II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 116

To establish a training voucher system, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JANUARY 19, 1999

Ms. SNOWE introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

A BILL

To establish a training voucher system, and for other

purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Working American

5 Training Voucher Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

7 In this Act:

8 (1) GOVERNOR.—The term ‘‘Governor’’ means

9 the chief executive of any State.

10 (2) PRIVATE INDUSTRY COUNCIL.—The term

11 ‘‘private industry council’’ means a council nomi-
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1 nated, appointed, and certified in accordance with

2 section 103 of the Job Training Partnership Act (29

3 U.S.C. 1513) or a local workforce investment board

4 established in accordance with section 117 of the

5 Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C.

6 2832).

7 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

8 the Secretary of Labor.

9 (4) SERVICE DELIVERY AREA.—The term

10 ‘‘service delivery area’’ means a service delivery area

11 designated in accordance with section 101 of the Job

12 Training Partnership Act (29 U.S.C. 1511) or a

13 local workforce investment area designated in ac14 cordance with section 116 of the Workforce Invest15 ment Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. 2831).

16 (5) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any of

17 the several States, the District of Columbia, the

18 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United States

19 Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Com20 monwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Re21 public of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States

22 of Micronesia, and the Republic of Palau.

23 (6) STATE EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—The term

24 ‘‘State educational agency’’ has the meaning given
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1 such term in section 14101 of the Elementary and

2 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8801).

3 (7) TRAINING ENTITY.—The term ‘‘training en4 tity’’ means an administrative entity, as defined in

5 section 4 of the Job Training Partnership Act (29

6 U.S.C. 1503) or a one-step operator designated or

7 certified under section 121(d) of the Workforce In8 vestment Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. 2841(d)).

9 SEC. 2. GENERAL AUTHORITY.

10 The Secretary shall make allotments to States that

11 have State plans approved under section 4 to enable the

12 States to assist training entities in service delivery areas

13 in carrying out training voucher programs under this Act.

14 SEC. 3. ALLOTMENTS AND ALLOCATIONS.

15 (a) ALLOTMENT.—

16 (1) TERRITORIES.—From the amount made

17 available under section 9 for each fiscal year, the

Secretary shall reserve not more than 1 18 ⁄4 of 1 per19 cent to make grants to the United States Virgin Is20 lands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth

21 of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Republic of

22 the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micro23 nesia, and the Republic of Palau. The Secretary

24 shall issue regulations specifying the requirements of
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1 this Act that shall apply to funds made available

2 through such grants.

3 (2) STATE RESERVATION.—After determining

4 the amounts to be reserved under paragraph (1), the

5 Secretary shall allot not less than 90 percent of the

6 remainder to the States for allocation to service de7 livery areas within each State. Each State shall allo8 cate to each service delivery area within the State

9 the amount determined by the Secretary for such

10 service delivery area pursuant to the formula con11 tained in subsection (b). The remaining 10 percent

12 shall be used by the State in accordance with sub13 section (c).

14 (b) ALLOCATION TO SERVICE DELIVERY AREAS.—

15 (1) FORMULA.—Subject to the provisions of

16 paragraph (2), of the amounts allocated to service

17 delivery areas for this Act for each fiscal year—

(A) 331 18 ⁄3 percent shall be allocated on the

19 basis of the relative number of unemployed in20 dividuals in areas of substantial unemployment

21 in each service delivery area as compared to the

22 total number of unemployed individuals in areas

23 of substantial unemployment in all service deliv24 ery areas in all States;
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(B) 331 1 ⁄3 percent shall be allocated on the

2 basis of the relative excess number of unem3 ployed individuals in each service delivery area

4 as compared to the total excess number of un5 employed individuals in all service delivery areas

6 in all States; and

(C) 331 7 ⁄3 percent shall be allocated on the

8 basis of the relative number of economically dis9 advantaged adults in each service delivery area

10 as compared to the total number of economi11 cally disadvantaged adults in all service delivery

12 areas in all States.

13 (2) LIMITATIONS.—

14 (A) MINIMUM PERCENTAGE.—No service

15 delivery area shall receive an allocation percent16 age for a fiscal year that is less than 90 percent

17 of the allocation percentage of the service deliv18 ery area for the preceding fiscal year.

19 (B) MAXIMUM PERCENTAGE.—No service

20 delivery area shall receive an allocation percent21 age for a fiscal year that is more than 130 per22 cent of the allocation percentage of the service

23 delivery area for the preceding fiscal year.

24 (C) STATE MINIMUM.—Notwithstanding

25 subparagraphs (A) and (B), the total allocation
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1 under this subsection for all service delivery

2 areas in any State for a fiscal year shall not be

less than 1 3 ⁄4 of 1 percent of the total allocation

4 under this subsection for all service delivery

5 areas in all States for the fiscal year.

6 (D) ALLOCATION PERCENTAGE.—

7 (i) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided

8 in clause (ii), for purposes of subpara9 graphs (A) and (B), the allocation percent10 age of a service delivery area for a fiscal

11 year shall be the percentage of funds allo12 cated to the service delivery area under

13 this subsection.

14 (ii) FISCAL YEAR 1999.—For purposes

15 of subparagraphs (A) and (B), the alloca16 tion percentage of a service delivery area

17 for fiscal year 1999 shall be the percentage

18 of funds allocated to the service delivery

19 area under part A of title II of the Job

20 Training Partnership Act (29 U.S.C. 1601

21 et seq.) or paragraph (2)(A) or (3) of sec22 tion 133(b) of the Workforce Investment

23 Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. 2863(b)).
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1 (3) RECIPIENT.—The training entity in a serv2 ice delivery area shall receive each allocation made

3 to the area under this subsection.

4 (c) STATE ACTIVITIES.—The remaining 10 percent

5 of funds available for allotment to States under this part

6 for each fiscal year may be used for State administrative

7 and oversight activities.

8 (d) DEFINITIONS AND RULE.—

9 (1) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:

10 (A) AREA OF SUBSTANTIAL UNEMPLOY11 MENT.—The term ‘‘area of substantial unem12 ployment’’ means any area that is of sufficient

13 size and scope to sustain a program carried out

14 under this Act and that has an average rate of

15 unemployment of at least 6.5 percent for the

16 most recent 12 months, as determined by the

17 Secretary. For purposes of this subparagraph,

18 determinations of areas of substantial unem19 ployment shall be made once each fiscal year.

20 (B) ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED

21 ADULT.—The term ‘‘economically disadvan22 taged adult’’ means an individual who is age 22

23 through 72 and who has received an income, or

24 is a member of a family that has received a

25 total family income, for the 6-month period
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1 prior to application for the program involved

2 that, in relation to family size, does not exceed

3 the higher of—

4 (i) the poverty line (as defined by the

5 Office of Management and Budget, and re6 vised annually in accordance with section

7 673(2) of the Omnibus Budget Reconcili8 ation Act of 1981 (42 U.S.C. 9902(2)), for

9 an equivalent period; or

10 (ii) 70 percent of the lower living

11 standard income level, for an equivalent

12 period.

13 (C) EXCESS NUMBER.—The term ‘‘excess

14 number’’ means, with respect to the excess

15 number of unemployed individuals in a service

16 delivery area, the number of unemployed indi17 viduals in excess of 4.5 percent of the civilian

18 labor force in the service delivery area, or the

19 number of unemployed individuals in excess of

20 4.5 percent of the civilian labor force in areas

21 of substantial unemployment in such service de22 livery area.

23 (D) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any

24 of the several States, the District of Columbia,

25 and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
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1 (2) SPECIAL RULE.—For the purposes of this

2 section, the Secretary shall, as appropriate and to

3 the extent practicable, exclude college students and

4 members of the Armed Forces from the determina5 tion of the number of economically disadvantaged

6 adults.

7 SEC. 4. STATE PLAN.

8 In order for a State to receive an allotment under

9 this Act, the Governor of the State shall develop and sub10 mit a State plan to the Secretary at such time, in such

11 manner, and containing such information as the Secretary

12 may require. At a minimum, the State plan shall

13 contain—

14 (1) information describing the use of all re15 sources provided to the State and the service deliv16 ery areas in the State under this Act; and

17 (2) information identifying an entity within the

18 State, which may be the State educational agency,

19 that will certify training programs as eligible to re20 ceive vouchers under this Act.

21 SEC. 5. LOCAL PLAN.

22 In order for a service delivery area in a State to re23 ceive an allocation under this Act, the private industry

24 council for the area shall ensure the preparation, and sub25 mission to the Governor of the State, of a local plan at
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1 such time, in such manner, and containing such informa2 tion as the Governor may require. At a minimum, the local

3 plan shall contain information describing the manner in

4 which the training entity will carry out a training voucher

5 program in the area. The local plan shall be developed,

6 submitted, approved, and subject to oversight in accord7 ance with the requirements of section 103 of the Job

8 Training Partnership Act (29 U.S.C. 1513) or the require9 ments of sections 117 and 118 of the Workforce Invest10 ment Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. 2832, 2833), for job training

11 plans.

12 SEC. 6. USE OF FUNDS.

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—A training entity that receives an

14 allocation for a service delivery area under this Act shall

15 use the funds made available through the allocation to dis16 tribute training vouchers to eligible employees, to enable

17 the employees to participate in training programs that are

18 certified as described in section 4(2). The training entity

19 may not provide training programs under this Act.

20 (b) VOUCHERS.—The amount of a voucher made

21 available under subsection (a) shall be the lesser of—

22 (1) the amount necessary to pay for such a cer23 tified training program for an employee for 1 year;

24 or

25 (2) $1000.
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1 (c) ELIGIBLE EMPLOYEE.—To be eligible to apply for

2 a training voucher in a State under this Act, an employee

3 shall—

4 (1) be employed by an employer who has 200

5 or fewer employees for each working day in each of

6 20 or more calendar weeks in the current or preced7 ing calendar year; or

8 (2) in the case of an employee who applies dur9 ing a period for which the Governor of the State has

10 provided a waiver under section 7(c), be employed by

11 an employer described in such section.

12 (d) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a train13 ing voucher under this Act, an employee shall submit an

14 application to the training entity at such time, in such

15 manner, and containing such information as the entity

16 may require. At a minimum, the application shall contain

17 information demonstrating that the employer of the em18 ployee approves of the training program for which the

19 voucher will be used.

20 SEC. 7. WAIVER AUTHORITY OF GOVERNOR.

21 (a) REPORT.—Not later than the 90th day of a fiscal

22 year, each training entity in a State shall submit to the

23 Governor a report containing information on—

24 (1) the amount of funds that the entity has re25 ceived through an allocation made under section 3
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1 for the fiscal year and has obligated for activities de2 scribed in this Act; and

3 (2) if the entity has not obligated all of the

4 funds received, the reasons that a portion of the

5 funds remains unobligated.

6 (b) DETERMINATION.—Not later than the 120th day

7 of the fiscal year, the Governor shall determine whether

8 to waive the requirements of section 6(c)(1) for employees

9 in the State for the remainder of the fiscal year.

10 (c) WAIVER.—If the Governor waives the require11 ments, an employee shall be eligible to apply to receive

12 a training voucher under this Act if the employee is em13 ployed by an employer who has 500 or fewer employees

14 for each working day in each of 20 or more calendar weeks

15 in the current or preceding calendar year.

16 SEC. 8. REFERENCES.

17 Any reference in this Act to the Job Training Part18 nership Act (29 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.) ceases to be effective

19 July 1, 2000, the effective date of the repeal of the Act.

20 SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

21 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out

22 this Act, $1,100,000,000 for fiscal year 2000 and each

23 subsequent fiscal year.

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