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To require the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a grant program to address forestry workforce development needs, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill would establish a grant program administered by the Secretary of Agriculture to fund forestry workforce development training programs in rural low-income areas. Eligible entities include nonprofits, states, Indian tribes, local governments, and higher education institutions serving communities of 20,000 or fewer with broadband access. Grants would range from $500,000 to $2,000,000 for up to 4 years to support career pathway training in forestry operations and products industries. Priority would be given to programs addressing workforce aging and youth out-migration that partner with secondary schools, vocational schools, or community colleges. The bill authorizes $10 million per year from 2025 through 2029 for the program.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
9 cosponsors
- Sen. Baldwin, Tammy [D-WI] (D-WI)
- Sen. Collins, Susan M. [R-ME] (R-ME)
- Sen. Crapo, Mike [R-ID] (R-ID)
- Sen. Klobuchar, Amy [D-MN] (D-MN)
- Sen. Merkley, Jeff [D-OR] (D-OR)
- Sen. Ossoff, Jon [D-GA] (D-GA)
- Sen. Risch, James E. [R-ID] (R-ID)
- Sen. Shaheen, Jeanne [D-NH] (D-NH)
- Sen. Smith, Tina [D-MN] (D-MN)
Actions (2)
- Apr 8, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. · senate
- Apr 8, 2025 Introduced in Senate
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
April 8, 2025
Mr. King (for himself, Mr. Risch, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Crapo, Mrs. Shaheen, Ms. Collins, Ms. Smith, and Ms. Klobuchar) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
A BILL
To require the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a grant program to address forestry workforce development needs, and for other purposes.
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 “Jobs in the Woods Act”.
SEC. 2. FORESTRY WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT GRANTS.
(a) Definitions.—In this section:
(1) Career pathway.—The term “career pathway” has the meaning given the term in section 3 of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3102).
(2) Eligible area.—The term “eligible area” means an area that—
(A) is a nonmetropolitan area that qualifies as a low-income community (as defined in section 45D(e) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986);
(B) has access to, or has a plan to achieve, broadband service with—
(i) at least 100 Mbps download speed and 20 Mbps upload speed;
(ii) latency sufficiently low for real- time, interactive applications; and
(iii) network reliability of not more than 48 hours of outage time over any 365-day period; and
(C) has a population of 20,000 or fewer inhabitants.
(3) Eligible entity.—The term “eligible entity” means—
(A) a nonprofit organization;
(B) a State;
(C) an Indian Tribe;
(D) a unit of local government; and
(E) an institution of higher education (as defined in section 101 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001)).
(4) Secretary.—The term “Secretary” means the Secretary of Agriculture.
(b) Establishment.—Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall establish a competitive grant program to make grants to eligible entities to carry out career pathway training programs in eligible areas with respect to forestry operations and forestry products industries.
(c) Applications.—
(1) In general.—To be eligible to receive a grant under this section, an eligible entity shall submit to the Secretary an application at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Secretary may require, which shall include—
(A) a demonstrated capacity to carry out a career pathway training program in accordance with subsection
(b);
(B) a demonstration of need for such a program within the applicable region;
(C) a projection of the extent of reach intended for the program;
(D) a plan to ensure that the program is sustainable; and
(E) a plan for the implementation of the program.
(2) Priority.—In awarding grants under this section, the Secretary shall give priority to eligible entities that—
(A) propose to carry out activities to address the issues of aging workforce and youth migration;
(B) will partner with secondary schools (as defined in section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801)), vocational or technical schools, or junior or community colleges (as defined in section 312 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1058)) to engage students; and
(C) demonstrate the ability to assist with forestry workforce placement and hiring.
(d) Term; Amount.—A grant made under this section shall be—
(1) for a period of not more than 4 years; and
(2) in an amount equal to—
(A) not less than $500,000; and
(B) not more than $2,000,000.
(e) Authorization of Appropriations.—There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2025 through 2029. <all>
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