[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1314 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1314

  To amend title 38, United States Code, to require the Secretary of 
Labor to establish minimum funding levels for States for the support of 
  disabled veterans' outreach program specialists and local veterans' 
          employment representatives, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 30, 2011

Mr. Tester (for himself and Mr. Begich) introduced the following bill; 
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend title 38, United States Code, to require the Secretary of 
Labor to establish minimum funding levels for States for the support of 
  disabled veterans' outreach program specialists and local veterans' 
          employment representatives, 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. MINIMUM FUNDING LEVELS FOR DISABLED VETERANS' OUTREACH 
              PROGRAM SPECIALISTS AND LOCAL VETERANS' EMPLOYMENT 
              REPRESENTATIVES.

    (a) In General.--Clause (iii) of section 4102A(c)(2)(B) of title 
38, United States Code, is amended to read as follows:
    ``(i)(I) In carrying out this paragraph, the Secretary shall 
establish minimum funding levels and may establish hold-harmless 
criteria for States.
    ``(II) Except as provided in subclause (III), at a minimum, the 
minimum funding levels establish under subclause (I) shall ensure that 
each State receives sufficient funding to support at least one disabled 
veterans' outreach program specialist appointed under section 
4103A(a)(1) of this title and one local veterans' employment 
representative assigned under section 4104(b) of this title per 5,000 
square miles of service delivery area within the State.
    ``(III) In determining minimum funding levels under subclause (II), 
the Secretary may exclude consideration of counties with a population 
density of less than one person per square mile.''.
    (b) Report.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than one year after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Labor shall submit 
        to Congress a report on the effect of the amendment made by 
        subsection (a) on veterans who reside in highly rural areas.
            (2) Elements.--The report required by paragraph (1) shall 
        include the following:
                    (A) A description of the effect of the amendment 
                made by subsection (a) on veterans who reside in highly 
                rural areas.
                    (B) Such recommendations for legislative or 
                administrative action as the Secretary considers 
                appropriate to improve the provision of contracts and 
                grants under section 4102A(b)(5) of such title to meet 
                the needs of veterans who reside in highly rural areas 
                and are eligible for services furnished under chapter 
                41 of such title.
            (3) Highly rural defined.--In this subsection, the term 
        ``highly rural'', in the case of an area, means that the area 
        consists of a county or counties having a population of less 
        than seven persons per square mile.
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