OLDER AMERICAN COMMUNITY SERVICE

EMPLOYMENT ACT

(TITLE IX OF THE OLDER AMERICANS ACT OF 1965, AS AMENDED BY THE OLDER AMERICANS AMENDMENTS OF 1975, PUBLIC LAW 94-135)

SEC. 901. This title may be cited as the "Older American Community Service Employment Act”.

OLDER AMERICAN COMMUNITY SERVICE EMPLOYMENT PROGRAM

SEC. 902. (a) In order to foster and promote useful part-time opportunities in community service activities for unemployed lowincome persons who are fifty-five years old or older and who have poor employment prospects, the Secretary of Labor (hereinafter in this title referred to as the "Secretary") is authorized to establish an older American community service employment program.

(b) (1) In order to carry out the provisions of this title, the Secretary is authorized to enter into agreements with public or private nonprofit agencies or organizations, including national organizations, agencies of a State government or a political subdivision of a State (having elected or duly appointed governing officials), or a combination of such political subdivisions, or tribal organizations in order to further the purposes and goals of the program. Such agreements may include provisions for the payment of costs, as provided in subsection (c), of projects developed by such organizations and agencies in cooperation with the Secretary in order to make the program effective or to supplement the program. No payment shall be made by the Secretary toward the cost of any project established or administered by any such organization or agency unless he determines that such project

(A) will provide employment only for eligible individuals, except for necessary technical, administrative, and supervisory personnel, but such personnel shall, to the fullest extent possible, be recruited from among eligible individuals;

(B) will provide employment for eligible individuals in the community in which such individuals reside, or in nearby communities;

(C) will employ eligible individuals in services related to publicly owned and operated facilities and projects, or projects sponsored by organizations, other than political parties, exempt from taxation under the provisions of section 501(c)(3) of the

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Internal Revenue Code of 1954, except projects involving the construction, operation, or maintenance of any facility used or to be used as a place for sectarian religious instruction or worship; (D) will contribute to the general welfare of the community; (E) will provide employment for eligible individuals whose opportunities for other suitable public or private paid employment are poor;

(F)(i) will result in an increase in employment opportunities over those opportunities which would otherwise be available, (ii) will not result in the displacement of currently employed workers (including partial displacement, such as a reduction in the hours of nonovertime work or wages or employment benefits), and (iii) will not impair existing contracts or result in the substitution of Federal funds for other funds in connection with work that would otherwise be performed;

(G) will not employ or continue to employ any eligible individual to perform work the same or substantially the same as that performed by any other person who is on layoff;

(H) will utilize methods of recruitment and selection (including listing of job vacancies with the employment agency operated by any State or political subdivision thereof) which will assure that the maximum number of eligible individuals will have an opportunity to participate in the project;

(I) will include such training as may be necessary to make the most effective use of the skills and talents of those individuals who are participating, and will provide for the payment of the reasonable expenses of individuals being trained, including a reasonable subsistence allowance;

(J) will assure that safe and healthy conditions of work will be provided, and will assure that persons employed in community service jobs assisted under this title shall be paid wages which shall not be lower than whichever is the highest of (i) the minimum wage which would be applicable to the employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, if section 6(a)(1) of such Act applied to the participant and if he were not exempt under section 13 thereof, (ii) the State or local minimum wage for the most nearly comparable covered employment, or (iii) the prevailing rates of pay for persons employed in similar public occupations by the same employer;

(K) will be established or administered with the advice of persons competent in the field of service in which employment is being provided, and of persons who are knowledgeable with regard to the needs of older persons;

(L) will authorize pay for necessary transportation costs of eligible individuals which may be incurred in employment in any project funded under this title, in accordance with regulations promulgated by the Secretary;

(M) will assure that, to the extent feasible, such project will serve the needs of minority, Indian, and limited English-speaking eligible individuals in proportion to their numbers in the State; and

(N) will authorize funds to be used, to the extent feasible, to include individuals participating in such project under any State unemployment insurance plan.

(2) The Secretary is authorized to establish, issue, and amend such regulations as may be necessary to effectively carry out the provisions of this title.

(c) (1) The Secretary is authorized to pay not to exceed 90 per centum of the cost of any project which is the subject of an agreement entered into under subsection (b), except that the Secretary is authorized to pay all of the costs of any such project which is (Å) an emergency or disaster project, or (B) a project located in an economically depressed area, as determined by the Secretary in consultation with the Secretary of Commerce and the Director of the Community Services Administration.

(2) The non-Federal share shall be in cash or in kind. In determining the amount of the non-Federal share, the Secretary is authorized to attribute fair market value to services and facilities contributed from non-Federal sources.

ADMINISTRATION

SEC. 903. (a) In order to effectively carry out the provisions of this title, the Secretary shall, through the Commissioner of the Administration on Aging, consult with the State agency on aging designated under section 304 (a) (1) and the appropriate area agencies on aging established under section 304 (a) (2) with regard to

(1) the localities in which community service projects of the type authorized by this title are most needed;

(2) consideration of the employment situations and the type of skills possessed by available local individuals who are eligible to participate; and

(3) potential projects and the number and percentage of eligible individuals in the local population.

(b) If the Secretary determines that to do so would increase job. opportunities available to individuals under this title, the Secretary is authorized to coordinate the program assisted under this title with programs authorized under the Emergency Jobs and Unemployment Assistance Act of 1974, the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act of 1973, the Community Services Act of 1974, and the Emergency Employment Act of 1971. Appropriations under this Act may not be used to carry out any program under the Emergency Jobs and Unemployment Assistance Act of 1974, the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act of 1973, the Community Services Act of 1974, or the Emergency Employment Act of 1971.

(c) In carrying out the provisions of this title, the Secretary is authorized to use, with their consent, the services, equipment, personnel, and facilities of Federal and other agencies with or without reimbursement, and on a similar basis to cooperate with other public and private agencies and instrumentalities in the use of services, equipment, and facilities.

(d) Payments under this title may be made in advance or by way of reimbursement and in such installments as the Secretary may determine.

(e) The Secretary shall not delegate any function of the Secretary under this title to any other department or agency of the Federal Government.

PARTICIPANTS NOT FEDERAL EMPLOYEES

SEC. 904. (a) Eligible individuals who are employed in any project funded under this title shall not be considered to be Federal employees as a result of such employment and shall not be subject to the provisions of part III of title 5, United States Code.

(b) No contract shall be entered into under this title with a contractor who is, or whose employees are, under State law, exempted from operation of the State workmen's compensation law, generally applicable to employees, unless the contractor shall undertake to provide either through insurance by a recognized carrier, or by selfinsurance, as authorized by State law, that the persons employed under the contract, shall enjoy workmen's compensation coverage equal to that provided by law for covered employment.

INTERAGENCY COOPERATION

Sec. 905. (a) The Secretary shall consult with, and obtain the written views of, the Commissioner of the Administration on Aging prior to the establishment of rules or the establishment of general policy in the administration of this title.

(b) The Secretary shall consult and cooperate with the Director of the Community Services Administration, the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, and the heads of other Federal agencies carrying out related programs, in order to achieve optimal coordination with such other programs. In carrying out the provisions of this section, the Secretary shall promote programs or projects of a similar nature. Each Federal agency shall cooperate with the Secretary in disseminating information relating to the availability of assistance under this title and in promoting the identification and interests of individuals eligible for employment in projects assisted under this title.

EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION OF ASSISTANCE

SEC. 906. (a)(1) From sums appropriated under this title for each fiscal year, the Secretary shall first reserve such sums as may be necessary for national grants or contracts with public agencies and public or private nonprofit organizations to maintain the level of activities carried on under such grants or contracts at least at the level of such activities supported under this title and under any other provision of Federal law relating to community service employment programs for older Americans in the fiscal year ending June 30, 1975. Preference in awarding such grants or contracts shall be given to national organizations of proven ability in providing employment services to older persons under this program and similar programs. The Secretary, in awarding grants and contracts under this section, shall, to the extent feasible, assure an equitable distribution of activities under such grants and contracts, in the aggregate, among the States, taking into account the needs of underserved States.

(2) The Secretary shall allot for projects within each State the remainder of the sums appropriated for any fiscal year under section 908 so that each State will receive an amount which bears the same ratio to such remainder as the product of the number of persons aged fifty-five or over in the State and the allotment percentage of such State bears to the sum of the corresponding product for all States,

except that (A) no State shall be allotted less than one-half of 1 per centum of the remainder of the sums appropriated for the fiscal year for which the determination is made, or $100,000, whichever is greater, and (B) Guam, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands shall each be allotted an amount which is not less than one-fourth of 1 per centum of the remainder of the sums appropriated for the fiscal year for which the determination is made, or $50,000, whichever is greater. For the purpose of the exception contained in this paragraph the term State does not include Guam, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.

(3) For the purpose of this subsection

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(A) the allotment percentage of each State shall be 100 per centum less that percentage which bears the same ratio to 50 per centum as the per capita income of such State bears to the capita income of the United States, except that (i) the allotment percentage shall in no case be more than 75 per centum or less than 33% per centum, and (ii) the allotment percentage for the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands shall be 75 per centum;

(B) the number of persons aged fifty-five or over in any State and in all States, and the per capita income in any State and in all States, shall be determined by the Secretary on the basis of the most satisfactory data available to him; and

(C) for the purpose of determining the allotment percentage, the term "United States" means the fifty States and the District of Columbia.

(b) The amount allotted for projects within any State under subsection (a) for any fiscal year which the Secretary determines will not be required for such year shall be reallotted from time to time and on such dates during such year as the Secretary may fix, to projects within other States in proportion to the original allotments to projects within such States under subsection (a) for such year, but with such proportionate amount for any of such other States being reduced to the extent it exceeds the sum the Secretary estimates that projects within such State need and will be able to use for such year; and the total of such reductions shall be similarly reallotted among the States whose proportionate amounts were not so reduced. Any amount reallotted to a State under this subsection during a year shall be part of its allotment under subsection (a) for such year.

(c) The amount apportioned for projects within each State under subsection (a) shall be apportioned among areas within each such State in an equitable manner, taking into consideration (1) the proportion which eligible individuals in each such area bears to the total number of such individuals, respectively, in that State, and (2) the relative distribution of such individuals residing in rural and urban areas with the State.

DEFINITIONS

SEC. 907. As used in this title

(1) the term "State" means any of the several States of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands;