[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 891 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 891

 To increase the employment of Americans by requiring State workforce 
 agencies to certify that employers are actively recruiting Americans 
and that Americans are not qualified or available to fill the positions 
        that the employer wants to fill with H-2B nonimmigrants.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 8, 2013

  Mr. Merkley introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To increase the employment of Americans by requiring State workforce 
 agencies to certify that employers are actively recruiting Americans 
and that Americans are not qualified or available to fill the positions 
        that the employer wants to fill with H-2B nonimmigrants.

    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 ``American Jobs in American Forests 
Act of 2013''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Forestry.--The term ``forestry'' means--
                    (A) propagating, protecting, and managing forest 
                tracts;
                    (B) felling trees and cutting them into logs;
                    (C) using hand tools or operating heavy powered 
                equipment to perform activities such as preparing sites 
                for planting, tending crop trees, reducing competing 
                vegetation, moving logs, piling brush, and yarding and 
                trucking logs from the forest;
                    (D) planting seedlings and trees; and
                    (E) preventing, controlling and extinguishing 
                fires.
            (2) H-2B nonimmigrant.--The term ``H-2B nonimmigrant'' 
        means a nonimmigrant described in section 101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(b) 
        of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
        1101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(b)).
            (3) Prospective h-2b employer.--The term ``prospective H-2B 
        employer'' means a United States business that is considering 
        employing 1 or more nonimmigrants described in section 
        101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
        U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(b)).
            (4) State workforce agency.--Except as used in section 3, 
        the term ``State workforce agency'' means the workforce agency 
        of the State in which the prospective H-2B employer intends to 
        employ H-2B nonimmigrants.

SEC. 3. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

    (a) Recruitment.--As a component of the labor certification process 
required before H-2B nonimmigrants are offered forestry employment in 
the United States, the Secretary of Labor shall require all prospective 
H-2B employers, before they submit a petition to hire H-2B 
nonimmigrants to work in forestry, to conduct a robust effort to 
recruit United States workers, including--
            (1) advertising at employment or job-placement events, such 
        as job fairs;
            (2) advertising with State or local workforce agencies, 
        nonprofit organizations, or other appropriate entities, and 
        working with such entities to identify potential employees;
            (3) advertising in appropriate media, including local radio 
        stations and commonly used, reputable Internet job-search 
        sites; and
            (4) such other recruitment strategies as the State 
        workforce agency considers appropriate for the sector or 
        positions for which H-2B nonimmigrants would be considered.
    (b) Separate Petitions.--A prospective H-2B employer shall submit a 
separate petition for each State in which the employer plans to employ 
H-2B nonimmigrants in forestry for a period of 7 days or longer.

SEC. 4. STATE WORKFORCE AGENCIES.

    The Secretary of Labor may not grant a temporary labor 
certification to a prospective H-2B employer seeking to employ H-2B 
nonimmigrants in forestry until after the Director of the State 
workforce agency--
            (1) has formally consulted with the workforce agency 
        director of each contiguous State listed on the prospective H-
        2B employer's application and determined that--
                    (A) the employer has complied with all recruitment 
                requirements set forth in section 3 and there is a 
                legitimate demand for the employment of H-2B 
                nonimmigrants in each of those States; or
                    (B) the employer has amended the application by 
                removing or making appropriate modifications with 
                respect to the States in which the criteria set forth 
                in subparagraph (A) have not been met;
            (2) certifies that the prospective H-2B employer has 
        complied with all recruitment requirements set forth in section 
        3 or any other applicable provision of law; and
            (3) makes a formal determination that nationals of the 
        United States are not qualified or available to fill the 
        employment opportunities offered by the prospective H-2B 
        employer.
                                 <all>