Public Works Employment Act

=Title I: Public Works Employment Act= - Amends the Local Public Works Capital Development and Investment Act to allow the Secretary of Commerce to permit any applicant who received a grant for a public works project to substitute one or more other projects; including those to provide water to drought-stricken areas, under specified conditions.

Includes the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands within the definition of the term "State.

Prohibits State or local governments from using their employees in public works project construction.

Requires competitive bidding for contracts for construction projects unless another method of award would be in the public interest. Requires that grant applications be accompanied by a certification that no contract will be awarded to anyone who will employ illegal aliens.

Requires that at least ten percent of the dollar volume of each contract be set aside for procurement of materials and supplies from minority businesses. Allows the Secretary of Commerce to make exceptions to such requirement.

Requires, with specified exceptions, that all supplies and materials going into funded projects be produced in the United States from supplies or materials mined or produced in the United States.

Requires that funded projects be designed and constructed in accordance with Federal standards for accessibility of transportation and public facilities to the handicapped and the elderly.

Directs the Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of Labor, and consistent with existing collective bargaining agreements and practices, to promulgate regulations to assure special consideration to the employment of qualified disabled veterans.

Stipulates that up to two and one-half percent of funds appropriated shall be available for projects requested by Indian tribes or Alaska Native villages.

Provide a $70,000,000 set-aside for grants to be made for projects that were not received, not considered, or were rejected solely because of errors made by federal officers or employees.

Sets forth guidelines for making grants under this title including a grant allocation formula based on unemployment rates.

Requires that special consideration be given to projects which would result in energy conservation.

Provides that the Secretary may not consider or make a grant with respect to any project for which an application was not submitted after the date of enactment of the Act and on or before December 23, 1976, with specified exceptions.

Authorizes the appropriation of $6,000,000,000 for the period ending December 31, 1978, to carry out the purposes of this Act.

Directs the Secretary to study public works investment in the United States and the implications for the future of recent trends in such investment.

Requires the Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior to immediately initiate construction of projects which are the responsibility of their respective departments and which can be commenced within 60 days after enactment of this Act, and completed within 180 days after commencement of construction.

=Title II: Federal Public Works Projects Continuation= - Negates any prospective deferral or recission by the Executive branch of funding for specified water projects, with the exception of those appropriations or expenditures relating to the Meramec Park Lake project in Missouri.