1.This Act may be cited as the
Consolidating Veteran Employment
Services for Improved Performance Act of 2012
.
2.Transfer of
Department of Labor veterans programs to Department of Veterans
Affairs
(a)Effective October
1, 2013, there shall be transferred to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs all
functions performed under the following programs of the Department of Labor,
and all personnel, assets, and liabilities pertaining to such programs,
immediately before such transfer occurs:
(1)Job counseling,
training, and placement services for veterans under chapter 41 of title 38,
United States Code.
(2)Employment and
training of veterans under chapter 42 of such title.
(3)Administration of
employment and employment rights of members of the uniformed services under
chapter 43 of such title.
(4)Homeless veterans
reintegration programs under chapter 20 of such title.
(b)Under section 1105 of
title 31, United States Code, the President shall include in the President’s
budget request for the Department of Veterans Affairs for fiscal year 2014, and
for each subsequent fiscal year, funding requested for the functions referred
to in subsection (a).
(c)Any
reference in any other Federal law, Executive order, rule, regulation, or
delegation of authority, or any document of or pertaining to a department or
office from which a function is transferred by this Act—
(1)to the head of
such department or office is deemed to refer to the head of the department or
office to which such function is transferred; or
(2)to such department
or office is deemed to refer to the department or office to which such function
is transferred.
(d)Except as otherwise provided by law, a Federal
official to whom a function is transferred by this Act may, for purposes of
performing the function, exercise all authorities under any other provision of
law that were available with respect to the performance of that function to the
official responsible for the performance of the function immediately before the
effective date of the transfer of the function under this Act.
(e)
(1)All orders, determinations, rules, regulations,
permits, grants, loans, contracts, agreements, certificates, licenses, and
privileges—
(A)that have been
issued, made, granted, or allowed to become effective by the President, the
Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, any officer or employee
of any office transferred by this Act, or any other Government official, or by
a court of competent jurisdiction, in the performance of any function that is
transferred by this Act, and
(B)that are in effect
on the effective date of such transfer (or become effective after such date
pursuant to their terms as in effect on such effective date),
shall
continue in effect according to their terms until modified, terminated,
superseded, set aside, or revoked in accordance with law by the President, any
other authorized official, a court of competent jurisdiction, or operation of
law.(2)This
Act shall not affect any proceedings or any application for any benefits,
service, license, permit, certificate, or financial assistance pending on the
date of the enactment of this Act before an office transferred by this Act, but
such proceedings and applications shall be continued. Orders shall be issued in
such proceedings, appeals shall be taken therefrom, and payments shall be made
pursuant to such orders, as if this Act had not been enacted, and orders issued
in any such proceeding shall continue in effect until modified, terminated,
superseded, or revoked by a duly authorized official, by a court of competent
jurisdiction, or by operation of law. Nothing in this subsection shall be
considered to prohibit the discontinuance or modification of any such
proceeding under the same terms and conditions and to the same extent that such
proceeding could have been discontinued or modified if this Act had not been
enacted.
(3)This
Act shall not affect suits commenced before the date of the enactment of this
Act, and in all such suits, proceeding shall be had, appeals taken, and
judgments rendered in the same manner and with the same effect as if this Act
had not been enacted.
(4)No suit, action, or other proceeding commenced by or
against the Department of Labor or the Secretary of Labor, or by or against any
individual in the official capacity of such individual as an officer or
employee of an office transferred by this Act, shall abate by reason of the
enactment of this Act.
(5)If any Government officer in the official capacity of such
officer is party to a suit with respect to a function of the officer, and under
this Act such function is transferred to any other officer or office, then such
suit shall be continued with the other officer or the head of such other
office, as applicable, substituted or added as a party.
(6)Administrative
procedure and judicial reviewExcept as otherwise provided by
this Act, any statutory requirements relating to notice, hearings, action upon
the record, or administrative or judicial review that apply to any function
transferred by this Act shall apply to the exercise of such function by the
head of the Federal agency, and other officers of the agency, to which such
function is transferred by this Act.
(f)Except as otherwise provided in this Act, so much of the
personnel, property, records, and unexpended balances of appropriations,
allocations, and other funds employed, used, held, available, or to be made
available in connection with a function transferred to an official or agency by
this Act shall be available to the official or the head of that agency,
respectively, at such time or times as the Director of the Office of Management
and Budget directs for use in connection with the functions transferred.
(g)Delegation and
assignmentExcept as otherwise expressly prohibited by law or
otherwise provided in this Act, an official to whom functions are transferred
under this Act (including the head of any office to which functions are
transferred under this Act) may delegate any of the functions so transferred to
such officers and employees of the office of the official as the official may
designate, and may authorize successive redelegations of such functions as may
be necessary or appropriate. No delegation of functions under this section or
under any other provision of this Act shall relieve the official to whom a
function is transferred under this Act of responsibility for the administration
of the function.
(h)Authority of
Director of the Office of Management and Budget with respect to functions
transferred
(1)If necessary, the Director of Management
and Budget shall make any determination of the functions that are transferred
under this Act.
(2)The Director, at such time or times as the Director
shall provide, may make such determinations as may be necessary with regard to
the functions transferred by this Act, and to make such additional incidental
dispositions of personnel, assets, liabilities, grants, contracts, property,
records, and unexpended balances of appropriations, authorizations,
allocations, and other funds held, used, arising from, available to, or to be
made available in connection with such functions, as may be necessary to carry
out the provisions of this Act. The Director shall provide for the termination
of the affairs of all entities terminated by this Act and for such further
measures and dispositions as may be necessary to effectuate the purposes of
this Act.
(i)Certain vesting
of functions considered transfersFor purposes of this Act, the
vesting of a function in a department or office pursuant to reestablishment of
an office shall be considered to be the transfer of the function.
(j)Availability of
existing fundsExisting appropriations and funds available for
the performance of functions, programs, and activities terminated pursuant to
this Act shall remain available, for the duration of their period of
availability, for necessary expenses in connection with the termination and
resolution of such functions, programs, and activities.
(k)For
purposes of this Act—
(1)the term
function includes any duty, obligation, power, authority,
responsibility, right, privilege, activity, or program; and
(2)the term
office includes any office, administration, agency, bureau,
institute, council, unit, organizational entity, or component thereof.
3.Deputy Under
Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Veterans’ Employment and Training
(a)Subsection (a) of section 4102A of title 38, United
States Code, is amended to read as follows:
(a)Deputy Under
Secretary for Veterans’ Employment and Training(1)There is established within the Department
a Deputy Under Secretary for Veterans’ Employment and Training, who shall
formulate and implement all departmental policies and procedures to carry
out—
(A)the purposes of this chapter, chapter
42, and chapter 43 of this title; and
(B)all other Department employment,
unemployment, and training programs to the extent they affect veterans.
(2)The employees of the Department
administering chapter 43 of this title shall be administratively and
functionally responsible to the Deputy Under Secretary for Veterans’ Employment
and
Training.
.
(b)Chapter 41 of title 38, United States Code, is amended
as follows:
(1)The section
heading of section 4102A of such title is amended to read as follows:
4102A.Deputy Under
Secretary for Veterans’ Employment and Training; program functions; Regional
Administrators
.
(2)The item relating
to such section in the table of sections at the beginning of such chapter is
amended to read as follows:
4102A. Deputy Under Secretary for
Veterans’ Employment and Training; program functions; Regional
Administrators.
.
(c)The amendments made by this section shall take effect on
October 1, 2013.
4.Consolidation of
disabled veterans outreach program and local veterans’ employment
representatives
(a)
(1)Section 4104 of title 38, United States Code, is amended
to read as follows:
4104.Veteran
employment specialists
(a)Requirement for
employment by states(1)Subject to approval by the Secretary, a
State shall employ such full- or part-time veteran employment specialists as
the State determines appropriate and efficient to carry out the
following:
(A)Employment, training, and placement
services under this chapter.
(B)Intensive services under this chapter
to meet the employment needs of eligible veterans with the following priority
in the provision of services:
(i)Special disabled veterans.
(ii)Other disabled veterans.
(iii)Other eligible veterans in
accordance with priorities determined by the Secretary taking into account
applicable rates of unemployment and the employment emphases set forth in
chapter 42 of this title.
(2)In the provision of services in accordance
with this subsection, maximum emphasis in meeting the employment and training
needs of veterans shall be placed on assisting economically or educationally
disadvantaged veterans.
(b)As principal duties,
veteran employment specialists shall—
(1)conduct outreach
to employers in the area to assist veterans and disabled veterans in gaining
employment, including conducting seminars for employers and, in conjunction
with employers, conducting job search workshops and establishing job search
groups; and
(2)facilitate
employment, training, and placement services furnished to veterans and disabled
veterans in a State under the applicable State employment service delivery
systems.
(c)Requirement for
qualified veterans(1)A State shall, to the
maximum extent practicable, employ qualified veterans to carry out the services
referred to in subsection (a). Preference shall be given in the appointment of
such specialists to qualified disabled veterans. Preference shall be accorded
in the following order:
(A)To qualified service-connected
disabled veterans.
(B)If no veteran described in
subparagraph (A) is available, to qualified eligible veterans.
(C)If no veteran described in
subparagraph (A) or (B) is available, then to qualified eligible
persons.
(2)(A)Each State that employs
a veteran employment specialist under this section shall submit to the
Secretary an annual report on the qualifications used by the State in making
hiring determinations for such specialists and the salary structure under which
such specialists are compensated.
(B)The Secretary shall submit to the
Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and House of Representatives an
annual report summarizing the reports submitted under subparagraph (A).
(d)A part-time veteran
employment specialist shall perform the functions of a veteran employment
specialist under this section on a halftime basis.
(e)Each veteran employment specialist shall be
administratively responsible to the manager of the employment service delivery
system and shall provide reports, not less frequently than quarterly, to the
manager of such office and to the Director for Veterans’ Employment and
Training for the State regarding compliance with Federal law and regulations
with respect to special services and priorities for eligible veterans and
eligible
persons.
.
(2)The table of sections at the beginning of such chapter
is amended by striking the item relating to section 4104 and inserting the
following new item:
4104. Veteran employment
specialists.
.
(b)Such title is further amended—
(1)by striking
section 4103A and by striking the item relating to such section in the table of
sections at the beginning of chapter 41 of such title;
(2)in section
4102A—
(A)in subsection
(b)—
(i)in
paragraph (5)—
(I)by striking
subparagraph (B) and redesignating subparagraph (C) as subparagraph (B);
(II)by amending
subparagraph (A) to read as follows:
(A)veteran employment specialists appointed
under section 4104(a) of this title;
and
;
and
(III)in subparagraph
(B), as so redesignated, by striking such specialists and
representatives described in subparagraphs (A) and (B)
and inserting
such representatives described in subparagraph (A)
; and
(ii)in
paragraph (7), by striking disabled veterans’ outreach program
specialists and through local veterans’ employment representatives
and
inserting veteran employment specialists
;
(B)in subsection
(c)—
(i)in
paragraph (1)—
(I)by striking
sections 4103A(a) and
and inserting section
;
and
(II)by striking
section 4103A or
;
(ii)in
paragraph (2)(A)—
(I)in clause
(i)(I)—
- (aa)by
striking
disabled veterans’ outreach program specialists and local
veterans’ employment representatives
and inserting veteran
employment specialists
; and
- (bb)by
striking
sections 4103A and 4104
and inserting section
4104
; and
(II)in clause (iii),
by striking disabled veterans’ outreach program specialist or a local
veterans’ employment representative
and inserting veteran
employment specialist
;
(iii)in
paragraph (4), by striking 4103A or
;
(iv)in
paragraph (5), by striking disabled veterans’ outreach program
specialist and local veterans’ employment representative
and inserting
veteran employment specialist
;
(v)in
paragraph (7), by striking 4103A or
; and
(vi)in
paragraph (8)(A)—
(I)by striking
4103A or
; and
(II)by striking
disabled veterans’ outreach program specialist or a local veterans’
employment representative
and inserting veteran employment
specialist
; and
(C)in subsection
(f)(1), by striking disabled veterans’ outreach program specialists and
local veterans’ employment representatives
and inserting veteran
employment specialists
; and
(3)in section
4109(a), by striking disabled veterans’ outreach program specialists,
local veterans’ employment representatives
and inserting veteran
employment specialists
;
(4)in section
4112(d)—
(A)in paragraph (1),
by striking disabled veterans’ outreach program specialist
and
inserting veteran employment specialist
; and
(B)by striking
paragraph (2) and redesignating paragraph (3) as paragraph (2); and
(5)in section
3672(d)(1), by striking disabled veterans’ outreach program specialists
under section 4103A
and inserting veteran employment specialists
appointed under section 4104(a)
.
(c)The amendments made by this section shall take effect on
October 1, 2013.
5.Additional
technical and conforming amendments
(a)Chapter 41 of title 38, United States Code, as amended by this
Act, is further amended as follows:
(1)By striking
Assistant Secretary of Labor for Veterans’ Employment and
Training
each place it appears and inserting Deputy Under
Secretary for Veterans’ Employment and Training
.
(2)By striking
Department of Labor
each place it appears and inserting
Department
.
(3)By striking
Secretary of Labor
each place it appears and inserting
Secretary
.
(4)In section 4101,
by striking paragraph (8).
(5)In section
4102A(b)—
(A)in paragraph (1),
by striking such Assistant Secretary
and inserting such
Deputy Under Secretary
; and
(B)in paragraph (3),
by striking and consulting with the Secretary of Veterans
Affairs
.
(6)In section
4105(b), by striking and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs
both
places it appears.
(7)By striking
section 4108.
(8)In the table of
sections at the beginning of such chapter, by striking the item relating to
section 4108.
(9)In section
4110(d), by striking paragraph (1) and redesignating paragraphs (2) through (6)
as paragraphs (1) through (5), respectively.
(10)In section
4110A(b), by striking Congress
and inserting the
Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and House of
Representatives
.
(11)In subsections
(b) through (h) of section 4114, by striking Assistant Secretary
each place it appears and inserting Deputy Under
Secretary
.
(b)Chapter 42 of title 38,
United States Code, is amended as follows:
(1)By striking
Secretary of Labor
each place it appears and inserting
Secretary
.
(2)By striking
Department of Labor
each place it appears and inserting
Department
.
(c)Chapter 43 of title 38, United States Code, is amended as
follows:
(1)In section 4303,
by striking paragraph (11).
(2)By striking
Secretary of Veterans Affairs
each place it appears and
inserting Secretary
.
(3)In section 4321,
by striking (through the Veterans’ Employment and Training
Service)
.
(4)In section
4332(a)(1), by striking of Labor
.
(5)In section 4333,
by striking , the Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of Veterans
Affairs
and inserting and the Secretary of
Defense
.
(d)Chapter 20 of title 38,
United States Code, is amended as follows:
(1)In section
2003(a)(4), by striking of the Department of Labor
.
(2)In section
2011(g)(2), by striking the Department of Labor,
.
(3)In section
2021—
(A)by striking
Secretary of Labor
each place it appears and inserting
Secretary
; and
(B)in subsection
(c)—
(i)by
striking the subsection heading and inserting the following:
(c)Administration
through Deputy Under Secretary for Veterans’ Employment and
Training
;
and
(ii)by
striking Assistant Secretary of Labor for Veterans’ Employment and
Training
and inserting Deputy Under Secretary for Veterans’
Employment and Training
.
(4)In section
2021A—
(A)by striking
Secretary of Labor
each place it appears and inserting
Secretary
; and
(B)in subsection
(d)—
(i)by
striking the subsection heading and inserting the following:
(d)Administration
through Deputy Under Secretary for Veterans’ Employment and
Training
;
and
(ii)by
striking Assistant Secretary of Labor for Veterans’ Employment and
Training
and inserting Deputy Under Secretary for Veterans’
Employment and Training
.
(5)In section
2023—
(A)in subsection (a),
by striking and the Secretary of Labor (hereinafter in this section
referred to as the Secretaries
)
; and
(B)by striking
Secretaries
each place it appears and inserting
Secretary
.
(6)In section
2065(b)(5), by striking subparagraph (E) and redesignating subparagraphs (F)
through (H) as subparagraphs (E) through (G), respectively.
(7)In section 2066(a)(3), by striking
subparagraph (A) and redesignating subparagraphs (B) through (G) as
subparagraphs (A) through (F), respectively.
(e)Other provisions
of title 38Title 38, United
States Code, is further amended as follows:
(1)In section
542(a)(2)(B), by striking clause (i) and redesignating clauses (ii) and (iii)
as clauses (i) and (ii), respectively.
(2)In section
544(a)(2)(B), by striking clause (i) and redesignating clauses (ii) through
(vi) as clauses (i) through (v), respectively.
(3)In section
3118(b), by striking and the Assistant Secretary for Veterans’
Employment in the Department of Labor
.
(4)In section
3119(c), by striking Education, the Assistant Secretary for Veterans’
Employment in the Department of Labor,
.
(5)In section
3121(a)(3)—
(A)by striking
, (B)
and inserting and (B)
; and
(B)by striking
, and (C) one representative of the Assistant Secretary of Labor for
Veterans’ Employment and Training of the Department of Labor. (b) The Secretary
shall, on a regular basis, consult with and seek the advice of the Committee
with respect to the administration of veterans’ rehabilitation programs under
this title
.
(6)In section
3692(a), by striking and the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Veterans’
Employment and Training shall be ex officio members
and inserting
an ex officio member
.
(7)In section
6306—
(A)in subsection (a),
by striking shall arrange with the Secretary of Labor for the State
employment service to match
and inserting shall ensure that the
State employment service matches
; and
(B)in subsection (b),
by striking , in consultation with the Secretary of
Labor,
.
(f)The amendments made by this section shall take effect on
October 1, 2013.