II 

Calendar No. 215 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1718 

To provide special rules for disaster relief employment under the Workforce 

Investment Act of 1998 for individuals displaced by Hurricane Katrina. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 19, 2005 

Mr. ENZI (for himself and Mr. KENNEDY) introduced the following bill; which 

was read the first time 

SEPTEMBER 20, 2005 

Read the second time and placed on the calendar 

A BILL 

To provide special rules for disaster relief employment under 

the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 for individuals 

displaced by Hurricane Katrina. 

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 ‘‘Hurricane Katrina 

5 Employment and Training Assistance Act’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. SPECIAL RULES FOR NATIONAL EMERGENCY 

2 GRANTS RELATED TO HURRICANE KATRINA. 

3 (a) USE OF GRANTS FOR PROJECTS OUTSIDE DIS4 ASTER AREA.—Funds provided to States that submit ap5 plications for assistance described in section 173(a)(2) of 

6 the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. 

7 2918(a)(2)) to address the effects of Hurricane Katrina 

8 may be used to provide disaster relief employment and 

9 other assistance under section 173(d)(1) of such Act (29 

10 U.S.C. 2918(d)(1)) on projects that provide assistance in 

11 areas outside of the disaster area (as such term is defined 

12 in section 173(a)(2) of such Act). 

13 (b) EXPANDED ELIGIBILITY FOR DISASTER RELIEF

14 EMPLOYMENT.—Funds provided to States that submit ap15 plications for assistance described in section 173(a)(2) of 

16 the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 to address the ef17 fects of Hurricane Katrina may be used to provide disaster 

18 relief employment and other assistance under section 

19 173(d)(1) of such Act, or public sector employment au20 thorized under subsection (c) of this Act, to individuals 

21 who were unemployed at the time of the emergency or 

22 major disaster involved and to individuals who are without 

23 employment history, in addition to individuals described 

24 in section 173(d)(2) of the Workforce Investment Act of 

25 1998 (29 U.S.C. 2918(d)(2)). 
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1 (c) AUTHORIZATION FOR GENERAL PUBLIC SECTOR

2 EMPLOYMENT.—Funds provided to States that submit ap3 plications for assistance described in section 173(a)(2) of 

4 the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 to address the ef5 fects of Hurricane Katrina may be used to provide to eligi6 ble individuals temporary employment by public sector en7 tities for a period not to exceed 6 months in addition to 

8 disaster relief employment described in section 173(d)(1) 

9 of such Act. 

10 (d) EXTENSION OF THE DURATION OF DISASTER

11 RELIEF EMPLOYMENT.—The Secretary of Labor may ex12 tend the 6-month maximum duration of employment 

13 under this Act and under section 173(d) of the Workforce 

14 Investment Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. 2918(d)) for not more 

15 than an additional 6 months due to extraordinary cir16 cumstances. 

17 (e) PRIORITY FOR DISASTER RELIEF EMPLOYMENT

18 FUNDS.—In awarding national emergency grants to 

19 States under section 173(a)(2) of the Workforce Invest20 ment Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. 2918(a)(2)) to address the 

21 effects of Hurricane Katrina by providing disaster relief 

22 employment, the Secretary of Labor shall— 

23 (1) first, give priority to States in which areas 

24 that have suffered major disasters (as defined in sec25 tion 102 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 
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1 and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122)) 

2 are located; and 

3 (2) second, give priority to the remaining States 

4 that have been most heavily impacted by the demand 

5 for services by workers affected by Hurricane 

6 Katrina. 

7 (f) DOCUMENTATION.—In providing disaster relief 

8 employment under section 173(a)(2) of the Workforce In9 vestment Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. 2918(a)(2)), an entity 

10 shall not deny such employment to a worker affected by 

11 Hurricane Katrina because of the worker’s inability, due 

12 to the effects of Hurricane Katrina, to provide at the time 

13 of application appropriate documentation of eligibility 

14 under section 173(d)(2) of such Act (29 U.S.C. 

15 2918(d)(2)). 

16 (g) ELIGIBILITY FOR NEEDS-RELATED PAY17 MENTS.—Funds provided to States that submit applica18 tions for asisstance described in section 173(a)(2) of the 

19 Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. 2918(a)(2)) 

20 to address the effects of Hurricane Katrina may be used 

21 to provide needs-related payments (described in section 

22 134(e)(3) of such Act (29 U.S.C. 2864(e)(3))) to individ23 uals described in subsection (b) who do not qualify for (or 

24 have ceased to qualify for) unemployment compensation, 

25 and who are not employed on a project described under 
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1 section 173(d) of such Act, for the purpose of enabling 

2 such individuals to participate in activities described in 

3 paragraphs (2), (3), or (4) of section 134(d) of such Act. 

4 (h) USE OF AVAILABLE FUNDS.—With the approval 

5 of the Secretary of Labor, any State may use funds that 

6 remain available for expenditure under any grants award7 ed to the State under section 173 of the Workforce Invest8 ment Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. 2918) or under this section, 

9 to provide any assistance authorized under such section 

10 173 or this section, or personal protective equipment not 

11 otherwise available through public funds or private con12 tributions, to assist workers affected by Hurricane 

13 Katrina, including workers who have relocated from areas 

14 for which an emergency or major disaster (as defined in 

15 section 102 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 

16 Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122)) was de17 clared, due to the effects of Hurricane Katrina. 

18 (i) EXPANDED ELIGIBILITY FOR EMPLOYMENT AND

19 TRAINING ACTIVITIES.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—In awarding national emer21 gency grants under section 173(a)(1) of the Work22 force Investment Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. 

23 2918(a)(1)), the Secretary may award such a grant 

24 to an entity to provide employment and training as25 sistance available under section 173(a)(1) of such 
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1 Act to workers affected by Hurricane Katrina, in2 cluding workers who have relocated from areas for 

3 which an emergency or major disaster (as defined in 

4 section 102 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 

5 and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122)) 

6 was declared, due to the effects of Hurricane 

7 Katrina. 

8 (2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—In this subsection, the 

9 term ‘‘entity’’ means a State, a local board (as de10 fined in section 101 of the Workforce Investment 

11 Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. 2801)), or an entity de12 scribed in section 166(c) of such Act (29 U.S.C. 

13 2911(c)), that submits an application for assistance 

14 described in section 173(a)(1) of the Workforce In15 vestment Act of 1998 to address the effects of Hur16 ricane Katrina. 

17 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

18 (a) MOBILE ONE-STOP CENTERS.—It is the sense of 

19 Congress that States that operate mobile one-stop centers, 

20 established as part of one-stop delivery systems authorized 

21 under subtitle B of title I of the Workforce Investment 

22 Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. 2811 et seq.) should, where pos23 sible, make such centers available for use in the areas af24 fected by Hurricane Katrina, and areas where large num-
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1 bers of workers affected by Hurricane Katrina have been 

2 relocated. 

3 (b) EXPANDED OPERATIONAL HOURS.—It is the 

4 sense of Congress that one-stop operators (as such term 

5 is defined in section 101 of the Workforce Investment Act 

6 of 1998 (29 U.S.C. 2801) should increase access for work7 ers affected by Hurricane Katrina to the one-stop delivery 

8 systems authorized under subtitle B of title I of such Act, 

9 including through the implementation of expanded oper10 ational hours at one-stop centers and on-site services for 

11 individuals in temporary housing locations. 
Calendar No. 215 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1718 

A BILL 

To provide special rules for disaster relief employKatrina. 1998 for individuals displaced by Hurricane ment under the Workforce Investment Act of 

SEPTEMBER 20, 2005 

Read the second time and placed on the calendar