A bill to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to establish and administer a program of direct Federal employment to improve the quality of the environment, the public lands, Indian reservations, and commonly owned and shared resources through a program of recreational development, reforestation and conservation management and for other purposes.
Natural and Human Resources Restoration and Conservation Act - Provides that the Congress reaffirms that the national policy of full employment declared in the Employment Act of 1946 continues to be a fundamentally sound and socially enlighten national policy, and that it is the responsibility of the Federal Government to use all practicable means consistent with its needs and obligations and other essential considerations of national policy, with the assistance and cooperation of industry, agriculture, labor, and State and local governments, to coordinate and utilize all its plans, functions, and resources for the purpose of creating and maintaining, in a manner calculated to foster and promote free competitive enterprise and the general welfare, conditions under which there will be afforded useful employment opportunities, including self-employment, for those able, willing and seeking to work, and to promote maximum employment, production and purchasing power.
Establishes the National Environmental Services Corps. Makes the Secretary of the Interior responsible for management and administration of the Corp program. Directs the Secretary in carrying out his duties to consult with the heads of other agencies and departments of the Federal Government and directs all agencies of the Federal Government to cooperate with and to assist the Secretary in the development and administration of the Corps program.
Authorizes appropriations of $250,000,000 annually for the establishment and administration of the permanent Corps program and such as are necessary to enlarge the Corps and meet employment conditions. Provides for national, regional and subregional offices. Authorizes the Corps to expand: (1) by 100,000 Corps members when the Secretary determines that the rate of national umemployment (seasonally adjusted) equals or exceeds four and one-half percent for three consecutive months prior to such determination; (2) by 50,000 Corps members for each increment of one-half of one percent by which the Secretary determines that the average rate of national umemployment (seasonally adjusted) for three consecutive months prior to any such determination exceeds the rate specified in clause (1); and(3) without regard to the determination required by clauses (1) and (2), by up to 200,000 Corps members of work in regions of "substantial umemployment", "persistent unemployment", "concentrated unemployment or underemployment" in the Department of Labor's monthly Bulletin on "Area Trends in Employment and Unemployment".
Requires the funds made available to the Secretary for the employment of Corps members shall, insofar as possible, be apportioned on an equitable basis among States and within each State among local areas, including Indian Reservations and to the extent practicable, such funds and employment opportunities shall be apportioned on the basis of: (1) relative number of unemployed; (2) severity of unemployment in each area; and (3) relative need of the area for intensified management, development and conservation of lands under Federal jurisdiction.
Directs the Secretaty, after Consultation with the heads of other Federal land and resource management agencies, to: (1) determine the area under Federal jurisdiction which are appropriate for carrying out programs using employees of the Corps; (2) determine the rates of pay, hours and other conditions of employment in the Corps; (3) provide for such transportation, lodging, subsistence, and other services and equipment as he may deem necessary or appropriate for the needs of members of the Corp in their duties; (4) promulgate regulations to insure the safety, health, and welfare of the Corps members; and (5) advise every participant in the Corps programs, prior to entering upon employment, of his rights and benefits in connection with such employment.
Provides that in expanding the Corps to meet national resource and environmental management goals and to provide new employment opportunities, the Secretary shall first determine that the Corps program: (1) will result in an increase in employment opportunities over those which would otherwise be available; (2) will not result in the displacement of currently employed workers (including partial displacement such as reduction in the hours of non-overtime work or wages or employment benefits); (3) will not impair existing contracts for services or result in the substitution of Federal or other funds in connection with work that would otherwise be performed; and (4) will not substitute Corps jobs for existing federally assisted jobs.
Permits any person who is unemployed and who wants and is available for work and who is physically able to perform the available jobs to be eligible for employment in the Nation Environmental Services Corps. Provides that any person who is underemployed in that their present employment is not providing sufficient income to enable such persons and their families to be self-supporting with welfare assistance shall also be eligible for employment in the Corps.
Provides that in the administration of this Act the Secretary shall make every effort to provide training and other assistance to tempory members of the Corp provided employment, which will enable them to obtain permanent private or public employment and that when the rate of national or area umemployment declines below the standards the Secretary shall make maximum effort to locate permanent employment or training opportunities not supported under this Act for each Corps member temporarily employed under this Act, and shall gradually phase out the temporary Corps program on an area-by-area basis as is warranted by improved local employment opportunities and the accomplishment of the resource and environmental improvement program on Federal lands in that area.
Authorizes the Secretary to prescribe necessary regulation and requires an annual report to Congress.
Introduced in Senate
Referred to Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs.
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