the United States and its territories. The President 
may build on existing and new partnerships with Program Partners, such 
as the existing network of conservation corps organizations working 
across the United States. These projects may include, without 
limitation--
            (1) the development of environmental education and 
        recreation programs for children;
            (2) the forestation of lands belonging to the United States 
        or a State;
            (3) the weatherization and installation of energy saving 
        improvements in the homes and neighborhoods of low- and 
        moderate-income families, including solar panels;
            (4) the prevention of forest fires, floods, and soil 
        erosion;
            (5) the maintenance and improvement of existing public 
        parks, tree planting, and the construction and maintenance of 
        new public parks in cooperation with municipalities;
            (6) plant pest and disease control using sustainable, 
        nonenvironmentally harmful practices;
            (7) the establishment, maintenance, and/or improvement of 
        community gardens and urban farms along with public markets for 
        the sale of local agricultural products and distribution 
        networks to enhance the quality and quantity of fresh, local 
        food available to low income families;
            (8) the construction, maintenance, repair, and supervision 
        of paths, trails, and fire-lanes in units of the National Park 
        System, public lands, and other lands under the jurisdiction of 
        the Secretary of the Interior and units of the National Forest 
        System;
            (9) subcontracted work on labor-intensive components of 
        capital-intensive environmental projects; and
            (10) such other work as is consistent with the 
        environmental goals and employment purposes of this Act.
    (b) Role of Federal Agencies.--To operate the Civilian Conservation 
and Climate Corps, the President may utilize existing Federal 
departments and agencies, including the Department of Labor, the 
Department of Defense, the National Guard Bureau, the Department of the 
Interior, the Department of Agriculture, the Army Corps of Engineers, 
the Department of Transportation, the Department of Energy, the 
Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Housing and Urban 
Development, the Department of Commerce, the Corporation for National 
and Community Service, and other and Federal governmental corporations.
    (c) Role of State and Local Government.--Projects carried out on 
State and local public property shall be undertaken in consultation 
with and subject to the sponsorship of appropriate State and local 
government agencies.
    (d) Role of Qualified Youth Service and Conservation Corps.--To 
expedite the Civilian Conservation and Climate Corps' immediate impact, 
the President shall extensively utilize qualified youth service and 
conservation corps as defined in section 6(5)(d).
    (e) Inclusion of Other Lands.--The President may extend the 
activities of the Civilian Conservation and Climate Corps to lands 
owned by a political subdivision of a State and lands in private 
ownership, but only for the purpose of conducting such kinds of 
cooperation work as are otherwise authorized by law and consistent with 
the program's purposes.
    (f) Contract Authority.--For the purpose of carrying out this Act, 
the President may enter into such contracts or agreements with public 
and private entities as may be necessary, including provisions for 
utilization of existing State and local administrative agencies.
    (g) Acquisition of Real Property.--The President, or the head of 
any department or agency authorized by the President to construct any 
project or to carry on any public works under this Act, may acquire 
real property for such project or public work by purchase, donation, 
condemnation, or otherwise.
    (h) Education and Training.--The Program shall include a 
prominently featured educational and training component providing 
concerted support for participants to obtain a high school diploma if 
they lack one and to receive specialized training to the extent 
necessary to permit them to perform their jobs in a professionally 
competent manner.
    (i) Project Selection.--The Administrator of the Program shall 
establish and administer a project selection process that is merit 
based, consistent with the purposes of this Act, free of political 
influence, and ensures that projects are fairly distributed among the 
States and Federal lands.
    (j) Inspector General.--The President shall establish an Office of 
the Inspector General of the Civilian Conservation and Climate Corps 
pursuant to the provisions of the Inspector General Act of 1978 (5 
U.S.C. App.).

SEC. 3. ADMINISTRATION OF CIVILIAN CONSERVATION AND CLIMATE CORPS.

    (a) Employment Preference.--If the President determines that 
amounts appropriated to the Civilian Conservation and Climate Corps 
under this Act for a fiscal year will be insufficient to employ all of 
the individuals described in section 2(a) who are seeking or likely to 
seek employment in the Program and continue the employment of current 
employees who desire to remain in the Program, the following order of 
preference shall be observed in additional Program hiring:
            (1) Unemployed veterans of the Armed Forces and unemployed 
        members of the reserve components and National Guard components 
        of the Armed Forces.
            (2) Unemployed individuals who have exhausted their 
        entitlement to unemployment compensation.
            (3) Unemployed citizens, who immediately before employment 
        in the Program, are eligible for unemployment compensation 
        payable under any State law or Federal unemployment 
        compensation law, including any additional compensation or 
        extended compensation under such laws.
            (4) Members of Disadvantaged Population Groups.
            (5) Other unemployed individuals, including individuals who 
        give up a job in order to enroll in the Program.
    (b) Housing and Care of Employees.--The Program may administer both 
residential and non-residential work projects or mixtures of the two, 
depending on the location of the work projects and the characteristics 
of the Program participants employed on the projects. Where housing is 
provided, it shall include room, board, and appropriate supervision.
    (c) Transportation.--The President may provide for the 
transportation of persons employed in the Civilian Conservation and 
Climate Corps to and from their places of employment.
    (d) Non-Discrimination.--The Program shall comply with all Federal, 
State, and local employment discrimination and employment protection 
laws.
    (e) Wages.--Program participants shall be paid wages comparable to 
those paid public sector employees who do the same or comparable work, 
less a discounted charge for room, board, and clothing to the extent 
they are provided by the Program. All Program earnings shall be subject 
to Federal, State, and local payroll and income taxes, except for those 
that support benefits of a similar nature to those provided program 
participants by the Program.
    (f) Benefits.--Program participants shall be provided health care, 
paid sick leave, and disability benefits free of charge while enrolled 
in the program, and upon successful completion of 18 months or more of 
employment in the program, shall be entitled to educational 
assistance--
            (1) furnished by the Administrator; and
            (2) equivalent to educational assistance to which an 
        individual described in section 3311(b) of title 38, United 
        States Code, is entitled under chapter 33 of such title.
    (g) Protection From Layoffs.--No individual whose employment is 
funded under this Act may be employed in a position if--
            (1) employing such individual will result in the layoff or 
        partial displacement (such as a reduction in hours, wages, or 
        employee benefits) of an existing employee of the employer; or
            (2) such individual will perform the same or substantially 
        similar work that had previously been performed by an employee 
        of the employer who has been laid off within the preceding 12 
        months unless the employee has declined an offer of 
        reinstatement to the position the employee occupied immediately 
        prior to being laid off or partially displaced.
    (h) Protection of Promotions.--No individual may be hired for a 
position funded under this Act in a manner that infringes upon the 
promotional opportunities of an existing employee of the Program 
employer.
    (i) Protection of Collective Bargaining Members.--No individual 
whose employment is funded under this Act may perform work that 
otherwise would be performed by the members of a collective bargaining 
unit unless--
            (1) the consent of the union is obtained; and
            (2) negotiations have taken place with such union as to the 
        terms and conditions of such employment.
    (j) Program Enrollment.--Enrollment goals for the program shall be 
as follows:
            (1) 250,000 individual enrollees by the end of the 
        Program's first 12 months of operation.
            (2) 500,000 individual enrollees by the end of the 
        Program's first 24 months of operation.
            (3) 750,000 individual enrollees by the end of the 
        Program's first 36 months of operation.
All unemployed individuals aged 16 through 25 who seek employment in 
the program and have legal authorization to work in the United States 
by the end of the Program's first 48 months of operation.

SEC. 4. PROGRAM EVALUATION.

    (a) Report to Congress.--The Administrator of the Program shall 
submit a report to the House Appropriations Committee, Committee on 
Education and Labor, and the Senate Appropriations Committee, and 
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions on the Program's 
implementation and effects no later than 6 months after it is 
established and every 6 months thereafter.
    (b) Formal Program Evaluations.--During the Program's second and 
fifth years of operations, a thorough evaluation of its performance 
shall be undertaken by an independent non-governmental organization 
with expertise concerning the evaluation of direct job creation 
programs.

SEC. 5. APPROPRIATIONS.

    (a) Appropriations for the Establishment and Operation of the 
Program.--There are appropriated from the general fund of the Treasury, 
without fiscal year limitation, such funds as are necessary to carry 
out the purposes of this Act through the end of the fifth complete 
fiscal year following its enactment.
    (b) Use of Unobligated Funds Appropriated for Public Works.--
            (1) Use of existing funds.--The President may use any 
        moneys previously appropriated for public works and unobligated 
        as of the date of the enactment of this Act to establish and 
        operate a Civilian Conservation and Climate Corps under this 
        Act.
            (2) Use to relieve unemployment.--Not less than 50 percent 
        of the funds utilized pursuant to paragraph (1) must be used to 
        provide for the employment of individuals under this Act.
            (3) Exceptions.--Paragraph (1) does not apply to--
                    (A) unobligated moneys appropriated for public 
                works on which actual construction has been commenced 
                as of the date of the enactment of this Act or may be 
                commenced within 90 days after that date; and
                    (B) maintenance funds for river and harbor 
                improvements already allocated as of the date of the 
                enactment of this Act.
    (c) Duration of Availability.--Amounts appropriated pursuant to the 
authorization of appropriations in subsection (a) or made available 
under subsection (b) shall remain available until expended.

SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Administrator of the program.--The term ``Administrator 
        of the Program'' means the individual designated by the 
        President or the President's designee to administer the Program 
        established by this Act.
            (2) Disadvantaged population group.--The term 
        ``Disadvantaged Population Group'' shall include groups 
        determined by the Administrator of the Program, following 
        consultation with relevant government and non-government 
        experts, to have suffered economic or social disadvantages that 
        impair their ability to find decent work compared to groups 
        whose members have not suffered similar disadvantages.
            (3) Indian tribe.--The term ``Indian Tribe'' has the 
        meaning given such term in section 102(17) of the Housing and 
        Community Development Act (42 U.S.C. 5302(17)).
            (4) Program.--The term ``Program'' means the program 
        established under this Act.
            (5) Program partner.--The term ``Program Partner'' means--
                    (A) a unit of local government;
                    (B) a land trust;
                    (C) a conservation nonprofit organization; or
                    (D) a qualified youth service and conservation 
                corps, including--
                            (i) an organization established under--
                                    (I) the National and Community 
                                Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12501 et 
                                seq.);
                                    (II) title I of Public Law 91-378 
                                (commonly known as the ``Youth 
                                Conservation Corps Act of 1970'') (16 
                                U.S.C. 1701 et seq.); or
                                    (III) the Public Lands Corps Act of 
                                1993 (16 U.S.C. 1721 et seq.), 
                                including the Indian Youth Service 
                                Corps authorized under section 210 of 
                                such Act (16 U.S.C. 1727b);
                            (ii) the Urban Youth Corps authorized under 
                        section 106(c)(3) of the National and Community 
                        Service Trust Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 12656);
                            (iii) a qualified urban youth corps (as 
                        defined in section 106(c)(3) of the National 
                        and Community Service trust Act of 1993 (42 
                        U.S.C. 12656(c)(3))); and
                            (iv) the Healthy Future Corps established 
                        under section 122(a)(2)(A) of the National and 
                        Community Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 
                        12572(a)(2)(A)).
            (6) State.--The term ``State'' means any State of the 
        United States, or any instrumentality thereof approved by the 
        Governor, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, other self-governing 
        or partially self-governing territories of the United States, 
        and Indian Tribes.

SEC. 7. TERMINATION.

    The authority of the President to establish and operate a Civilian 
Conservation and Climate Corps under this Act shall expire on September 
30 of the fifth complete fiscal year following the enactment of this 
Act.
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