§ 1704 — Grants To States

(a) The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture shall jointly establish a program under which grants shall be made to States to assist them in meeting the cost of projects for the employment of young men and women to develop, preserve, and maintain non-Federal public lands and waters within the States. For purposes of this section, the term “States” includes the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, and American Samoa. (1) No grant may be made under this section unless an application therefor has been submitted to, and approved by, the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture. Such application shall be in such form, and submitted in such manner, as the Secretaries shall jointly by regulation prescribe, and shall contain— (A) assurances satisfactory to the Secretaries that individuals employed under the project for which the application is submitted shall (i) have attained the age of fifteen but not attained the age of nineteen, (ii) be permanent residents of the United States or its territories, possessions, or the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, (iii) be employed without regard to the personnel laws, rules, and regulations applicable to full-time employees of the applicant, (iv) be employed for a period of not more than ninety days in any calendar year, and (v) be employed without regard to their sex or social, economic, or racial classification; and (B) such other information as the Secretaries may jointly by regulation prescribe. (2) The Secretaries may approve applications which they determine (A) to meet the requirements of paragraph (1), and (B) are for projects which will further the development, preservation, or maintenance of non-Federal public lands or waters within the jurisdiction of the applicant. (1) The amount of any grant under this section shall be determined jointly by the Secretaries, except that no grant for any project may exceed 80 per centum of the cost (as determined by the Secretaries) of such project. (2) Payments under grants under this section may be made in advance or by way of reimbursement and at such intervals and on such conditions as the Secretaries find necessary. (d) Thirty per centum of the sums appropriated under section 1706 of this title for any fiscal year shall be made available for grants under this section for such fiscal year.