[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5563 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5563

  To authorize the Secretary of Labor to award special recognition to 
          employers for veteran-friendly employment practices.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 18, 2014

 Mr. Cardenas (for himself, Mr. Jolly, Ms. Brownley of California, Mr. 
McGovern, Mr. Carson of Indiana, Mr. Veasey, Mr. Cicilline, Mr. Jones, 
and Mr. Butterfield) introduced the following bill; which was referred 
to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the 
    Committee on Veterans' Affairs, for a period to be subsequently 
   determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
 provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To authorize the Secretary of Labor to award special recognition to 
          employers for veteran-friendly employment practices.

    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 ``Honoring the Hiring of Heroes Act''.

SEC. 2. VETERAN-FRIENDLY BUSINESS AWARDS.

    (a) Authorization and Criteria for Award.--Not later than 1 year 
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Labor (in 
this Act referred as the Secretary) and the Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs shall jointly establish a program to award special recognition 
to employers for veteran-friendly employment practices and, in 
coordination with the Secretaries of Defense and Commerce, shall 
establish criteria for determining recipients of such awards.
    (b) Recognition.--An award of recognition granted under the program 
established by the Secretary under this Act shall be known as an 
Employment Salute Award.
    (c) Eligibility.--
            (1) Employer defined.--As used in this Act, the term 
        ``employer'' means any person engaged in a business affecting 
        commerce who has employees, but does not include the United 
        States or any State or political subdivision of a State.
            (2) Categories.--The Secretary shall establish different 
        categories of employers eligible for the awards based on the 
        size of the employers. Recognition shall be awarded separately 
        for employers having from 1 to 50 employees, from 51 to 500 
        employees, and more than 500 employees.
    (d) Application.--An employer seeking an award of recognition under 
this Act shall provide the Secretary with an application at such time 
and containing such information as the Secretary shall require after 
establishing the criteria described in subsection (a).
    (e) Application Fee and Funding.--
            (1) Fee authorized.--The Secretary may assess a reasonable 
        application fee on employers seeking such an award.
            (2) Establishment of fund.--There is established in the 
        Treasury of the United States a separate account for the 
        deposit of fees collected under this subsection to be known as 
        the Employment Salute Award Fund.
            (3) Deposit.--The Secretary shall deposit any fees 
        collected pursuant to paragraph (1) into the Fund established 
        by paragraph (2).
            (4) Use.--Amounts in the Employment Salute Award Fund shall 
        be available to the Secretary, as provided in paragraph (5), 
        for making expenditures to carry out the program established 
        pursuant to subsection (a).
            (5) Authorization of appropriations.--There is authorized 
        to be appropriated from the Employment Salute Award Fund to the 
        Secretary for each fiscal year in which fees are collected 
        under this subsection an amount equal to the total amount 
        collected during the previous fiscal year from fees assessed 
        pursuant to this subsection. Such amounts are authorized to 
        remain available until expended.
            (6) Crediting and availability of fees.--Fees authorized 
        under paragraph (1) shall be collected and available for 
        obligation only to the extent and in the amount provided in 
        advance in appropriations Acts.
    (f) Publicization.--The Secretary shall publicize the recipients of 
the award by listing such recipients in a separate section on the 
Department of Labor's website and through such other methods as the 
Secretary may determine.
    (g) No Monetary Award.--An award granted under a program 
established pursuant to subsection (a) shall be for recognition only 
and not be monetary in nature.
                                 <all>