116th CONGRESS 1st Session |
To reauthorize the VOW to Hire Heroes Act of 2011, to provide assistance to small businesses owned by veterans, and for other purposes.
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
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,
(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.
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.
Sec. 201. Unified employment portal for veterans.
Sec. 202. Grants to hire veterans as first responders.
Sec. 203. Contracting preference for offerors employing veterans.
(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,”.
Section 3102(b)(4) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by striking “March 31, 2014” and inserting “March 31, 2022”.
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.”.
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.”.
(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.
(1) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 33 of title 41, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
Ҥ 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.”.
(1) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 137 of title 10, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
Ҥ 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.