| Current | |
| Law: | Workforce Investment Act of 1998 [P.L. 105-220] |
| |
| Senate | S. 1021, "Workforce Investment Act Amendments of 2005," introduced, 5/12/05 |
| Action: | S. 1021 passed by Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee unanimously, 5/18/05 |
| S. 1021 passed by Senate by unanimous consent, 6/29/06 |
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| House | H.R. 27, "Job Training Improvement Act of 2005," introduced, 1/4/05 |
| Action: | H.R. 27 passed by 21st Century Competitiveness Subcommittee 18-15, 2/9/05 |
| H.R. 27 passed by Education and the Workforce Committee 26-20, 2/17/05 |
| H.R. 27 passed by House 224-200, 3/2/05 |
On January 4, 2005 House Education & the Workforce Committee leaders Rep. Boehner (R-OH) and Rep. McKeon (R-CA) introduced the “Job Training Improvement Act,” H.R. 27, to reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act (WIA). The bill was similar to the bill, H.R. 1261, that was passed by the House during the 108th Congress. It would combine funding for adults, dislocated workers, and the Employment Services. Provisions of the bill that address youth have raised concerns, including proposals to divert 25 percent of the youth formula to create a new national challenge grant program; limit local spending on serving in-school youth to 30 percent of the local allocation (current law allows 70 percent); restrict services to in-school youth in school settings during school hours; and make youth councils optional. Serious concerns also remain in the bill related to funding of one-stop center infrastructure. The bill would require a percentage of the administrative funds allocated to partner programs, including Perkins, to be used by a state’s Governor to support infrastructure of one-stop centers. The House Education and the Workforce Committee approved the bill on February 27, 2005, and the full House approved the bill on March 2, 2005, by a vote of 224-200.
On May 18, 2005, the Senate HELP Committee unanimously passed a bipartisan WIA reauthorization bill, S. 1021. The Senate bill would keep funding for adults, dislocated workers, youth and the Employment Services separate; however, it would increase the percentage of funds allowed to be transferred between the adult and dislocated worker funding streams. The Senate bill seeks to fund infrastructure for WIA’s one-stop system by allowing the current local cost-sharing agreements (Memoranda of Understanding – MOUs) with partner programs to continue. If locals fail to reach agreement after one year, the governor of a state would then have the authority to take a percentage of a state’s overall allotment for partner programs to fund one-stop infrastructure. The bill caps this amount for Perkins at 1.5 percent of the state allotment, with the funds coming from administrative money. S. 1021 would also allow local areas to spend only 60 percent of their allocation to serve in-school youth, while requiring at least 40 percent of funds for serving out-of-school youth. A new national challenge grant program would replace the Youth Opportunity Grant program, which was eliminated as part of the FY 2003 appropriations process; however, funds for the challenge grants would not come at the expense of the youth formula as in the House-passed bill.
For political reasons, WIA reauthorization stalled after the Senate Committee passed its bill in May 2005. There was no further action until June 29, 2006, when the full Senate passed its WIA reauthorization bill by unanimous consent. This delay was in large part due to two controversial issues that are included in the bill the House passed in 2005, but not in the Senate legislation. These two major issues include allowing faith-based groups that receive job-training grants to base their hiring decisions on the religion of job applicants and creating a $3 billion block grant to states to replace the current separate job training programs and services. These issues will make a potential conference committee to negotiate the differences between the House- and Senate-passed bills particularly complicated. It is unclear at this time whether there will be time remaining in this legislative year to complete these negotiations.
On January 4, 2005, House Education & the Workforce Committee leaders John Boehner (R-OH) and Buck McKeon (R-CA) introduced the Job Training Improvement Act, H.R. 27 to reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act. The bill is similar to the bill, H.R. 1261, that was passed by the House in 2003, but that fell short of enactment in the 108th Congress.
The bill maintains a harmful block grant provision combining Adult, Dislocated Worker, and Employment Services funding that was included in the previous House bill. Also like H.R. 1261, the bill would restrict the amount of funding for serving in-school youth to 30 percent. It would require these services to take place during non-school hours, such as before and after school and during the summer breaks.
Serious concerns also remain in the bill related to funding of One-stop infrastructure. The bill maintains a provision from H.R. 1261 that would require a percentage of administrative funds allocated to partner programs, including Perkins, to be used by the Governor to support infrastructure of One-stop centers.
While the exact timing of future action on the bill is unclear, Subcommittee Chairman McKeon (R-CA) stated, “I look forward to moving the bill through the House early in the 109th Congress and am committed to ensuring we enact job training reforms in this Congress.”
On January 24, 2005, Senate Republican leaders introduced a comprehensive lifelong learning bill that included WIA reauthorization language. For more details, see ACTE's January 26, 2005 Legislative Update.
February 18, 2005
The House Education and the Workforce Committee on February 17, 2005, approved the Job Training Improvement Act (H.R. 27), which would reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act (WIA). H.R. 27 seeks to build on WIA reforms that were enacted in 1998 by streamlining bureaucracy, increasing cooperation among workforce development partners, authorizing personal reemployment accounts of up to $3,000 to help the unemployed pay for job training services, and funding the president’s community college job training proposal.
“I’m encouraged about the progress we’ve made on our efforts to strengthen our job training programs in just a short time this year,” said 21st Century Competitiveness Subcommittee Chairman Howard McKeon (R-Calif.), a sponsor of the bill. “With a House floor vote in the coming weeks, I’m hopeful the Senate will also act quickly so we can come together and produce a final bill that benefits all job seekers.”
Several elements of the WIA bill concern ACTE’s public policy staff. ACTE opposes H.R. 27’s consolidation of adult, dislocated and employment service funding streams. ACTE also opposes the bill’s proposal to fund infrastructure for WIA’s one-stop system by allowing governors broad authority to take funds from federal administrative funds allocated to states for WIA partner programs such as Perkins. Several proposals affecting youth have also raised concerns, including the use of 25 percent of the youth formula to create a new national challenge grant program; limiting local spending on serving in-school youth to 30 percent of the local allocation; restricting services to in-school youth in school settings during school hours; and making youth councils optional.
March 2, 2005
The U.S. House of Representatives has approved the Job Training Improvement Act (H.R. 27) by a vote of 224-200. The legislation – which would reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act – streamlines bureaucracy, increases cooperation between workforce development partners, and authorizes $1.3 billion for in-school and out-of-school programming. ACTE continues to have concerns about several provisions of the bill, including the consolidation of adult, dislocated and employment service funding streams. ACTE also opposes the bill’s proposal to fund infrastructure for WIA’s one-stop system by allowing governors broad authority to take funds from federal administrative funds allocated to states for WIA partner programs such as Perkins. Provisions of the bill that address youth have also raised some concerns, including the use of 25 percent of the youth formula to create a new national challenge grant program; limiting local spending on serving in-school youth to 30 percent of the local allocation; restricting services to in-school youth in school settings during school hours; and making youth councils optional.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee is moving forward with discussions on the reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) at a slower than anticipated pace. At this point, it is unclear where the WIA Plus provision (see ACTE's Legislative Alert for more information) stands. There are emerging concerns that that Senate Republicans may be looking at the consolidation of adult, dislocated worker, and employment services funding streams in a manner similar to the House bill, but no specific proposals have been released. A Committee mark-up of WIA in the Senate has not been scheduled, but could occur soon if the pace of negotiations increases.
On May 18, 2005, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee passed its version of legislation to reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act (WIA). The bill, S. 1021, was a bi-partisan effort and passed unanimously out of the HELP Committee. Among the bill’s provisions:
- No Block Grant: S. 1021 does not combine WIA’s current adult, dislocated worker, employment services, and youth funding streams; it does increase the percentage of funds allowed to be transferred between the adult and dislocated worker funding streams, however.
- No WIA Plus: The bill does not contain a controversial “WIA Plus” provision, promoted by the Administration that would have allowed Governors to consolidate other job training and employment programs with WIA at the state level.
- Troubling Infrastructure Funding Provision: The Senate bill seeks to fund infrastructure for WIA’s one-stop system by allowing the current local cost-sharing agreements (Memoranda of Understanding – MOUs) among partner programs and the WIA system to continue. If locals fail to reach agreement after one year, the Governor of a state would then have the authority to take a percentage of a state’s overall allotment for partner programs such as Perkins to fund one-stop infrastructure. The Senate bill caps this amount for Perkins at 1.5% of the state allotment, with the funds coming from administrative funds. This provision would result in reduced funding for Perkins.
- Youth Provisions: S. 1021 requires spending at least 40 percent of funds on serving out-of-school youth, yet would allow spending up to 60 percent of funds on serving in-school youth (current law allows 70 percent), and replaces the youth opportunity grant program with new national challenge grants (but funds the challenge grants as current law funds the youth opportunity grant program).
Prospects for full Senate action on the legislation are unclear at this time. The House of Representatives passed its version of WIA reauthorization in February. The House bill consolidates WIA’s adult, dislocated and employment service funding streams (but not the youth funding stream). The House bill also allows Governors broad authority to fund WIA’s one-stop infrastructure by taking funds from federal administrative funds allocated to states for WIA partner programs such as Perkins. Provisions of the bill that address youth have also raised some concerns, including the use of 25 percent of the youth formula to create a new national challenge grant program; limiting local spending on serving in-school youth to 30 percent of the local allocation; restricting services to in-school youth in school settings during school hours; and making youth councils optional.
June 30, 2006
On June 29, 2006, the full Senate passed its WIA reauthorization bill by unanimous consent. This action came after months of delay, in large part due to two controversial issues that are included in the bill the House passed in 2005, but not in the Senate legislation. These two major issues include allowing faith-based groups that receive job-training grants to base their hiring decisions on the religion of job applicants and creating a $3 billion block grant to states to replace the current separate job training programs and services. These issues will make a potential conference committee to negotiate the differences between the House- and Senate-passed bills particularly complicated. It is unclear at this time whether there will be time remaining in this legislative year to complete these negotiations.
