[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 47 (Thursday, April 13, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2765-S2767]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. WELLSTONE (for himself, Mr. Daschle, and Mr. Baucus):
  S. 2447. A bill to amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development 
Act to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to make competitive 
grants to establish National Centers for Distance Working to provide 
assistance to individuals in rural communities to support the use of 
teleworking in information technology fields; to the Committee on 
Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.


                          telework act of 2000

  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I rise today on behalf of myself and 
Senators Daschle and Baucus to introduce the Rural Telework Act of 
2000, a bill that is designed to make information technology (IT) 
industries a part of diverse, sustainable rural economies while helping 
IT employers find skilled workers. The goal of this bill is to link 
unemployed and underemployed individuals in rural areas and on Indian 
reservations with jobs in the IT industry through telework.
  We are in the midst of an information revolution which has the 
potential to be every bit as significant to our society and economy as 
the industrial revolution two hundred years ago. But in recent months 
there has been much discussion of the ``digital divide,'' the idea that 
one America is not able to take advantage of the promise of new 
technologies to change the way we learn, live, and work while the other 
America speeds forward into the 21st Century. As advanced 
telecommunications and informaiton technology become the new engines of 
our economy, it is critical that all no communities are left behind.
  Many rural communities and Indian reservations are already facing 
severe unemployment underemployment, and population loss due to a lack 
of economic opportunities. A study last year by the Center for Rural 
Affairs reports that widespread poverty exists in agriculturally based 
counties in a six-state region including Minnesota. Over one-third of 
households in farm counties have annual income less than $15,000 and, 
in every year from 1988 to 1997, earnings in farm counties 
significantly trailed other counties. Unemployment on many Indian 
reservations exceed 50% and remote locations make traditional 
industries uncertain agents for economic development.
  There are troubles ahead for the new economy as well: the information 
technology industry reports that it faces a dramatic shortage of 
skilled workers. The Minnesota Department of Economic Security projects 
that over the next decade, almost 8,800 workers will be needed each 
year to fill position openings in specific IT occupations. 
Approximately 1,000 students graduate each year from IT-related post-
secondary programs in Minnesota, not anywhere near enough to fill the 
demand, according to this same state agency. This shortage is reflected 
nation wide, with industry projecting

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shortfalls of several hundred of thousand IT workers per year in coming 
years.
  Rural workers need jobs. High tech employers need workers. This 
legislation would create models of how to bring these communities 
together to find a common solution to these separate challenges.
  The Rural Telework Act of 2000 would authorize the Department of 
Agriculture to make competitive grants to qualified organizations to 
implement five year projects to train, connect, and broker employment 
in the private sector, through telework, a population of rural workers 
in their community. A grant recipient would be desgnated as a National 
Center for Distance Working. The National Centers for Distance Working, 
located in rural areas, are intended to be locally developed and 
implemented national models of how telework relationships can meet the 
needs of rural communities for new economic opportunities and the need 
of IT intensive industries for new workers.

  Mr. President, telework is a new term that may be unfamiliar to 
colleagues so I want to take a moment to explain what it is. According 
to the International Telework Association and Council (ITAC), telework 
is defined as using information and communications technologies to 
perform work away from the traditional work site typically used by the 
employer. For example, a person who works at home and transmits his or 
her work product back to the office via a modern is a teleworker, also 
known as a telecommuter; as is someone who works from a telework 
center, which is a place where many teleworkers work from--often for 
different companies.
  The nature of IT jobs allow them to be performed away from a 
traditional work site. As long as workers have the required training, 
and a means of performing work activities over a distance--through the 
use of advanced telecommunications--there is no reason that skilled IT 
jobs cannot be filled from rural communities.
  Because it essentially allows distance to be erased, telework is a 
promising tool for rural development and for making rural and 
reservation economies sustainable. Very soon, a firm located in another 
city, another state or even another country need not be viewed as a 
distant opportunity for rural residents, but as a potential employer 
only as far away as a home computer or telework center. Likewise, 
telework arrangements allow employers to draw from a national labor 
pool without the hassles and cost associated with relocation.
  Many businesses and organizations are already using telework or 
telecommuting as a tool to reduce travel and commuting times and to 
accommodate the needs and schedules of employees. Many metropolitan 
communities with high concentrations of IT industries are already 
looking to telework as a means of addressing urban and suburban ills 
such as housing shortages, traffic congestion, and pollution.
  However, the IT industry does not currently view rural America as a 
potential source of skilled employees. Nor do many rural communities 
know how to turn IT industries into a viable source of good jobs to 
revitalize local economies. Moreover, many rural community leaders fear 
that providing IT job skills to rural residents--when there are no 
opportunities for using those skills in the community--will lead to 
further population losses as retrained workers seek opportunities in 
metropolitan areas. At the same time, management of off-site employees 
requires new practices to be developed by employers and in some cases, 
dramatic paradigm shifts. Rural areas and Indian reservations are in 
danger of being left behind by a revolution which actually holds the 
most promise for those communities which are the most distant. IT 
employers risk missing a pool of potential employees with a strong work 
ethic.
  Establishment of a National Center for Distance Working in a rural 
community or Indian reservation will give that community access to 
federal resources to implement a locally designed proposal to employ 
rural residents in IT jobs through telework relationships, linking 
prospective employers with rural residents. Successful National Centers 
for Distance Work would be locally  developed and implemented national 
models for how telework can be used as a tool for rural development.

  The Department of Agriculture's Rural Utility Service (RUS) would 
administer the program which would have a $11 million annual 
authorization level. At least $10 million of authorized funds would be 
used for the purpose of making competitive grants to establish National 
Centers for Distance Working.
  Grant money made available under the program would be highly 
flexible, and would need to be leveraged with private, local and state 
resources. For example, they could be used to provide or enhance the 
quality of: IT skills training and education, technology and 
telecommunications, promotion of teleworking, brokering employment for 
rural IT workers, and other necessary elements to establish IT work 
opportunities in that rural community.
  The funds are not intended to duplicate existing federal training and 
connectivity programs. Nor is it intended that Centers use these funds 
to supplant existing telecommunications providers who offer appropriate 
services to make telework a reality in rural communities. Rather, the 
federal investment is targeted to augment these existing sources of 
funding and allow rural communities to fill in the gaps in existing 
public and private resources and services. Prospective grant recipients 
would need to form partnerships with local, state, and private 
entities, including potential employers.
  The grants made available under this program would not be sufficient 
to cover the full cost of training, connecting, and employing rural 
workers, but are intended to be ``seed money'' leveraged with dollars 
from other sources. Grant recipients would be required to match the 
funds provided under this program with funds from non-federal sources.
  Finally, up to $1 million of the $11 million could be used by RUS to 
make grants for the purpose of promoting the development of teleworking 
in rural areas by making grants to entities to conduct research on 
economics, operational, social, and policy issues related to 
teleworking in rural areas, including the development of best practices 
for businesses that employ teleworkers.
  The necessary vision of how to make telework a reality already exists 
in some employers and in some rural communities. In Sebeka, Minnesota--
a town with a population of little more than 600 people--a small firm 
called Cross Consulting was founded. That company employs over 20 
people through a contract with Northwest Airlines to provide do 
programming on Northwest's mainframe computers. These people are rural 
teleworkers. The new economy is not leaving Sebeka behind and we need 
to incubate that kind of innovation in rural areas and Indian 
reservations across the country.
  Mr. President, for many jobs, in many industries, telework may be the 
future of work. It may also be the future of diverse, sustainable rural 
economies. This legislation offers an early opportunity to invest in 
local innovation to harness this potential.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a copy of the bill be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 2447

       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 ``Rural Telework Act of 
     2000''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

       (a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
       (1) many rural communities and Indian reservations have not 
     benefited from the historic economic expansion in recent 
     years, and high levels of unemployment and underemployment 
     persist in the rural communities and reservations;
       (2) many economic opportunities, especially in information 
     technology fields, are located away from many rural 
     communities and reservations;
       (3) the United States has a significant and growing need 
     for skilled information technology workers;
       (4) unemployed and underemployed rural employees represent 
     a potential workforce to fill information technology jobs;
       (5) teleworking allows rural employees to perform skill 
     intensive information technology jobs from their communities 
     for firms located outside rural communities; and
       (6) employing a rural teleworkforce in information 
     technology fields will require--

[[Page S2767]]

       (A) employers that are willing to hire rural residents or 
     contract for work to be performed in rural communities;
       (B) recruitment and training of rural residents appropriate 
     for work in information technology fields;
       (C) means of connecting employers with employees through 
     advanced telecommunications services; and
       (D) innovative approaches and collaborative models to 
     create rural technology business opportunities and facilitate 
     the employment of rural individuals.
       (b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are--
       (1) to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to make 
     competitive grants to establish National Centers for Distance 
     Working in rural areas to provide assistance to individuals 
     in rural communities to support the use of teleworking in 
     information technology fields;
       (2) to promote teleworking arrangements, small electronic 
     business development, and creation of information technology 
     jobs in rural areas for the purpose of creating sustainable 
     economic opportunities in rural communities;
       (3) to promote the practice of teleworking to information 
     technology jobs among rural, urban, and suburban residents, 
     Indian tribes, job training and workforce development 
     providers, educators, and employers;
       (4) to meet the needs of information technology and other 
     industries for skilled employees by accelerating the training 
     and hiring of rural employees to fill existing and future 
     jobs from rural communities and Indian reservations;
       (5) to promote teleworking and small electronic business as 
     sustainable income sources for rural communities and Indian 
     tribes; and
       (6) to study, collect information, and develop best 
     practices for rural teleworking employment practices.

     SEC. 3. NATIONAL CENTERS FOR DISTANCE WORKING PROGRAM.

       Subtitle D of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development 
     Act (7 U.S.C. 1981 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 
     the following:

     ``SEC. 376. NATIONAL CENTERS FOR DISTANCE WORKING PROGRAM.

       ``(a) Definitions.--In this section:
       ``(1) Center.--The term `Center' means a National Center 
     for Distance Working established under subsection (b) that 
     receives a grant under this section.
       ``(2) Eligible organization.--The term `eligible 
     organization' means a nonprofit entity, an educational 
     institution, a tribal government, or any other organization 
     that meets the requirements of this section and such other 
     requirements as are established by the Secretary.
       ``(3) Information technology.--The term `information 
     technology' means any equipment, or interconnected system or 
     subsystem of equipment, that is used in the automatic 
     acquisition, storage, manipulation, management, movement, 
     control, display, switching, interchange, transmission, or 
     reception of data or information, including a computer, 
     ancillary equipment, software, firmware and similar 
     procedures, services (including support services), and 
     related resources.
       ``(4) Rural area.--The terms `rural' and `rural area' have 
     the meaning given the terms in section 381A.
       ``(5) Secretary.--The term `Secretary' means the Secretary, 
     acting through the Administrator of the Rural Utility 
     Service.
       ``(6) Teleworking.--The term `teleworking' means the use of 
     telecommunications to perform work functions over a distance 
     and to reduce or eliminate the need to perform work at a 
     traditional worksite.
       ``(b) Establishment.--
       ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall establish a National 
     Centers for Distance Working Program under which the 
     Secretary shall make competitive grants to eligible 
     organizations to pay the Federal share of the cost of 
     establishing National Centers for Distance Working in rural 
     areas to conduct projects in accordance with subsection (c).
       ``(2) Eligible organization.--The Secretary shall establish 
     criteria that an organization must meet to be eligible to 
     receive a grant under this section.
       ``(c) Projects.--A Center shall use a grant received under 
     this section to conduct a 5-year project--
       ``(1) to provide training, referral, assessment, and 
     employment-related services and assistance to individuals in 
     rural communities and Indian tribes to support the use of 
     teleworking in information technology fields, including 
     services and assistance related to high technology training, 
     telecommunications infrastructure, capital equipment, job 
     placement services, and other means of promoting teleworking;
       ``(2) to identify skills that are needed by the business 
     community and that will enable trainees to secure employment 
     after the completion of training;
       ``(3) to recruit employers for rural individuals and 
     residents of Indian reservations;
       ``(4) to provide for high-speed communications between the 
     individuals in the targeted rural community or reservation 
     and employers that carry out information technology work that 
     is suitable for teleworking;
       ``(5) to provide for access to or ownership of the 
     facilities, hardware, software, and other equipment necessary 
     to perform information technology jobs; and
       ``(6) to perform such other functions as the Secretary 
     considers appropriate.
       ``(d) Eligibility Criteria.--
       ``(1) Application and plan.--As a condition of receiving a 
     grant under this section for use with respect to a rural 
     area, an organization shall submit to the Secretary, and 
     obtain the approval of the Secretary of, an application and 
     5-year plan for the use of the grant to carry out a project 
     described in subsection (c), including a description of--
       ``(A) the businesses and employers that will provide 
     employment opportunities in the rural area;
       ``(B) fundraising strategies;
       ``(C) training and training delivery methods to be 
     employed;
       ``(D) the rural community of individuals to be targeted to 
     receive assistance;
       ``(E) any support from State and local governments and 
     other non-Federal sources; and
       ``(F) outreach activities to be carried out to reach 
     potential information technology employers.
       ``(2) Non-federal share.--
       ``(A) In general.--As a condition of receiving a grant 
     under this section, an organization shall agree to obtain, 
     after the application of the organization has been approved 
     and notice of award has been issued, contributions from non-
     Federal sources that are equal to--
       ``(i) during each of the first, second, and third years of 
     a project, 1 non-Federal dollar for each 2 Federal dollars 
     provided under the grant; and
       ``(ii) during each of the fourth and fifth years of the 
     project, 1 non-Federal dollar for each Federal dollar 
     provided under the grant.
       ``(B) Indian tribes.--Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), an 
     Indian tribe may use Federal funds made available to the 
     tribe for self-governance to pay the non-Federal 
     contributions required under subparagraph (A).
       ``(C) Form.--The non-Federal contributions required under 
     subparagraph (A) may be in the form of in-kind contributions, 
     including office equipment, office space, and services.
       ``(e) Selection Criteria.--
       ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall--
       ``(A) establish criteria for the selection of eligible 
     organizations to receive grants under this section; and
       ``(B) evaluate, rank, and select eligible organizations on 
     the basis of the selection criteria.
       ``(2) Factors.--The selection criteria established under 
     paragraph (1) shall include--
       ``(A) the experience of the eligible organization in 
     conducting programs or ongoing efforts designed to improve or 
     upgrade the skills of rural employees or members of Indian 
     tribes;
       ``(B) the ability of the eligible organization to initiate 
     a project within a minimum period of time;
       ``(C) the ability and experience of the eligible 
     organization in providing training to rural individuals who 
     are economically disadvantaged or who face significant 
     barriers to employment;
       ``(D) the ability and experience of the eligible 
     organization in conducting information technology skill 
     training;
       ``(E) the degree to which the eligible organization has 
     entered into partnerships or contracts with local, tribal, 
     and State governments, community-based organizations, and 
     prospective employers to provide training, employment, and 
     supportive services;
       ``(F) the ability and experience of the eligible 
     organization in providing job placement for rural employees 
     with employers that are suitable for teleworking;
       ``(G) the computer and telecommunications equipment that 
     the eligible organization has or expects to possess or use 
     under contract on initiation of the project; and
       ``(H) the means the applicant proposes, such as high-speed 
     Internet access, to allow communication between rural 
     employees and employers.
       ``(3) Publication.--The Secretary shall--
       ``(A) publish the selection criteria established under this 
     subsection in the Federal Register; and
       ``(B) include a description of the selection criteria in 
     any solicitation for applications for grants made by the 
     Secretary.
       ``(f) Studies of Teleworking.--
       ``(1) In general.--To promote the development of 
     teleworking in rural areas, the Secretary may make grants to 
     entities to conduct research on economic, operational, 
     social, and policy issues relating to teleworking in rural 
     areas, including the development of best practices for 
     businesses that employ teleworkers.
       ``(2) Limitation.--The Secretary shall use not more than 
     $1,000,000 of funds made available for a fiscal year under 
     subsection (g) to carry out this subsection.
       ``(g) Authorization of Appropriation.--There is authorized 
     to be appropriated to carry out this section $11,000,000 for 
     each fiscal year.''.
                                 ______