2724 Page 10 secure, to the extent feasible, similar information directly from enrollees at appropriate intervals following their completion of the Job Corps program. The results of such evaluation shall be published and shall be summarized in the report required by section 608. (b) The Director may undertake or make grants or contracts for experimental, research, or demonstration projects directed to developing or testing ways of securing the better use of facilities, of encouraging a more rapid adjustment of enrollees to community life that will permit a reduction in the period of their enrollment, of reducing transportation and support costs, or of otherwise promoting greater efficiency and effectiveness in the program authorized under this part. These projects shall include one or more projects providing youths with education, training, and other supportive services on a combined residential and nonresidential basis. The Director may, if he deems it advisable, undertake one or more pilot projects designed to involve youth who have a history of serious and violent behavior against persons or property, repetitive delinquent acts, narcotics addiction, or other behavioral aberrations. Projects under this subsection shall be developed after appropriate consultation with other Federal or State agencies conducting similar or related programs or projects and with the prime sponsors, as described in part B of this title, in the communities where the projects will be carried out. They may be undertaken jointly with other Federal or federally assisted programs, including programs under part B of this title, and funds otherwise available for activities under those programs shall, with the consent of the head of any agency concerned, be available to projects under this section to the extent they include the same or substantially similar activities. The Director may waive any provision of this title which he finds would prevent the carrying out of elements of projects under this subsection essential to a determination of their feasibility and usefulness. He shall, either in the report required by section 608 or a separate annual document, report to the Congress concerning the actions taken under this section, including a full description of progress made in connection with combined residential and nonresidential projects. (c) In order to determine whether upgraded vocational education schools could eliminate or substantially reduce the school dropout problem, and to demonstrate how communities could 42 USC make maximum utilization of existing educational and training facilities, the Director, in cooperation with the Commissioner of Education, shall enter into one or more agreements with State educational agencies to pay the cost of establishing and operating model community vocational education schools and skill centers. Such facilities shall be centrally located in an urban area having a high dropout rate, a large number of unemployed youths, and a need in the area for a combination vocational school and skill center. No such agreement shall be entered into unless it contains provisions designed to assure that (1) a job survey be made of the area; Page 11 (2) the training program of the school and skill center reflect the job market needs as projected by the survey; (3) an advisory committee composed of representatives of business, labor, education, and community leaders be formed to follow the center's activities and to make periodic recommendations regarding its operation; (4) arrangements have been worked out with schools in the area and the administrator of the skill center for maximum utilization of the center both during and after school hours; and (5) such accounting and evaluation procedures as the Director and the Commissioner of Education deem necessary to carry out the purpose of this project will be provided. ADVISORY BOARDS AND COMMITTEES SEC. 114. The Director shall make use of advisory committees or boards in connection with the operation of the Job Corps, and 42 USC the operation of Job Corps centers, whenever he determines that 2725 the availability of outside advice and counsel on a regular basis would be of substantial benefit in identifying and overcoming problems, in planning program or center development, or in strengthening relationships between the Job Corps and agencies, institutions, or groups engaged in related activities. Nothing in this section shall be considered as limiting the functions of the National Advisory Council, established pursuant to section 605 of this Act, with respect to any matter or question involving the Job Corps; but this shall not prevent the establishment through or in cooperation with the National Advisory Council of one or more boards or committees under this section. PARTICIPATION OF THE STATES SEC. 115 (a) The Director shall take necessary action to facilitate the effective participation of States in the Job Corps program, including, but not limited to, consultation with appropriate State agencies on matters pertaining to the enforcement of applicable State laws, standards of enrollee conduct and discipline, the development of meaningful work experience and other activities for enrollees, and coordination with State-operated programs. 2726 (b) The Director may enter into agreements with States to assist in the operation or administration of State-operated pro- 42 USC grams which carry out the purpose of this part. The Director may, pursuant to regulations, pay part or all of the operative or administrative costs of such programs. (c) No Job Corps center or other similar facility designed to carry out the purpose of this Act shall be established within a State unless a plan setting forth such proposed establishment has been submitted to the Governor, and such plan has not been disapproved by him within 30 days of such submission. 2727 Page 12 APPLICATION OF PROVISIONS OF FEDERAL LAW SEC. 116 (a) Except as otherwise specifically provided in the following paragraphs of this subsection, enrollees in the Job 42 USC Corps shall not be considered Federal employees and shall not be subject to the provisions of law relating to Federal employment including those regarding hours of work, rates of compensation, leave, unemployment compensation, and Federal employee benefits: (1) For purposes of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 (26 U.S.C. 1 et seq.) and title II of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 401 et seq.), enrollees shall be deemed employees of the United States and any service performed by an individual as an enrollee shall be deemed to be performed in the employ of the United States. (2) For purposes of subchapter I of chapter 81 of title 5 of the United States Code (relating to compensation to Federal employees for work injuries), enrollees shall be deemed civil employees of the United States within the meaning of the term "employee" as defined in section 8101 of title 5, United States Code, and the provisions of that subchapter shall apply except as follows: (A) The term "performance of duty" shall not include any act of an enrollee while absent from his or her assigned post of duty, except while participating in an activity (including an activity while on pass or during travel to or from such post of duty) authorized by or under the direction and supervision of the Job Corps; (B) In computing compensation benefits for disability or death, the monthly pay of an enrollee shall be deemed that received under the entrance salary for a grade GS-2 employee, and sections 8113 (a) and (b) of title 5, United States Code, shall apply to enrollees; and (C) Compensation for disability shall not begin to accrue until the day following the date on which the injured enrollee is terminated. (3) For purposes of the Federal tort claims provisions in title 28, United States Code, enrollees shall be considered employees of the Government. (b) When the Director finds a claim for damage to persons or property resulting from the operation of the Job Corps to be a proper charge against the United States, and it is not cognizable under section 2672 of title 28, United States Code, he may adjust and settle it in an amount not exceeding $500. (c) Personnel of the uniformed services who are detailed or assigned to duty in the performance of agreements made by the Director for the support of the Corps shall not be counted in computing strength under any law limiting the strength of such services or in computing the percentage authorized by law for any grade therein. SPECIAL LIMITATIONS Page 13 SEC. 117. (a) The Director shall not use any funds made available to carry out this part for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1968, 42 USC in a manner that will increase the residential capacity of Job Corps centers above forty-five thousand enrollees: (b) The Director shall take necessary action to assure that on or before June 30, 1968, of the total number of Job Corps enrollees receiving training at least 25 per centum shall be women. The Director shall immediately take steps to achieve an enrollment ratio of 50 per centum women enrollees in training in the Job Corps consistent with (1) efficiency and economy in the operation of the program, (2) sound administrative practice, and (3) the socioeconomic, educational, and training needs of the population to be served. (c) The Director shall take necessary action to assure that for any fiscal year the direct operating costs of Job Corps centers which have been in operation for more than nine months do not exeed $6,900 per enrollee. (d) The Director shall take necessary action to assure that all studies, evaluations, proposals, and data produced or developed with Federal funds in the course of the operation of any conservation or training center shall become the property of the United States. 2728 POLITICAL DISCRIMINATION AND POLITICAL ACTIVITY SEC. 118. (a) No officer or employee of the executive branch of the Federal Government shall make any inquiry concerning 42 USC the political affiliation or beliefs of any enrollee or applicant for 2729 enrollment in the Corps. All disclosures concerning such matters shall be ignored, except as to such membership in political parties or organizations as constitutes by law a disqualification for Government employment. No discrimination shall be exercised, threatened, or promised by any person in the executive branch of the Federal Government against or in favor of any enrollee in the Corps, or any applicant for enrollment in the Corps because of his political affiliation or beliefs, except as may be specifically authorized or required by law. (b) No officer, employee, or enrollee of the Corps shall take any active part in political management or in political campaigns, except as may be provided by or pursuant to statute, and no such officer, employee, or enrollee shall use his official position or influence for the purpose of interfering with an election or affecting the result thereof. All such persons shall retain the right to vote as they may choose and to express, in their private capacities, their opinions on all political subjects and candidates. Any officer, employee, enrollee, or Federal employee who solicits funds for political purposes from members of the Corps shall be in violation of the Federal Corrupt Practices Act, 1925. (c) Whenever the United States Civil Service Commission finds that any person has violated the foregoing provisions, it shall, after giving due notice and opportunity for explanation 2737 Page 14 to the officer or employee or enrollee concerned, certify the facts to the Director with specific instructions as to discipline or dismissal or other corrective actions. PART B-WORK AND TRAINING FOR YOUTH AND ADULTS STATEMENT OF PURPOSE SEC. 120. The purpose of this part is to provide useful work and training opportunities, together with related services and 42 USC assistance, that will assist low-income youths to continue or resume their education, and to help unemployed or low-income persons, both young and adult, to obtain and hold regular competitive employment, with maximum opportunities for local initiative in developing programs which respond to local needs and problems, and with emphasis upon a comprehensive approach which includes programs using both public and private resources to overcome the complex problems of the most severely disadvantaged in urban and rural areas having high concentrations or proportions of unemployment, underemployment, and low in come. COMMUNITY PROGRAM AREAS AND COMPREHENSIVE WORK AND SEC. 121. (a) The Director shall designate or recognize community program areas for the purpose of planning and conduct42 USC ing comprehensive community work and training programs. 2738 (b) For the purpose of this part, a community may be a city, county, multicity, or multicounty unit, an Indian reservation, or a neighborhood or other area (irrespective of boundaries or political subdivisions) which provides a suitable organizational base and possesses the commonality of interest needed for a comprehensive work and training program. The Director shall consult with the heads of other Federal agencies responsible for programs relating to community action, manpower services, physical and economic development, housing, education, health, and other community services to encourage the establishment of coterminous or complementary boundaries for planning purposes among those programs and comprehensive work and training programs assisted under this part. (c) A comprehensive work and training program must seek to provide participants an unbroken sequence of services which will enable them to obtain and hold employment. It shall provide a systematic approach to planning and implementation including the linkage of relevant component programs authorized by this Act with one another and with other appropriate public and private programs and activities. It shall also provide for evaluation. PRIME SPONSORS AND DELEGATE AGENCIES SEC. 122. (a) For each community program area, the Director 42 USC shall recognize a public or private nonprofit agency which shall 2739 |