I
118THCONGRESS
2
DSESSION 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
MAY22, 2024
Mrs. T
ORRESof 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 Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Servicemember Equal 4
Recognition and Transition Support Act’’ or the ‘‘SERTS 5
Act’’. 6
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SEC. 2. REPORT ON THE NUMBER OF VETERANS WHO HAVE 1
THEIR MILITARY ACQUIRED CREDENTIALS 2
RECOGNIZED AT THE STATE-LEVEL FOR THE 3
CIVILIAN WORKFORCE. 4
(a) R
EPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 5
of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense, in con-6
sultation with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and the 7
Secretary of Labor, shall submit to Congress a report that 8
builds on the data reported in the ‘‘DoD Credentialing 9
Utilization’’ report from 2018 (3-BB02A16) to better as-10
sess the effectiveness of the Credentialing Programs for 11
post-military civilian employment. 12
(b) M
ATTERSINCLUDED.—The report under sub-13
section (a) shall include the following: 14
(1) An assessment of the number of veterans 15
who successfully transfer their eligible professional 16
credentials to civilian jobs. 17
(2) An assessment of which certifications were 18
most commonly used for post-military civilian em-19
ployment, such as airplane mechanics. 20
(3) An assessment on any other barriers vet-21
erans face to transferring military mechanical skills 22
to State certifications. 23
(c) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 24
(1) The term ‘‘applicable licensing authority’’ 25
means the licensing authority by a State for a given 26
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•HR 8511 IH
vocation in which the veteran works or would like to 1
work. 2
(2) The term ‘‘eligible professional credential’’ 3
means a professional credential, including a profes-4
sional credential in the field of airplane mechanics, 5
obtained using expenses paid pursuant to the pro-6
gram under section 2015 of title 10, United States 7
Code. 8
(3) The term ‘‘expenses’’ has the meaning given 9
such term in such section. 10
(4) The term ‘‘servicemember’’ has the meaning 11
given such term in section 101 of the 12
Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (50 U.S.C. 4025a). 13
(5) The term ‘‘State’’ means each of the several 14
States and territories and the District of Columbia. 15
Æ
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