Title: Putting Our Veterans Back to Work Act of 2019
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security

Summary:
Putting Our Veterans Back to Work Act of 2019
This bill addresses programs and policies related to the employment of veterans.
Specifically, the bill reauthorizes through December 31, 2021, the veterans retraining assistance program, which previously provided assistance for programs of education that led to in-demand jobs. The bill authorizes up to 50,000 veteran participants in the program during FY2020 through December 31, 2023. Under the bill, the program entitles veterans for an aggregate of 12 months retraining assistance.
The bill also reauthorizes through (1) March 31, 2022, additional Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) programs for certain disabled veterans who have completed a VA rehabilitation program and have exhausted their rights to state unemployment benefits; and (2) FY2023, the collaborative veterans' training, mentoring, and placement program.
The VA must develop a single, unified federal web-based employment portal for veterans to access information on federal programs and activities concerning veteran employment, unemployment, and training.
The bill requires the (1) Department of Homeland Security to award grants to hire veterans as firefighters, and (2) Department of Justice to award grants to hire veterans as law enforcement officers.
Finally, the bill requires the Office of Federal Procurement Policy within the Office of Management and Budget to establish a preference for the procurement of certain contracts (including defense contracts) valued at $25 million or higher. Specifically, the office must establish a preference for contracting with offerors that employ a specified percent of veterans as full-time employees.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4824 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4824

     To reauthorize the VOW to Hire Heroes Act of 2011, to provide 
    assistance to small businesses owned by veterans, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 23, 2019

 Mr. Cohen (for himself, Ms. Schakowsky, Ms. Norton, Ms. Jackson Lee, 
and Ms. Moore) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
 Committee on Veterans' Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on 
 Oversight and Reform, Armed Services, Science, Space, and Technology, 
 and the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
  Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
           within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To reauthorize the VOW to Hire Heroes Act of 2011, to provide 
    assistance to small businesses owned by veterans, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Putting Our 
Veterans Back to Work Act of 2019''.
    (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as 
follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
                TITLE I--RENEWING OUR VOW TO HIRE HEROES

Sec. 101. Reauthorization of veterans retraining assistance program.
Sec. 102. Extension of additional rehabilitation programs for persons 
                            who have exhausted rights to unemployment 
                            benefits under State law.
Sec. 103. Reauthorization of collaborative veterans' training, 
                            mentoring, and placement program.
              TITLE II--BUILDING ON OUR VOW TO HIRE HEROES

Sec. 201. Unified employment portal for veterans.
Sec. 202. Grants to hire veterans as first responders.
Sec. 203. Contracting preference for offerors employing veterans.

                TITLE I--RENEWING OUR VOW TO HIRE HEROES

SEC. 101. REAUTHORIZATION OF VETERANS RETRAINING ASSISTANCE PROGRAM.

    (a) Extension.--Subsection (k) of section 211 of the VOW to Hire 
Heroes Act of 2011 (Public Law 112-56; 38 U.S.C. 4100 note) is amended 
by striking ``March 31, 2014'' and inserting ``December 31, 2021''.
    (b) Number of Eligible Veterans.--Subsection (a)(2) of such section 
is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period at the end 
        and inserting a semicolon; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following new subparagraphs:
                    ``(C) 50,000 during fiscal year 2020;
                    ``(D) 50,000 during fiscal year 2021;
                    ``(E) 50,000 during fiscal year 2022; and
                    ``(F) 50,000 during the period beginning October 1, 
                2022, and ending December 31, 2023.''.
    (c) Clarification of Limitation on Aggregate Amount of 
Assistance.--Subsection (b) of such section is amended by striking ``up 
to 12 months of retraining assistance provided by the Secretary of 
Veterans Affairs'' and inserting ``an aggregate of not more than 12 
months of retraining assistance provided by the Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs under this section''.
    (d) Updated Report.--Subsection (i) of such section is amended by 
adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(3) Update.--Not later than December 31, 2022, the 
        Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in collaboration with the 
        Secretary of Labor, shall submit to the appropriate committees 
        of Congress an update to the report described in paragraph 
        (1).''.
    (e) Conforming Amendment.--Subsection (e)(1)(G) of such section is 
amended by striking ``by not later than October 1, 2013,''.

SEC. 102. EXTENSION OF ADDITIONAL REHABILITATION PROGRAMS FOR PERSONS 
              WHO HAVE EXHAUSTED RIGHTS TO UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS UNDER 
              STATE LAW.

    Section 3102(b)(4) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by 
striking ``March 31, 2014'' and inserting ``March 31, 2022''.

SEC. 103. REAUTHORIZATION OF COLLABORATIVE VETERANS' TRAINING, 
              MENTORING, AND PLACEMENT PROGRAM.

    Subsection (e) of section 4104A of title 38, United States Code, is 
amended to read as follows:
    ``(e) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section amounts as follows:
            ``(1) $4,500,000 for the period consisting of fiscal years 
        2020 and 2021.
            ``(2) $4,500,000 for the period consisting of fiscal years 
        2022 and 2023.''.

              TITLE II--BUILDING ON OUR VOW TO HIRE HEROES

SEC. 201. UNIFIED EMPLOYMENT PORTAL FOR VETERANS.

    Section 4105 of title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding 
at the end the following:
    ``(c)(1) The Secretary shall develop a single, unified Federal web-
based employment portal, for use by veterans, containing information 
regarding all Federal programs and activities concerning employment, 
unemployment, and training to the extent the programs and activities 
affect veterans.
    ``(2) The Secretary shall work with representatives from the 
Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Small 
Business Administration, and other Federal agencies and organizations 
concerned with veterans' issues, to determine an appropriate platform 
and implementing agency for the portal. The Secretary shall enter into 
an agreement with the other Federal agencies for the implementation of 
the portal.''.

SEC. 202. GRANTS TO HIRE VETERANS AS FIRST RESPONDERS.

    (a) Grants for Firefighters.--The Secretary of Homeland Security 
shall award grants under section 34 of the Federal Fire Prevention and 
Control Act of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 2229a) to hire veterans as firefighters.
    (b) Grants for Law Enforcement Officers.--The Attorney General 
shall award grants under part Q of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control 
and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10381 et seq.) to hire veterans 
as law enforcement officers.
    (c) Priority.--In awarding grants under this section to hire 
veterans, the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Attorney General 
shall give priority to the hiring of veterans who served on active duty 
in the Armed Forces on or after September 11, 2001.
    (d) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section $250,000,000.

SEC. 203. CONTRACTING PREFERENCE FOR OFFERORS EMPLOYING VETERANS.

    (a) Civilian Contracts.--
            (1) In general.--Chapter 33 of title 41, United States 
        Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new 
        section:
``Sec. 3313. Contracting preference for offerors employing veterans
    ``(a) Preference.--With respect to the procurement of goods and 
services using competitive procedures by executive agencies, where such 
procurement is valued at $25,000,000 or higher, the Administrator shall 
establish a preference, and criteria for applying such preference, for 
a covered offeror.
    ``(b) Congressional Report.--Prior to establishing the preference 
described in subsection (a), the Administrator shall provide a report 
to Congress that includes--
            ``(1) a plan for implementing such preference, including 
        penalties for an offeror that willfully and intentionally 
        misrepresents the veteran status of the employees of the 
        offeror in a bid submitted under subsection (a); and
            ``(2) the process for assessing and verifying offeror 
        compliance with regulations relating to equal opportunity for 
        veterans requirements.
    ``(c) Covered Offeror Defined.--In this section, the term `covered 
offeror' means an offeror for which 5 percent of the full-time 
employees of such offeror are veterans.''.
            (2) Clerical amendment.--The table of sections at the 
        beginning of such chapter is amended by adding after the item 
        relating to section 3312 the following new item:

``3313. Contracting preference for offerors employing veterans.''.
    (b) Defense Contracts.--
            (1) In general.--Chapter 137 of title 10, United States 
        Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new 
        section:
``Sec. 2339b. Contracting preference for offerors employing veterans
    ``(a) Preference.--With respect to the procurement of goods and 
services using competitive procedures by executive agencies, where such 
procurement is valued at $25,000,000 or higher, the Administrator shall 
establish a preference, and criteria for applying such preference, for 
a covered offeror.
    ``(b) Congressional Report.--Prior to establishing the preference 
described in subsection (a), the Secretary of Defense shall provide a 
report to Congress that includes--
            ``(1) a plan for implementing such preference, including 
        penalties for an offeror that willfully and intentionally 
        misrepresents the veteran status of the employees of the 
        offeror in a bid submitted under subsection (a); and
            ``(2) the process for assessing and verifying offeror 
        compliance with regulations relating to equal opportunity for 
        veterans requirements.
    ``(c) Covered Offeror Defined.--In this section, the term `covered 
offeror' means an offeror for which 5 percent of the full-time 
employees of such offeror are veterans.''.
            (2) Clerical amendment.--The table of sections at the 
        beginning of such chapter is amended by adding after the item 
        relating to section 2339a the following new item:

``2339b. Contracting preference for offerors employing veterans.''.
    (c) Applicability.--The amendments made by subsections (a) and (b) 
shall apply to contracts entered into 60 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act.
    (d) Regulations.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Federal Acquisition Regulation shall be 
amended to carry out the requirements of section 3313 of title 41, 
United States Code, and section 2339b of title 10, United States Code, 
as added by subsections (a) and (b), respectively.
                                 <all>