[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 77 (Tuesday, May 19, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H5724-H5725]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           MANDATORY VETERAN SPECIALIST TRAINING ACT OF 2009

  Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 1088) to amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for 
a one-year period for the training of new disabled veterans' outreach 
program specialists and local veterans' employment representatives by 
National Veterans' Employment and Training Services Institute.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 1088

       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 ``Mandatory Veteran Specialist 
     Training Act of 2009''.

     SEC. 2. ONE-YEAR PERIOD FOR TRAINING OF NEW DISABLED 
                   VETERANS' OUTREACH PROGRAM SPECIALISTS AND 
                   LOCAL VETERANS' EMPLOYMENT REPRESENTATIVES BY 
                   NATIONAL VETERANS' EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING 
                   SERVICES INSTITUTE.

       (a) One-Year Period.--Section 4102A(c)(8)(A) of title 38, 
     United States Code is amended by striking ``three-year 
     period'' and inserting ``one-year period''.
       (b) Effective Date.--
       (1) Applicability to new employees.--The amendment made by 
     subsection (a) shall apply with respect to a State employee 
     assigned to perform the duties of a disabled veterans' 
     outreach program specialist or a local veterans' employment 
     representative under chapter 41 of such title who is so 
     assigned on or after the date of the enactment of this Act.
       (2) Applicability to previously-hired employees.--In the 
     case of such a State employee who is so assigned on or after 
     January 1, 2006, and before the date of the enactment of this 
     Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall require the 
     State to require, as a condition of a grant or contract under 
     which funds are made available to the State in order to carry 
     out section 4103A or 4104 of title 38, United States Code, 
     each such employee to satisfactorily complete the training 
     described in section 4102A(c)(8)(A) of such title by not 
     later than the date that is one year after the date of the 
     enactment of this Act.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Filner) and the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Boozman) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California.


                             General Leave

  Mr. FILNER. I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 
legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include 
extraneous material on H.R. 1088.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. FILNER. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, this legislation was introduced by Ms. Herseth Sandlin 
of South Dakota. She has demonstrated her commitment to our Nation's 
veterans for many, many years. Her work as Chair of the Economic 
Opportunity Subcommittee, with Mr. Boozman, always bears fruit. H.R. 
1088 is one of those bills.
  I yield to the gentlewoman from South Dakota (Ms. Herseth Sandlin) as 
much time as she may consume to explain the bill.
  Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the chairman 
once again.
  I rise today in strong support of H.R. 1088, the Mandatory Veteran 
Specialist Training Act of 2009, which the Economic Opportunity 
Subcommittee passed on March 19 and which the full committee approved 
on May 6.
  I want to thank again Chairman Filner, the ranking member of the full 
committee, Mr. Buyer, and once again the distinguished ranking member 
of the subcommittee, Mr. Boozman, for their leadership and for, again, 
their bipartisan support of this bill, which I introduced on February 
13, 2009.
  The bill would amend title 38 to reduce from 3 years to 1 year the 
period during which disabled veterans' outreach program specialists or 
local veterans' employment representatives with the Department of Labor 
must complete the specialized veterans' employment training program 
provided by the National Veterans' Training Institute. The National 
Veterans' Training Institute program is designed to give those 
specialists the correct skill set that can help veterans so that they 
can

[[Page H5725]]

help veterans with a wide variety of employment services such as 
transition assistance and case management.

                              {time}  1245

  Through several oversight hearings held by the Subcommittee on 
Economic Opportunity that we have held throughout the 110th and 111th 
Congresses, we learned it was taking on average 2.5 years before 
individuals were completing the National Veterans Training Institute 
Program. This fact, therefore, leaves untrained specialists who don't 
have the necessary skills trying to help veterans with their employment 
needs. So this bill takes an important step in the right direction to 
providing better employment assistance to those who have bravely served 
their country.
  Again, I thank Chairman Filner for his support of this important 
bill, and I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
  Mr. BOOZMAN. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, providing first-class employment services to veterans is 
the most basic way to ensure they can support themselves and their 
families, and that is why I rise in strong support of H.R. 1088, the 
Mandatory Veteran Specialist Training Act of 2009. This measure would 
amend title 38 of the United States Code to provide for a 1-year period 
for the training of new disabled veterans' outreach program specialists 
and local veterans' employment representatives by the National 
Veterans' Employment and Training Services Institute.
  H.R. 1088 was introduced by our distinguished colleague, the 
chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity, Stephanie 
Herseth Sandlin, on February 13, 2009. Mr. Speaker, I was pleased to 
work with Ms. Herseth Sandlin in the 109th Congress to begin the 
process of improving the training levels of State and employment 
service staff. We did that because there was a significant backlog of 
untrained staff and we needed to give States adequate time to train 
their veterans' employment staff that were paid for with Federal funds. 
Together, we passed legislation to require State employment services to 
send their disabled veterans' outreach program specialists--or DVOPS--
and local veterans' employment representatives through basic job 
placement training within 3 years.
  States have had sufficient time to meet the initial training backlog, 
and we should now require that employment specialists be trained within 
a shorter period of time to ensure veterans' employment staff is 
trained properly and promptly after being hired by the State employment 
service.
  Again, I appreciate Ms. Herseth Sandlin for bringing this forward. I 
think it's an excellent bill.
  Having no other speakers, I want to thank committee Chairman Filner 
and Ranking Member Steve Buyer, along with our staffs, and urge my 
colleagues to support H.R. 1088.
  With that, I yield back my time.
  Mr. FILNER. I, again, thank the chair and the ranking member, and I 
urge all of my colleagues to unanimously support H.R. 1088, and I yield 
back the balance of our time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Filner) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 1088.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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