PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 113-111.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Mar 7, 2013
Careers for Veterans Act of 2013 - Directs the head of each federal agency to develop a plan for exercising, during the five-year period beginning on the enactment of this Act, current Department of Defense (DOD) and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) authority to hire qualified veterans for positions within the federal government. Includes as qualified veterans those who: (1) are disabled or recently separated; (2) served on active duty during a war or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized; or (3) while serving on active duty, participated in a military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded. Requires the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to ensure that, under such plans, agencies shall appoint no less than 10,000 qualified veterans during the five-year period.
Requires a state, as a condition for receipt of a grant or contract from the VA for support of disabled veterans' outreach specialists and local veterans' employment representatives, to establish a program which issues a license or credential to a veteran without requiring any training or apprenticeship if such veteran: (1) receives a satisfactory score on completion of an examination administered by that state, and (2) has at least 10 years of experience in a military occupational specialty that is similar to the civilian occupation for which such license or credential is required.
Directs the Secretary of Labor to: (1) furnish each one-stop (job search) center with a list of all Internet websites and applications identified as beneficial for veterans in pursuit of employment; and (2) coordinate with public and private entities to identify websites and applications not included on such list that match veterans seeking employment with available jobs based on skills acquired as members of the Armed Forces, and allow employers to post information about available jobs.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
Expands VA small business contracting goals to include small businesses fully, but conditionally, owned by one or more veterans.
Treats the surviving spouse of a service-disabled veteran who acquires the ownership interest in a small business of the deceased veteran as such veteran, for purposes of eligibility for VA service-disabled small business contracting goals and preferences, for a period of: (1) 10 years after the veteran's death, if such veteran was either 100% disabled or died from a service-connected disability; or (2) 3 years after such death, if the veteran was less than 100% disabled and did not die from a service-connected disability.
Treats a small business acquired by the surviving spouse or dependent from a member killed during active duty as a small business owned and controlled by a service-disabled veteran, for purposes of VA small business contracting goals and preferences. Continues such treatment for the period beginning on the date of the member's death and ending on the earlier of the date on which the surviving spouse remarries or relinquishes, or the date on which the surviving dependent relinquishes, such ownership interest or ten years after the member's death.
Provides that if the Secretary determines, for purposes of VA small business contracting goals, that an individual would have had a greater degree of ownership of a small business in a state other than a community property state, then the Secretary shall treat such small business as licensed in a non-community property state.
People & committees
Sen. Burr, Richard [R-NC] · R–NC
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 113-111.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
Source last updated: Aug 12, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze S.495 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine S.495 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine S.495 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine S.495 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.