Bill > S1216

This bill, the Civilian Conservation Center Enhancement Act of 2023, aims to amend Public Law 91-378 to authorize activities related to Civilian Conservation Centers (CCCs). The key provisions of the bill are: 1. Defining CCCs as residential workforce development or training facilities for underserved youth, operated by the Department of the Interior or the Department of Agriculture. 2. Requiring the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior, in coordination with the Secretary of Labor, to offer specialized training programs at CCCs focused on forestry, rangeland management, wildland firefighting, and other related topics. 3. Authorizing the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out experimental, research, or demonstration pilots to provide career and technical education curricula and course offerings at CCCs to advance the missions of the Department of Agriculture. 4. Establishing recruitment goals for the Secretaries to hire CCC graduates annually for wildland firefighting and other critical workforce needs, and providing direct hire authority and signing bonuses to enable successful employment and transition of CCC graduates. 5. Requiring the Secretaries to develop appropriate career pathways for CCC graduates and allowing them to employ CCC students at regular rates of pay for necessary work. 6. Directing the Secretaries to establish a pilot program to employ CCC students to improve and expand federal housing for wildland firefighters, volunteers, and other agency employees. 7. Requiring the Secretaries to submit a report to Congress on the underutilized capacity of CCCs and the investments, improvements, and efficiencies necessary to utilize their full capacity.