[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1928 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1928
To amend the National and Community Service Act of 1990 to establish a
national climate service corps to help communities withstand and
respond to changes in the Earth's climate with respect to natural
disasters, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
May 27, 2021
Ms. Cortez Masto introduced the following bill; which was read twice
and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the National and Community Service Act of 1990 to establish a
national climate service corps to help communities withstand and
respond to changes in the Earth's climate with respect to natural
disasters, 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 ``National Climate Service Corps and
Careers Network Act of 2021''.
SEC. 2. PURPOSE.
The purpose of this Act is to establish a National Climate Service
Corps to carry out national service projects under the National and
Community Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12501) in order to--
(1) promote climate adaptation, mitigation, and resiliency;
(2) provide young adults with opportunities to give back to
their communities through meaningful service to their
communities and the Nation;
(3) mobilize youth and young adults, especially
disadvantaged youth, to promote environmental sustainability
and mitigate the threat of climate change in their communities;
and
(4) provide a pathway to employment in the private sector
or otherwise within the clean energy economy, following
completion of service in the National Climate Service Corps.
SEC. 3. NATIONAL CLIMATE SERVICE CORPS.
(a) In General.--Section 122(a) of the National and Community
Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12572(a)) is amended--
(1) by redesignating paragraphs (4) and (5) as paragraphs
(5) and (6), respectively; and
(2) by inserting after paragraph (3) the following new
paragraph:
``(4) National climate service corps .--
``(A) Purpose.--
``(i) In general.--The recipient may carry
out national service projects through a
National Climate Service Corps that improves
community adaptation, mitigation, preparedness,
response, and recovery from natural disaster
and other trends related to climate change
through activities such as those described in
subparagraph (B) and improves performance on
the indicators described in subparagraph (C).
``(ii) Selection priority.--The recipient
shall, where appropriate, identify and select
projects from communities that are
disproportionately impacted by climate and
severe weather events, including from
communities of color, low-income communities,
and Tribal communities.
``(B) Activities.--
``(i) In general.--A Climate Service Corps
described in this paragraph may carry out
activities, including--
``(I) assessing community
resilience to the effects of climate
change;
``(II) supporting climate
adaptation and mitigation of the
negative effects of climate change;
``(III) environmental
sustainability and resiliency;
``(IV) emergency preparedness;
``(V) promoting sustainable and
resilient communities;
``(VI) assisting with recovery from
disasters to rebuild in a manner that
provides improved resilience or
adaptation for future climate impacts;
``(VII) assisting with prevention,
recovery, or restoration of wildland,
rangeland, and wildland-urban interface
areas from the effects of wildfire and
associated impacts due to the effects
of climate change; or
``(VIII) other relevant activities,
as determined by the Corporation.
``(ii) Participation.--In addition to the
requirements for participants under section
137, in carrying out national service projects
under this paragraph, the recipient shall, to
the extent practicable--
``(I) select as participants--
``(aa) individuals who are
at least 17 but not more than
30 years of age at the time of
beginning the term of service,
including out of-school youth,
disadvantaged youth (such as
individuals who are aging out
of foster care, individuals who
have limited English
proficiency, homeless
individuals, and individuals
with disabilities), and youth
from communities of color and
Tribal communities; or
``(bb) veterans who have
not reached the age of 36, at
the time of beginning the term
of service; and
``(II) provide each participant
with team-based, highly structured, and
adult-supervised service experience,
education, career guidance, and
counseling, and employment training,
support services, and mentoring.
``(C) National climate service corps indicators.--
The indicators for a National Climate Service Corps
program described in this paragraph are--
``(i) the number of acres, homes, buildings
or infrastructure projects built, retrofitted,
improved, treated, or restored for improved
resilience, adaptation, or current and future
disaster recovery;
``(ii) the number of individuals educated
about, prepared for, and receiving training
about natural disasters, other trends related
to climate change, or environmentally conscious
practices;
``(iii) the number of individuals assisted,
including those rescued, evacuated, or provided
shelter;
``(iv) the number of homes or buildings
treated, including those boarded up, tarped,
mucked, or gutted during disaster response;
``(v) the number of trees and plants
planted;
``(vi) the number of new technologies that
participants receive training on, and that are
utilized and incorporated into resiliency
projects;
``(vii) any additional indicator relating
to natural disaster and other trends that the
Corporation establishes, in consultation (as
appropriate), with the Secretaries of the
Departments of the Interior, Agriculture,
Commerce, and Defense, the Director of the
Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the
Administrator of the Environmental Protection
Agency; and
``(viii) any additional local indicator
applicable to a particular recipient and on
which an improvement in performance is needed
related to climate change.''.
(b) Conforming Amendments.--Section 122 of the National and
Community Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12572), as amended by
subsection (a), is further amended--
(1) in paragraph (b)(3), by striking ``or (5)'' and
inserting ``(5), or (6)''; and
(2) in paragraph (c)(1), by striking ``(5)'' and inserting
``(6)''.
SEC. 4. COOPERATION AMONG STATES FOR EMERGENCY RESPONSE.
(a) Agreements Between States.--States that provide subgrants to
State or nonprofit entities that engage in National Climate Service
Corps activities under section 122(a)(4) or States that have nonprofit
organizations receiving funding under the national service laws and
that are engaging in similar activities (referred to as ``participating
States'') may enter into a compact with other participating States to
provide for mutual cooperation to manage any emergency or disaster that
is duly declared by the affected State.
(b) Participating State Responsibilities.--
(1) Requests for assistance.--The authorized representative
of a participating State may request assistance of the National
Climate Service Corps or of such nonprofit organizations of
another participating State by contacting the authorized
representative of that State. The provisions of the compact
described in subsection (a) shall only apply to requests for
assistance made by and to such authorized representatives.
(2) Consultation.--The State officials of participating
States shall ensure--
(A) that there is frequent consultation between
State officials who are assigned emergency management
responsibilities, and other appropriate representatives
of the participating States, with the relevant
officials of affected jurisdictions and with the
relevant officials of the Federal Government; and
(B) the free exchange of information, plans, and
resource records relating to emergency capabilities.
SEC. 5. CLIMATE RESILIENCY AMERICORPS VISTA.
Section 103(a) of the Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973 (42
U.S.C. 4953(a)) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (12), by striking ``and'' at the end;
(2) in paragraph (13), by striking the period at the end
and inserting ``; and''; and
(3) after subsection (13), by adding the following:
``(14) in addressing the capacity of low-income communities
to implement projects that increase resilience, adaptation, and
mitigation to changes to the environment, including changes due
to natural disasters.''.
SEC. 6. NONCOMPETITIVE HIRING AUTHORITY.
A qualified member of the National Climate Service Corps under
section 122 of the National and Community Service Act of 1990 (42
U.S.C. 12572) shall be eligible for appointment in the competitive
service in the same manner as a Peace Corps volunteer as prescribed in
Executive Order 11103 (22 U.S.C. 2504 note, relating to Providing for
the Appointment of Former Peace Corps Volunteers to the Civilian Career
Services).
SEC. 7. CLIMATE CAREERS NETWORK.
(a) In General.--As part of the Corporation's Employers of National
Service initiative, the Corporation shall establish a program, in
consultation with the Departments of Energy, Agriculture, Education,
Labor, Interior, Transportation, the Environmental Protection Agency,
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and other relevant
Federal agencies, as determined to be appropriate by the Corporation,
to be known as the Climate Careers Network, to--
(1) address the challenge of job placement in a clean
energy economy; and
(2) support individuals who have completed service in the
National Climate Service Corps, as well as individuals in the
United States of all ages and backgrounds who want to get
involved in growing green industries.
(b) Activities of the Climate Careers Network.--As part of the
Climate Careers Network program, the Corporation, in consultation with
the Federal agencies described in subsection (a), shall carry out the
following activities:
(1) Create and maintain a database that outlines
opportunities for individuals who have completed service in the
National Climate Service Corps and other individuals, and that
includes information related to opportunities for those
individuals in a clean energy economy.
(2) Establish direct partnerships between the Climate
Careers Network program and existing infrastructure for
relevant training and job placement in order to connect
individuals with new jobs and lifelong careers, such as
partnerships with 2 or more of the following:
(A) Labor organizations or joint labor management
organizations.
(B) Employers.
(C) High schools and adult education programs.
(D) Nonprofit organizations with demonstrated
success in areas of clean energy and climate change
mitigation activities.
(E) Institutions of higher education.
(F) Community development organizations.
(G) State and local workforce development boards
established under title I of the Workforce Innovation
and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3111 et seq.).
(H) Career and technical education providers,
including those that award credentials and build career
pathways.
(I) Other entities that may provide relevant direct
employment opportunities.
(c) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Corporation.--The term ``Corporation'' means the
Corporation for National and Community Service established
under section 191 of the National and Community Service Act of
1990 (42 U.S.C. 12651).
(2) Institution of higher education.--The term
``institution of higher education'' has the meaning given the
term in section 101(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20
U.S.C. 1001(a)).
(3) National climate service corps.--The term ``National
Climate Service Corps'' means the National Climate Service
Corps described in section 122(a)(4) of the National and
Community Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12572(a)(4)), as added
by section 3.
SEC. 8. MATCHING FUNDS WAIVER.
Any otherwise applicable matching funds requirements, including
under section 212(a)(1) of the Public Lands Corps Act of 1993 (16
U.S.C. 1729(a)(1)) and under section 121(e) of the National and
Community Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12571(e)), shall be waived for
projects carried out using amounts made available under this Act.
SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
There are authorized to be appropriated--
(1) $2,000,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 through
2026 to carry out section 3;
(2) $50,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2026
to carry out section 7; and
(3) for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2026, such sums
as may be necessary to provide national service educational
awards under subtitle D of title I of the National and
Community Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12601 et seq.) for the
members of the National Climate Service Corps for such fiscal
year.
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