II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4670 

To amend the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act regarding employerdirected skills development, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 11 (legislative day, JULY 10), 2024 

Mr. BUDD 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 

regarding employer-directed skills development, 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 ‘‘Employer-Directed 

5 Skills Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. EMPLOYER-DIRECTED SKILLS DEVELOPMENT. 

7 (a) EMPLOYER-DIRECTED SKILLS DEVELOPMENT.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 3 of the Workforce 

9 Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3102) is 

10 amended— 


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1 (A) by striking paragraph (14); 

2 (B) by redesignating paragraphs (15) 

3 through (18) as paragraphs (14) through (17), 

4 respectively; and 

5 (C) by inserting after paragraph (17), the 

6 following: 

7 ‘‘(18) EMPLOYER-DIRECTED SKILLS DEVELOP8 MENT.—The term ‘employer-directed skills develop9 ment’ means a program— 

10 ‘‘(A) that is selected or designed to meet 

11 the specific skill demands of an employer (in12 cluding a group of employers); 

13 ‘‘(B) that is conducted pursuant to the 

14 terms and conditions provided under an em15 ployer-directed skills contract described in sec16 tion 134(c)(3)(I), including the commitment by 

17 the employer to employ an individual upon suc18 cessful completion of the program; and 

19 ‘‘(C) for which the employer pays a portion 

20 of the cost of the program that is— 

21 ‘‘(i) determined by the local board in22 volved; and 

23 ‘‘(ii) not less than— 


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1 ‘‘(I) 10 percent of the cost, in the 

2 case of an employer with 50 or fewer 

3 employees; 

4 ‘‘(II) 25 percent of the cost, in 

5 the case of an employer with more 

6 than 50 but fewer than 100 employ7 ees; and 

8 ‘‘(III) 50 percent of the cost, in 

9 the case of an employer with 100 or 

10 more employees.’’. 

11 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 

12 108(b)(4)(B) of the Workforce Innovation and Op13 portunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3123(b)(4)(B)) is amended 

14 by striking ‘‘customized training programs’’ and in15 serting ‘‘employer-directed skills development’’. 

16 (b) PRIMARY INDICATORS OF PERFORMANCE.—Sec17 tion 116(b)(2)(A) of the Workforce Innovation and Oppor18 tunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3141(b)(2)(A)) is amended— 

19 (1) in clause (i), by striking subclause (VI) and 

20 inserting the following: 

21 ‘‘(VI) the ratio of— 

22 ‘‘(aa) the number of pro23 gram participants who, before 

24 exiting the program during a 

25 program year, completed on-theVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:42 Aug 16, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4670.IS S4670

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1 job training or employer-directed 

2 skills development; to 

3 ‘‘(bb) the total number of 

4 program participants who re5 ceived training services and who 

6 exited the program during that 

7 program year.’’ ; and 

8 (2) by striking clause (iv). 

9 (c) ON THE JOB TRAINING, EMPLOYER-DIRECTED

10 SKILLS DEVELOPMENT, INCUMBENT WORKER TRAINING, 

11 AND OTHER TRAINING EXCEPTIONS.—Section 122(h) of 

12 the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 

13 3152(h)) is amended— 

14 (1) in the heading, by striking ‘‘CUSTOMIZED

15 TRAINING’’ and inserting ‘‘EMPLOYER-DIRECTED

16 SKILLS DEVELOPMENT’’ ; 

17 (2) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘customized 

18 training’’ and inserting ‘‘employer-directed skills de19 velopment’’; and 

20 (3) in paragraph (2), by striking the first sen21 tence and inserting ‘‘A one-stop operator in a local 

22 area shall collect the minimum amount of informa23 tion from providers of on-the-job training, employer24 directed skills development, incumbent worker train25 ing, internships, paid or unpaid work experience opVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:42 Aug 16, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4670.IS S4670

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1 portunities, and transitional employment as is nec2 essary to enable the use of State administrative data 

3 to generate such performance information as the 

4 Governor may require.’’ 

5 (d) STATEWIDE EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING AC6 TIVITIES.—Section 134(a)(2)(B)(v)(II) of the Workforce 

7 Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 

8 3174(a)(2)(B)(v)(II)) is amended by striking ‘‘customized 

9 training’’ and inserting ‘‘employer-directed skills develop10 ment’’. 

11 (e) ALLOWABLE STATEWIDE EMPLOYMENT AND

12 TRAINING ACTIVITIES.—Section 134(a)(3)(A)(i) of the 

13 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 

14 3174(a)(3)(A)(i)) is amended by striking ‘‘customized 

15 training’’ and inserting ‘‘employer-directed skills develop16 ment’’. 

17 (f) EMPLOYER REFERRAL.—Section 134(c)(3) of the 

18 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 

19 3174(c)(3)) is amended— 

20 (1) in subparagraph (A)— 

21 (A) in clause (i), in the matter preceding 

22 subclause (I), by striking ‘‘clause (ii)’’ and in23 serting ‘‘clauses (ii) and (iii)’’; 

24 (B) by redesignating clause (iii) as clause 

25 (iv); and 


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1 (C) by inserting after clause (ii) the fol2 lowing: 

3 ‘‘(iii) EMPLOYER REFERRAL.— 

4 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—A one-stop 

5 operator or one-stop partner shall not 

6 be required to conduct an interview, 

7 evaluation, or assessment of an indi8 vidual under clause (i)(I) if such indi9 vidual— 

10 ‘‘(aa) is referred by an em11 ployer to receive on-the-job train12 ing or employer-directed skills de13 velopment in connection with 

14 that employer; and 

15 ‘‘(bb) has been certified by 

16 the employer as being in need of 

17 training services to obtain unsub18 sidized employment with such 

19 employer and having the skills 

20 and qualifications to successfully 

21 participate in the selected pro22 gram of training services. 

23 ‘‘(II) PRIORITY.—A one-stop op24 erator or one-stop partner shall follow 

25 the priority described in subparagraph 


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1 (E) to determine whether an indi2 vidual that meets the requirements of 

3 subclause (I) of this clause is eligible 

4 to receive training services.’’; 

5 (2) in subparagraph (D), by striking clause (xi) 

6 and inserting the following: 

7 ‘‘(xi) employer-directed skills develop8 ment.’’; 

9 (3) in subparagraph (G)(ii)(II), by striking 

10 ‘‘customized training’’ and inserting ‘‘employer-di11 rected skills development’’; and 

12 (4) by adding at the end the following: 

13 ‘‘(I) EMPLOYER-DIRECTED SKILLS DEVEL14 OPMENT.—An employer may receive a contract 

15 from a local board to provide employer-directed 

16 skills development to a participant if the em17 ployer submits to the local board an application 

18 that provides— 

19 ‘‘(i) the provider of the skills develop20 ment program, which may be the employer; 

21 ‘‘(ii) the length of the skills develop22 ment program; 

23 ‘‘(iii) the recognized postsecondary 

24 credential that will be awarded to, or any 


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1 occupational skill that will be gained by, 

2 the program participant; 

3 ‘‘(iv) the cost of the skills development 

4 program; 

5 ‘‘(v) the amount of such cost that will 

6 be paid by the employer (as described in 

7 section 3(19)(C)); and 

8 ‘‘(vi) a commitment by the employer 

9 to employ the participating individual upon 

10 successful completion of the program.’’. 

Æ 


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