SERTS Act

[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8511 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 8511

 To direct the Secretary of Defense to submit to Congress a report on 
 transitioning military acquired credentials to the civilian workforce.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 22, 2024

  Mrs. Torres of California introduced the following bill; which was 
  referred to the Committee on Armed Services, and in addition to the 
    Committee on Veterans' Affairs, for a period to be subsequently 
   determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
 provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To direct the Secretary of Defense to submit to Congress a report on 
 transitioning military acquired credentials to the civilian workforce.

    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 ``Servicemember Equal Recognition and 
Transition Support Act'' or the ``SERTS Act''.

SEC. 2. REPORT ON THE NUMBER OF VETERANS WHO HAVE THEIR MILITARY 
              ACQUIRED CREDENTIALS RECOGNIZED AT THE STATE-LEVEL FOR 
              THE CIVILIAN WORKFORCE.

    (a) Report.--Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of 
this Act, the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the Secretary 
of Veterans Affairs and the Secretary of Labor, shall submit to 
Congress a report that builds on the data reported in the ``DoD 
Credentialing Utilization'' report from 2018 (3-BB02A16) to better 
assess the effectiveness of the Credentialing Programs for post-
military civilian employment.
    (b) Matters Included.--The report under subsection (a) shall 
include the following:
            (1) An assessment of the number of veterans who 
        successfully transfer their eligible professional credentials 
        to civilian jobs.
            (2) An assessment of which certifications were most 
        commonly used for post-military civilian employment, such as 
        airplane mechanics.
            (3) An assessment on any other barriers veterans face to 
        transferring military mechanical skills to State 
        certifications.
    (c) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) The term ``applicable licensing authority'' means the 
        licensing authority by a State for a given vocation in which 
        the veteran works or would like to work.
            (2) The term ``eligible professional credential'' means a 
        professional credential, including a professional credential in 
        the field of airplane mechanics, obtained using expenses paid 
        pursuant to the program under section 2015 of title 10, United 
        States Code.
            (3) The term ``expenses'' has the meaning given such term 
        in such section.
            (4) The term ``servicemember'' has the meaning given such 
        term in section 101 of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (50 
        U.S.C. 4025a).
            (5) The term ``State'' means each of the several States and 
        territories and the District of Columbia.
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