[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3168 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3168

 To amend title 40, United States Code, to direct the Administrator of 
   General Services to give preference to high unemployment areas in 
selecting sites for the construction of public buildings and in leasing 
                 space to accommodate Federal agencies.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 24, 2003

Mr. Goode (for himself and Mr. Boucher) introduced the following bill; 
       which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and 
                             Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 40, United States Code, to direct the Administrator of 
   General Services to give preference to high unemployment areas in 
selecting sites for the construction of public buildings and in leasing 
                 space to accommodate Federal agencies.

    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 ``High Unemployment Area Assistance 
Act of 2003''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the 
        Department of Labor, 3,127,000 net private sector jobs have 
        been lost since January 2001;
            (2) the national unemployment rate was 6.2 percent in July 
        2003;
            (3) certain industries and geographical areas have borne a 
        disproportionate share of the job loss and unemployment;
            (4) according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2,406,000 
        net manufacturing sector jobs have been lost since January 
        2001; and
            (5) unemployment in many manufacturing intensive areas 
        exceeded 10 percent in July 2003.

SEC. 3. PREFERENCE FOR LOCATING PUBLIC BUILDINGS IN HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT 
              AREAS.

    Section 3306 of title 40, United States Code, is amended by adding 
at the end the following:
    ``(d) Preference for High Unemployment Areas.--In selecting sites 
for the construction of public buildings and in leasing space to 
accommodate Federal agencies, the Administrator shall give preference 
to areas in which, for the most recent 12-month period for which data 
is available, the unemployment rate exceeds the national average by 2 
percentage points or more, as calculated by the Bureau of Labor 
Statistics of the Department of Labor.''.
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