Port Opportunity Reinvestment and Training Act of 2013

Port Opportunity Reinvestment and Training Act of 2013 - Directs the Secretary of Transportation (DOT) to award renewable one-year grants to ports to provide summer jobs to high school students who live within each port's Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA).

Requires the Secretary, when considering grant applications and amounts, to favor ports located in cities with high unemployment rates and also consider each port's cargo volume and the size of its MSA.

Allows ports to use the grants to provide job training to such students, provided no more than 15% of the students' time is spent training and they are compensated at their normal pay rate while training.

[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2163 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2163

To authorize the Secretary of Transportation to establish a program to 
  make grants to ports to enable ports to employ high school students 
                           during the summer.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 23, 2013

 Ms. Hahn (for herself and Mr. Fattah) introduced the following bill; 
       which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and 
                             Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To authorize the Secretary of Transportation to establish a program to 
  make grants to ports to enable ports to employ high school students 
                           during the summer.

    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 ``Port Opportunity Reinvestment and 
Training Act of 2013''.

SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM.

    (a) Establishment.--The Secretary of Transportation (in this Act 
referred to as the ``Secretary'') shall establish a program to make 
grants to ports to enable ports to employ high school students during 
the summer.
    (b) Application.--In order to receive a grant under the program 
established under subsection (a), the authority in charge of a port 
shall submit an application at such time, in such form, and with such 
information and assurances as the Secretary may require, including an 
assurance that no worker will be displaced or terminated because of the 
creation of temporary summer employment for students.
    (c) Priority.--In considering applications for a grant under this 
section and in determining the grant amount for each port awarded a 
grant under this section, the Secretary shall give priority to a port 
located in a city with a high rate of unemployment, and shall also 
consider--
            (1) the cargo volume of the port; and
            (2) the size of the surrounding city.
    (d) Grant Amount.--Amounts awarded under this section shall not 
exceed $1,000,000 per port per fiscal year.
    (e) Grant Duration.--A grant awarded under this section shall be 
for a 1-year period and may be renewed based on such criteria as the 
Secretary may require. The authority in charge of the port shall return 
any amounts awarded but not expended to the Secretary at the end of the 
grant period.
    (f) Uses of Funds.--
            (1) Required uses.--A port receiving a grant under this 
        section shall use such funds to--
                    (A) provide summer jobs for students--
                            (i) aged 14 through 19;
                            (ii) who are enrolled in high school at the 
                        time they apply for a job with the port; and
                            (iii) live within the Metropolitan 
                        Statistical Area, as defined by the Office of 
                        Management and Budget, in which the port is 
                        located; and
                    (B) compensate the student employees in accordance 
                with applicable State and Federal wage statutes.
            (2) Permitted uses.--A port receiving a grant under this 
        section may use such funds to provide job training for student 
        employees described in paragraph (1), provided that no more 
        than 15 percent of the students' time may be spent on such 
        training, and the students are compensated at their normal rate 
        of pay for participation in such training.
    (g) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to the Secretary to carry out this section such sums as 
may be necessary for each of fiscal years 2014 through 2016.
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