II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4387 

To amend the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act to authorize the 

Reentry Employment Opportunities Program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 30, 2020 

Mr. PETERS (for himself and Mr. PORTMAN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act 

to authorize the Reentry Employment Opportunities Program, 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 ‘‘REO Act of 2020’’. 

5 SEC. 2. REENTRY EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES PRO6 GRAM. 

7 Subtitle D of title I of the Workforce Innovation and 

8 Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3221 et seq.) is amended— 


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1 (1) by redesignating section 172 (29 U.S.C. 

2 3227) as section 173; and 

3 (2) by inserting after section 171 (29 U.S.C. 

4 3226) the following: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 172. REENTRY EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES PRO6 GRAM. 

7 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

8 ‘‘(1) CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION.—The term 

9 ‘correctional institution’ has the meaning given the 

10 term in section 225(e). 

11 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE ADULT.—The term ‘eligible 

12 adult’ means an individual who— 

13 ‘‘(A) on the date of the individual’s enroll14 ment— 

15 ‘‘(i) is not younger than age 25; and 

16 ‘‘(ii) is residing in or returning to the 

17 geographic area served; and 

18 ‘‘(B)(i) before that date of enrollment— 

19 ‘‘(I) was released from incarceration 

20 in a correctional institution (including 

21 being enrolled in a work release center at 

22 the institution); or 

23 ‘‘(II) served an alternative sentence, 

24 or a sentence to a diversion program, orVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:15 Aug 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4387.IS S4387

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1 dered through the adult criminal justice 

2 system; or 

3 ‘‘(ii) on that date, is subject to the adult 

4 criminal justice system, including an individual 

5 who— 

6 ‘‘(I) is incarcerated in a correctional 

7 institution (including being enrolled in a 

8 work release center at the institution), but 

9 is scheduled to be released within 6 

10 months; 

11 ‘‘(II) is residing in a residential re12 entry center; 

13 ‘‘(III) is subject to electronic or home14 based monitoring; 

15 ‘‘(IV) is in the community on proba16 tion or parole; or 

17 ‘‘(V) is serving an alternative sen18 tence, or a sentence to a diversion pro19 gram, ordered through that system. 

20 ‘‘(3) ELIGIBLE YOUNG ADULT.—The term ‘eli21 gible young adult’ means an individual who, on the 

22 date of the individual’s enrollment— 

23 ‘‘(A) is not younger than age 18 and not 

24 older than age 24; 


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1 ‘‘(B) is residing in or returning to the geo2 graphic area served; and 

3 ‘‘(C)(i) is a school dropout (within the 

4 meaning of section 129(a)(1)(B)(iii)(I)) from a 

5 high school, except that not more than 10 per6 cent of the individuals accepted to participate in 

7 a program under subsection (b) may be found 

8 eligible under this subparagraph solely on the 

9 basis of meeting the requirements of this 

10 clause; or 

11 ‘‘(ii) is an individual who is, or has been, 

12 subject to the juvenile or adult criminal justice 

13 system, including an individual who— 

14 ‘‘(I) is or has been incarcerated in a 

15 correctional institution (including being en16 rolled in a work release center at the insti17 tution or in a detention facility for juve18 niles); 

19 ‘‘(II) is or has been subject to that 

20 system due to having an out-of-home place21 ment, or being on probation or parole; or 

22 ‘‘(III) is serving or has served an al23 ternative sentence, or a sentence to a di24 version program, ordered through that sys25 tem. 


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1 ‘‘(4) ELIGIBLE YOUTH.—The term ‘eligible 

2 youth’ means an individual who, on the date of the 

3 individual’s enrollment— 

4 ‘‘(A) is not younger than age 16 and not 

5 older than age 17; 

6 ‘‘(B) is residing in or returning to the geo7 graphic area served; and 

8 ‘‘(C)(i) is a school dropout (within the 

9 meaning of section 129(a)(1)(B)(iii)(I)) from a 

10 high school, except that not more than 10 per11 cent of the individuals accepted to participate in 

12 a program under subsection (c) may be found 

13 eligible under this subparagraph solely on the 

14 basis of meeting the requirements of this 

15 clause; or 

16 ‘‘(ii) is an individual who is, or has been, 

17 subject to the juvenile justice system, including 

18 an individual who— 

19 ‘‘(I) is or has been incarcerated in a 

20 correctional institution (including being en21 rolled in a work release center at the insti22 tution or in a detention facility for juve23 niles); 


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1 ‘‘(II) is or has been subject to that 

2 system due to having an out-of-home place3 ment, or being on probation or parole; or 

4 ‘‘(III) is serving or has served an al5 ternative sentence, or a sentence to a di6 version program, ordered through that sys7 tem. 

8 ‘‘(5) ENROLL.—The term ‘enroll’ means receive 

9 confirmation that an individual, having applied to 

10 participate in a program under this section, has 

11 been accepted to the program. 

12 ‘‘(6) REGISTERED APPRENTICESHIP.—The term 

13 ‘registered apprenticeship’ means an apprenticeship 

14 registered under the Act of August 16, 1937 (com15 monly known as the ‘National Apprenticeship Act’; 

16 50 Stat. 664, chapter 663; 29 U.S.C. 50 et seq.). 

17 ‘‘(b) ADULT REENTRY EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNI18 TIES PROGRAM.— 

19 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall es20 tablish and carry out an adult Reentry Employment 

21 Opportunities Program. 

22 ‘‘(2) GRANTS.— 

23 ‘‘(A) DIRECT GRANTS.—In carrying out 

24 the program, the Secretary may make direct 

25 grants to eligible entities to carry out projects 


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1 described in paragraph (6), in geographic areas, 

2 for eligible adults and eligible young adults. 

3 ‘‘(B) GRANTS THROUGH INTER4 MEDIARIES.—In any year for which the Sec5 retary makes grants under subparagraph (A), 

6 the Secretary shall make intermediary grants 

7 on a competitive basis to eligible entities who 

8 are national or regional intermediaries, who 

9 shall use the grant funds to make direct grants 

10 to eligible entities or to carry out projects de11 scribed in subparagraph (A) in accordance with 

12 the provisions of this subsection. For purposes 

13 of this subsection, a reference to the Secretary 

14 shall include a reference to an intermediary who 

15 receives funds under this subparagraph to the 

16 extent that the intermediary uses the funds to 

17 make direct grants to eligible entities. 

18 ‘‘(3) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—To be eligible to re19 ceive a direct or intermediary grant under this sub20 section, an entity— 

21 ‘‘(A) shall be an organization described in 

22 section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code 

23 of 1986 that is exempt from taxation under sec24 tion 501(a) of such Code; 

25 ‘‘(B) may be— 


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1 ‘‘(i) an organization that serves 

2 women or a minority population; 

3 ‘‘(ii) a State or local government; or 

4 ‘‘(iii) an entity (including an Indian 

5 tribe or an Alaska Native-controlled or Na6 tive Hawaiian-controlled organization) that 

7 is eligible for a grant under section 166 

8 (including the regulations issued under 

9 that section); and 

10 ‘‘(C) may be an organization that serves— 

11 ‘‘(i) an urban county, meaning a 

12 county that is a Metropolitan Area, as des13 ignated by the Office of Management and 

14 Budget; or 

15 ‘‘(ii) a rural county, meaning a county 

16 that is a Micropolitan Area, or neither a 

17 Metropolitan Area nor a Micropolitan 

18 Area, as so designated. 

19 ‘‘(4) APPLICATIONS.—To be eligible to receive a 

20 direct grant or an intermediary grant under this 

21 subsection, an entity shall submit an application to 

22 the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and 

23 containing such information as the Secretary may 

24 require, including, for a program that includes an 


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1 industry-recognized credential, a description of the 

2 program leading to the credential. 

3 ‘‘(5) USE OF FUNDS.—An entity that receives, 

4 under this subsection, a direct grant to carry out a 

5 project described in paragraph (2) shall use the 

6 grant funds to carry out a project that provides op7 portunities in a pre-apprenticeship program, a reg8 istered apprenticeship program, an industry-recog9 nized apprenticeship program, occupational skills 

10 education, on-the-job training, work experience, job 

11 referrals, basic skills remediation, educational serv12 ices, or work readiness activities, to eligible adults or 

13 eligible young adults. 

14 ‘‘(6) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

15 There are authorized to be appropriated such sums 

16 as may be necessary to carry out this subsection for 

17 fiscal year 2021 and each subsequent fiscal year. 

18 ‘‘(c) YOUTH REENTRY EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNI19 TIES PROGRAM.— 

20 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall es21 tablish and carry out a youth Reentry Employment 

22 Opportunities Program. 

23 ‘‘(2) GRANTS.— 

24 ‘‘(A) DIRECT GRANTS.—In carrying out 

25 the program, the Secretary may make direct 


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1 grants to eligible entities to carry out projects 

2 described in subsection (b)(6), in geographic 

3 areas, for eligible youth. 

4 ‘‘(B) GRANTS THROUGH INTER5 MEDIARIES.—In any year for which the Sec6 retary makes grants under subparagraph (A), 

7 the Secretary shall make intermediary grants as 

8 described in subsection (b)(2)(A), except that 

9 references in that subsection to eligible entities 

10 shall be treated as references to entities de11 scribed in paragraph (3). 

12 ‘‘(3) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—To be eligible to re13 ceive a direct or intermediary grant under this sub14 section, an entity may be an organization described 

15 in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 

16 1986 that is exempt from taxation under section 

17 501(a) of such Code or a State juvenile justice agen18 cy. 

19 ‘‘(4) APPLICATIONS.—To be eligible to receive a 

20 direct grant or an intermediary grant under this 

21 subsection, an entity shall submit an application as 

22 described in subsection (b)(4). 

23 ‘‘(5) USE OF FUNDS.—An entity that receives, 

24 under this subsection, a direct grant to carry out a 

25 project described in paragraph (2) shall use the 


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1 grant funds as described in subsection (b)(6), for eli2 gible youth. 

3 ‘‘(6) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

4 There are authorized to be appropriated such sums 

5 as may be necessary to carry out this subsection for 

6 fiscal year 2021 and each subsequent fiscal year. 

7 ‘‘(d) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary shall 

8 reserve and use not more than— 

9 ‘‘(1) 2 percent of the funds appropriated under 

10 subsection (b)(7) for a fiscal year to provide tech11 nical assistance to recipients of grants under sub12 section (b); and 

13 ‘‘(2) 2 percent of the funds appropriated under 

14 subsection (c)(7) for a fiscal year to provide tech15 nical assistance to recipients of grants under sub16 section (c).’’. 

17 SEC. 3. EVALUATION OF THE REENTRY PROJECTS. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 5 years after the 

19 date of enactment of this Act, the Chief Evaluation Officer 

20 shall evaluate the effectiveness of direct grants and inter21 mediary grants used by the Department of Labor to sup22 port offender reentry and recidivism reduction through re23 entry projects at the Federal, State, local, and tribal lev24 els. The Chief Evaluation Officer shall evaluate each of 

25 the following: 


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1 (1) The effectiveness of such projects in rela2 tion to their cost, including the extent to which the 

3 projects improve reentry outcomes, including em4 ployment, education, housing, and reductions in re5 cidivism, of participants in comparison to com6 parably situated individuals who did not participate 

7 in such projects. 

8 (2) The effectiveness of project structures and 

9 mechanisms for delivery of services. 

10 (3) The impact of such projects on the commu11 nities and participants involved. 

12 (4) The impact of such projects on related pro13 grams and activities. 

14 (5) The extent to which such projects meet the 

15 needs of various demographic groups. 

16 (6) The quality and effectiveness of technical 

17 assistance provided by the Department of Labor to 

18 grantees for implementing such projects. 

19 (7) Such other factors as may be appropriate. 

20 (b) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS FOR EVALUATION.— 

21 Not more than 2.5 percent of any amounts appropriated 

22 for a fiscal year to carry out the reentry projects shall 

23 be reserved and made available to the Chief Evaluation 

24 Officer for such evaluation, including evaluating the proc25 esses, implementation, outcomes, costs, and effectiveness 


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1 of the reentry projects in improving reentry and reducing 

2 recidivism. Such reserved funding may be used to provide 

3 support to recipients of direct grants and intermediary 

4 grants for reentry projects for supplemental data collec5 tion, analysis, and coordination associated with evaluation 

6 activities. 

7 (c) TECHNIQUES.—Evaluations conducted under this 

8 section shall use appropriate methodology and research 

9 designs. Impact evaluations conducted under this section 

10 shall include the use of intervention and control groups 

11 chosen by random assignment methods, to the extent pos12 sible. 

13 (d) METRICS AND OUTCOMES FOR EVALUATION.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

15 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Chief 

16 Evaluation Officer shall consult with relevant stake17 holders and identify outcome measures, including 

18 measures for employment, housing, education, and 

19 public safety, that are to be achieved by reentry 

20 projects and the metrics by which the achievement 

21 of such outcomes shall be determined. 

22 (2) PUBLICATION.—Not later than 30 days 

23 after the date on which the Chief Evaluation Officer 

24 identifies metrics and outcomes under paragraph 


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1 (1), the Secretary of Labor shall publish such 

2 metrics and outcomes identified. 

3 (e) DATA COLLECTION.—As a condition of receiving 

4 a direct grant or intermediary grant for a reentry project, 

5 grantees shall be required to collect and report to the De6 partment of Labor data based upon the metrics identified 

7 under subsection (d). In accordance with applicable law, 

8 collection of individual-level data under a pledge of con9 fidentiality shall be protected by the Chief Evaluation Of10 ficer in accordance with such pledge. 

11 (f) DATA ACCESSIBILITY.—Not later than 5 years 

12 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Chief Evalua13 tion Officer shall— 

14 (1) make data collected during the course of 

15 evaluation under this section available in de-identi16 fied form in such a manner that reasonably protects 

17 a pledge of confidentiality to participants under sub18 section (e); and 

19 (2) make identifiable data collected during the 

20 course of evaluation under this section available to 

21 qualified researchers for future research and evalua22 tion, in accordance with applicable law. 

23 (g) PUBLICATION AND REPORTING OF EVALUATION

24 FINDINGS.—The Chief Evaluation Officer shall— 


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1 (1) not later than 365 days after the date on 

2 which the enrollment of participants in an impact 

3 evaluation is completed under this section, publish 

4 an interim report on such evaluation; 

5 (2) not later than 90 days after the date on 

6 which any evaluation is completed under this section, 

7 publish and make publicly available such evaluation; 

8 and 

9 (3) not later than 60 days after the completion 

10 date described in paragraph (2), submit a report to 

11 the Committee on Education and Labor of the 

12 House of Representatives and the Committee on 

13 Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Sen14 ate on such evaluation. 

15 (h) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

16 (1) CHIEF EVALUATION OFFICER.—The term 

17 ‘‘Chief Evaluation Officer’’ means the head of the 

18 independent evaluation office located organization19 ally in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Pol20 icy of the Department of Labor. 

21 (2) REENTRY PROJECT.—The term ‘‘reentry 

22 project’’ means a project funded under the reentry 

23 employment opportunities program carried out 

24 under section 172 of the Workforce Innovation and 

25 Opportunities Act. 


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1 SEC. 4. CONFORMING AMENDMENT. 

2 The table of contents in section 1(b) of the Workforce 

3 Innovation and Opportunity Act is amended— 

4 (1) by redesignating the item relating to section 

5 172 as the item relating to section 173; and 

6 (2) by inserting after the item relating to sec7 tion 171 the following: 

‘‘Sec. 172. Reentry Employment Opportunities Program.’’. 

Æ 


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