Letters and telegrams-Continued Sleep, Francis, probate judge, Sandpoint, Idaho, letter dated February Letter dated February 5, 1959, to Senator Church_. Stark, Herman G., director, Department of the Youth Authority, Szekely, Nicholas M., letter dated March 2, 1959, to Senator Hart____ Traw, Wm. Clark, professor of education and psychology, University of Wible, R. C., State forester, Pennsylvania, letter dated February 2, Wilm, H. G., commissioner, letter dated February 14, 1959, to Sen- Wise, Randolph E., commissioner, Department of Public Welfare, Phil- Memorandum of agreement between the Youth Conservation Commission 1. Summary booklet___ 2. Estimates of work needed and costs by States for the short terminitial 12 years_- Page 30 521 532 514 45 457 520 456 36 526 45 47 468 453 150 251 3. Summary of one with supplementary tables---Public hearing on Youth Conservation Corps, Federal courthouse, Chicago, Ill., Feb. 18, 1959-- 281 533 Youth camp-out program, 1958 report_- estry and Conservation, Wolf Springs Forest, Minong, Wis.. "Study Manual of Basic Field Practice in Fish-Wildlife and Park Conservation," National School of Forestry and Conservation, Wolf Springs Forest, Minong, Wis_-- "Study Manual of American Forestry Practice," National School of For 483 435 438 31 YOUTH CONSERVATION CORPS MONDAY, MAY 11, 1959 U.S. SENATE, SPECIAL SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE YOUTH CONSERVATION CORPS OF THE COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND PUBLIC WELFARE, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met at 10 a.m., pursuant to call, in room 1202, New Senate Office Building, Senator Jennings Randolph (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Present: Senators Randolph (presiding) and Clark. Committee staff members present: Samuel V. Merrick and G. F. Randolph, professional staff members; and Robert E. Wolf, professional staff member, Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs. Also present: Senators Murray, member of the committee, and Hubert H. Humphrey, of Minnesota. Senator RANDOLPH. Good morning. It is a pleasure to convene the Special Subcommittee on the Youth Conservation Corps of the Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare for the purpose of hearing testimony on the bill, S. 812, proposing the creation of a Youth Conservation Corps. (S. 812 and departmental reports thereon follow :) [S. 812, 86th Cong., 1st sess.] A BILL To authorize the establishment of a Youth Conservation Corps to provide healthful outdoor training and employment for young men and to advance the conservation, development, and management of national resources of timber, soil, and range, and of recreational areas Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SHORT TITLE SECTION 1. This Act may be cited as the "Youth Conservation Act of 1959". STATEMENT OF PURPOSE SEC. 2. The purpose of this Act is (1) to provide the opportunity for healthful training and employment of young men in carrying out programs of conservation of natural resources planned and designed by, and under the immediate supervision of, the various Federal agencies charged with the responsibility of planning and carrying out such programs; (2) to provide immediate work opportunities for certain unemployed men and Indians living in areas which are far from major centers of population and from major public works of a construction nature; and (3) to enable the Federal agencies charged with the responsibility of conserving and developing natural resources to accelerate programs planned by such agencies to fulfill such responsibility through the utilization of such persons. YOUTH CONSERVATION COMMISSION SEC. 3. There is established within the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare a Commission to be known as the Youth Conservation Commission (hereinafter referred to as the "Commission"). The Commission shall be composed of six members as follows: A representative of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, who shall be appointed by the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare and shall serve as Chairman of the Commission; a representative of the National Park Service, a representative of the United States Forest Service, a representative of the Bureau of Land Management, a representative of the Fish and Wildlife Service, and a representative of the Bureau of Indian Affairs to be appointed by the Secretary of the Interior; and a representative of the Soil Conservation Service to be appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture. Members of the Commission shall be reimbursed for actual and necesary traveling and subsistence expenses incurred while engaged in the authorized functions of the Commission. FUNCTIONS OF THE COM MISSION SEC. 4. (a) The Commission shall advise the Director of the Youth Conservation Corps established under this Act with respect to (1) the conservation and educational programs carried on by such corps, (2) the operation of such corps in general, and (3) the criteria for the selection of enrollees of the corps. (b) Each member of the Commission who represents a Federal agency shall act in a liason capacity between the agency represented by him and the Director of the Youth Conservation Corps in working out agreements between such agency and the Director for the utilization of the enrollees of such corps in programs of conservation, development, and management of natural resources and of recreational areas planned and designed by such agency. TECHNICAL AND CLERICAL ASSISTANCE FOR COMMISSION SEC. 5. The Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare (hereinafter referred to as the "Secretary") is authorized and directed to provide the Commission with such technical, clerical, and other asistance as may be necessary to carry out its functions. ESTABLISHMENT OF YOUTH CONSERVATION CORPS SEC. 6. In order to carry out the purposes of this Act, there is hereby established within the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare a Youth Conservation Corps (hereinafter referred to as the "corps") which shall be administered and directed by a director who shall be appointed by, and under the supervision of, the Secretary and whose salary shall be $ per annum. AUTHORITY OF DIRECTOR SEC. 7. The Director shall, with the advice of the Commission and the approval of the Secretary, have authority (1) to formulate rules and regulations for the operation of the corps; (2) to appoint, without regard to the civil service laws and regulations, the principal subordinate officials of the corps, and to appoint, in accordance with the civil service laws and regulations, such other civilian personnel as he deems necessary for the efficient and economic discharge of the functions of the corps, the compensation of all such appointees to be fixed in accordance with the Classification Act of 1949, as amended; (3) to establish minimum standards of health, morals, and education for enrollees of the corps; (4) to enter into agreements with Federal agencies charged with the responsibility of conserving, developing, and managing the natural resources of the Nation, and of developing, managing, and protecting recreational areas whereby the enrollees of the corps may be utilized by such agencies in carrying out, under the immediate supervision of such agencies, programs planned and designed by such agencies to fulfill such responsibility; (5) to enter into agreements with and otherwise cooperate with other departments, agencies, and instrumentalities of the Federal Government in carrying out the purposes of this Act; (6) to provide a system of educational services to enrollees of the corps under which not less than ten hours per week will be devoted to general education and vocational and conservation education; and (7) to formulate such other rules and regulations, establish such other procedures, enter into such contracts and agreements, and generally perform such functions as he may deem necessary or desirable to carry out the provisions of this Act. ENROLLMENT SEC. 8. (a) The corps shall be composed of a total of not more than one hundred and fifty thousand unmarried male individuals who are citizens of the United States, of good character and health, and who are not less than sixteen nor more than twenty-two years of age, except that not more than 15 per centum of all the individuals enrolled in the corps at any one time may be of an age in excess of twenty-three years if such individuals possess special conservation skills and reside in an area in which a conservation project is being undertaken by the corps. If at any time less than 10 per centum of the total enrollment of the corps is composed of Indians living on reservations upon which, or near which, a conservation project is being undertaken by the corps, the Director, in accepting applications for enrollment in the corps, shall give priority to applications submited by such Indians until such time as 10 per centum of the total enrollment of the corps is composed of such Indians. (b) In order to enroll as a member of the corps an individual must agree to comply with rules and regulations promulgated by the Director for the government of members of the corps. (c) Enrollment in the corps shall be for a period of one year or such lesser time or times, including vacation periods for students, as may be established by the Director. COMPENSATION, QUARTERS, SUBSISTENCE, AND SO FORTH, FOR ENROLLEES SEC. 9. (a) (1) The base compensation of enrollees shall be at a rate equal to that provided by law for the compensation of the lowest rank of enlisted personnel in the Army. (2) The Director shall establish procedures designed to enable any enrollee who desires to do so to make an allotment to his parent, legal guardian, or any educational fund established for his benefit of part of the periodic compensation to which he is entitled under this Act, and such allotment shall be paid directly to the person or fund in favor of which it is made. (b) In addition to compensation authorized in subsection (a), enrollees shall be furnished with such quarters, subsistence, transportation, equipment, medical services, and hospital services as the Director may deem necessary or appropriate for their needs. Such quarters, subsistence, transportation, equipment, medical services, and hospital services may be furnished to enrollees of the corps directly by the Director or through the Federal agencies under the direction and supervision of which such enrollees are working under agreements between the Director and such agencies which provide for reimbursement to such agencies from funds appropriated for the corps. SEC. 10. Existing provisions of law with respect to hours of work, rate of compensation, sick leave, vacation, unemployment compensation, life insurance, and compensation for sickness or temporary injury of Federal employees shall not be applicable to any individual because of enrollment in the corps, but the provisions of the Federal Employees Compensation Act with respect to permanent disability and death shall be applicable to enrollees of the corps. SUPPLIES, MATERIAL, AND EQUIPMENT SEC. 11. The Director may expend such amounts as he deems necessary for supplies, materials, and equipment for enrollees to be used in connection with their work, instruction, recreation, health, or welfare. APPROPRIATIONS AUTHORIZED SEC. 12. For the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this Act, there is authorized to be appropriated for the fiscal year commencing July 1, 1960, and for each of the two succeeding fiscal years not to exceed $375,000,000, and for each fiscal year thereafter such amount as the Congress may determine to be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, Hon. LISTER HILL, Chairman, Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, DEAR SENATOR HILL: This is in reply to your letter of February 5, 1959, requesting a report on S. 812, a bill, “To authorize the establishment of a Youth Conservation Corps to provide healthful outdoor training and employment for young men and to advance the conservation, development, and management of national resources of timber, soil, and range, and of recreational areas." This Department recommends that the bill not be enacted. S. 812 would establish within the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare a (1) Youth Conservation Corps which would be administered by a Director appointed by and under the supervision of the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare; and (2) a Youth Conservation Commission composed of the following members: A representative of the Soil Conservation Service, to be appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture; a representative each of the Forest Service, National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, to be appointed by the Secretary of the Interior; and a representative of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, to be appointed by the Secretary of that Department, and who would serve as chairman. The Commission would be directed to advise the Corps Director with respect to (1) the Corps' conservation and educational programs, (2) operation of the Corps in general, and (3) the criteria for selection of Corps enrollees. The bill would also direct each Commission member to act in a liaison capacity between his agency and the Corps Director in working out agreements for the utilization of enrollees in recreational areas and natural resources conservation, development, and management programs planned and designed by his agency. The Director of the Corps would be authorized among other things to enter into agreements with (1) Federal agencies administering natural resources and recreational areas whereby the enrollees may be utilized by such agencies in carrying out, under the immediate supervision of such agencies, programs planned and designed by such agencies to fulfill their responsibility of developing, managing, and protecting natural resources and recreational areas; and (2) other Federal departments and agencies in carrying out the purpose of the bill. Total Corps enrollment would be limited to 150,000 unmarried male citizens of the United States between 16 and 22 years of age, with exceptions for enrolling persons with special conservation skills over 23 years of age. Enrollment period would be for 1 year or less. Enrollees would be paid at the rate of compensation of the lowest rank of Army enlisted personnel and an enrollee desiring to do so could allot part of this compensation for payment directly to his parent, legal guardian, or an educational fund for his benefit. Enrollees would be provided quarters, subsistence, transportation, equipment, medical and hospital services directly by the Director or through the Federal agencies engaging the enrollees. Such agencies would be reimbursed for such services from the Corps funds. The bill would authorize appropriations up to $375 million annually for each of the 3 fiscal years beginning with July 1, 1960, and such amounts thereafter as Congress may determine necessary. While we are aware that the objectives embodied in the bill aim at affording healthful training and employment opportunities to young men and the development and conservation of natural resources, we do not believe there is any need to establish a Youth Conservation Corps now. The Federal Government is already heavily engaged in programs for the development and conservation of natural resources and such programs are providing substantial employment opportunities. In addition, the Federal Government is also participating in programs supporting education. This Department is making no comment on the cost of the proposed Youth Conservation Corps because the appropriation authorization would be directed to another department. We wish to point out that, as the bill now reads, the representation on the Youth Conservation Commission from the Forest Service would be appointed by the Secretary of the Interior, whereas the Forest Service is in this Department. |