(a)      The Secretary of Employment and Social Services shall establish a demonstration program of public employment for a maximum of three hundred and fifty (350) employable persons receiving public assistance.

      (b)      If direct public assistance or relief is granted to any employable person, the Social Services Administration may provide an opportunity for said person to work for any board, commission, office or other agency of the State government or of a political subdivision of the State. Said employable persons shall be assigned for work in full-time jobs which provide services to families with children or to aged, blind, or disabled persons as defined in Titles I, IV, X, XIV, and XVI of the federal Social Security Act, but no person shall be assigned to a job in which he would replace regular workers or duplicate or replace an existing service.

      (c)      Any person employed pursuant to this section may continue in employment only if the State or local government agency to which said person has been assigned for work certifies that said person is satisfactorily performing the work assigned.

      (d)      The program of public employment shall:

            (1)      Provide for jobs with both the State of Maryland and local governments;

            (2)      Give special consideration to the filling of jobs which provide sufficient prospects for advancement, suitable continued employment, or will lead to employment with private organizations;

            (3)      Provide for the payment of wages and salaries to persons employed in public employment programs which are comparable to the wages paid for similar public occupations by the same employer; and

            (4)      Provide that the persons selected for employment shall constitute a representative cross-section of public assistance recipients of the State.

      (e)      No employable person shall be placed in a public job under this program until every effort has been made by the Department of Employment and Social Services to secure private employment for him.

      (f)      The Secretary of Employment and Social Services is authorized to allocate funds which have been appropriated for public assistance payments to provide for the payment of wages and salaries of persons participating in the program of public employment, but every effort shall be made to administer this program within existing appropriations of funds and with existing personnel.

      (g)      The provisions of this section shall be effective only to the extent that they do not conflict with any federal law, rules, or regulations.