<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><BillSummaries>
    <item congress="117" measure-type="hr" measure-number="7239" measure-id="id117hr7239" originChamber="HOUSE" orig-publish-date="2022-03-28" update-date="2022-04-27">
        <title>Essential Workers for Economic Advancement Act</title>
        <summary summary-id="id117hr7239v00" currentChamber="HOUSE" update-date="2022-04-27">
            <action-date>2022-03-28</action-date>
            <action-desc>Introduced in House</action-desc>
            <summary-text><![CDATA[ <p> <b>Essential Workers for Economic Advancement Act </b> <strong></strong> <p>This bill establishes a new nonimmigrant visa for temporary nonagricultural workers (H-2C visa) to fill jobs that have remained open for a certain amount of time and are located in an area where the unemployment rate is 7.9% or less. This visa shall only be available for certain occupations, and those requiring a bachelor's degree or higher level of education shall not be eligible.</p> <p>The bill imposes various requirements related to H-2C positions, such as requiring that the employer make certain efforts to recruit a U.S. worker beforehand. The employer must register the opening before filling it with an H-2C worker, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shall maintain a publicly available registry of registered positions. </p> <p>For the first fiscal year after the bill's enactment, no more than 65,000 positions may be registered. For subsequent fiscal years, the number shall be increased or decreased depending on how many positions were registered the previous year and how quickly the allotment was filled. A certain number of allocations shall be reserved for small businesses.</p> <p>An employer seeking to hire H-2C workers shall register with DHS and provide documentation establishing that the employer meets various qualifications. An employer may become ineligible for registration for certain actions, such as having been penalized for a pattern of willful violation of wage and hour laws.</p> <p>H-2C workers shall not be entitled to certain federal public benefits.</p> <p>The Bureau of the Census shall report to Congress on the impact of the H-2C program. </p>]]></summary-text>
        </summary>
    </item>
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        <dc:language>EN</dc:language>
        <dc:rights>Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.</dc:rights>
        <dc:contributor>Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress</dc:contributor>
        <dc:description>This file contains bill summaries for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.</dc:description>
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</BillSummaries>
