I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2645 

To address the needs of workers in industries likely to be impacted by 

rapidly evolving technologies. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 19, 2021 

Mrs. BUSTOS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To address the needs of workers in industries likely to be 

impacted by rapidly evolving technologies. 

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 ‘‘Investing in Tomor5 row’s Workforce Act of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 

8 (1) In 2014, the United States spent just 0.1 

9 percent of the Nation’s Gross Domestic Product on 

10 labor market policies, less than half of what the 


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1 United States spent on labor market policies 30 

2 years ago. 

3 (2) The number of workers receiving federally 

4 supported training has declined in the past 3 dec5 ades as advances in technology have simultaneously 

6 shifted labor market demand over time. 

7 (3) Job losses from automation are more likely 

8 to impact women, people of color, and workers mak9 ing less than $40,000 annually. 

10 (4) The COVID–19 pandemic has accelerated 

11 trends in automation, with 43 percent of businesses 

12 in the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs sur13 vey indicating they plan to reduce their workforce as 

14 a result of technology integration. 

15 (5) Strong Federal investment in expanding 

16 training services for workers whose jobs may be lost 

17 due to automation could prepare the United States 

18 workforce to better adapt to changes in the labor 

19 market and enter into skilled positions in techno20 logically oriented occupations and industries. 

21 (6) A focus on preparing the workforce of the 

22 United States for jobs that utilize advanced tech23 nologies could grow wages, increase economic pro24 ductivity, and boost the competitiveness of the 

25 United States. 


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1 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act: 

3 (1) AUTOMATION.—The term ‘‘automation’’ 

4 means a device, process, or system that functions 

5 without continuous input from an operator, includ6 ing— 

7 (A) advanced technologies, such as— 

8 (i) data collection, classification proc9 essing, and analytics; and 

10 (ii) 3–D printing, digital design and 

11 simulation, and digital manufacturing; 

12 (B) robotics, including collaborative robot13 ics, and worker augmentation technology; 

14 (C) autonomous vehicle technology; or 

15 (D) autonomous machinery technology. 

16 (2) DISLOCATED WORKER.—The term ‘‘dis17 located worker’’ has the meaning given the term in 

18 section 3 of the Workforce Innovation and Oppor19 tunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3102). 

20 (3) IN-DEMAND INDUSTRY SECTOR OR OCCUPA21 TION.—The term ‘‘in-demand industry sector or oc22 cupation’’ has the meaning given the term in section 

23 3 of that Act. 

24 (4) INTEGRATED EDUCATION AND TRAINING.— 

25 The term ‘‘integrated education and training’’ has 


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1 the meaning given the term in section 203 of that 

2 Act (29 U.S.C. 3272). 

3 (5) ELIGIBLE PARTNERSHIP.—The term ‘‘eligi4 ble partnership’’ means an industry or sector part5 nership, as defined in section 3 of that Act, except 

6 that— 

7 (A) for purposes of applying paragraph 

8 (26)(A)(iii) of that section, the term ‘‘institu9 tion of higher education’’ has the meaning given 

10 the term in section 101 of the Higher Edu11 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001); and 

12 (B) the partnership shall include, in addi13 tion to the representatives described in clauses 

14 (i) through (iii) of paragraph (26)(A) of that 

15 section, representatives of— 

16 (i) a State workforce development 

17 board or a local workforce development 

18 board; and 

19 (ii) an economic development organi20 zation. 

21 (6) GAO STUDY ON AUTOMATION.—The term 

22 ‘‘GAO study on automation’’ means the study on au23 tomation conducted by the Comptroller General of 

24 the United States, as directed in House Report 116– 

25 450 (incorporated in the explanatory statement reVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:54 Jun 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2645.IH H2645

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1 garding the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 

2 (Public Law 116–260) in accordance with section 4 

3 of such Act). 

4 (7) LOCAL AND STATE WORKFORCE DEVELOP5 MENT BOARDS.—The terms ‘‘local workforce devel6 opment board’’ and ‘‘State workforce development 

7 board’’ have the meanings given the terms ‘‘local 

8 board’’ and ‘‘State board’’, respectively, in section 3 

9 of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act 

10 (29 U.S.C. 3102). 

11 (8) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

12 the Secretary of Labor. 

13 (9) TRAINING SERVICES.—The term ‘‘training 

14 services’’ means training services described in sec15 tion 134(c)(3)(D) of that Act (29 U.S.C. 

16 3174(c)(3)(D)). 

17 SEC. 4. GRANTS TO IMPROVE TRAINING FOR WORKERS IM18 PACTED BY AUTOMATION. 

19 (a) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—From the amounts appro21 priated under subsection (g) and beginning after the 

22 earlier of the date of submission of the GAO study 

23 on automation or October 1, 2022, the Secretary of 

24 Labor shall award grants, on a competitive basis, to 

25 eligible partnerships to support demonstration and 


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1 pilot projects relating to the training needs of work2 ers who are, or are likely to become, dislocated work3 ers as a result of automation. 

4 (2) DURATION.—A grant awarded under this 

5 section shall be for a period not to exceed 4 years. 

6 (3) USE OF REPORT.—The Secretary shall use 

7 the GAO study on automation to inform the grant 

8 program carried out under this section. 

9 (b) APPLICATIONS.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive a 

11 grant under this section, an eligible partnership shall 

12 submit an application to the Secretary at such time, 

13 in such manner, and containing such information as 

14 the Secretary shall reasonably require. 

15 (2) CONTENTS.—Each application submitted 

16 under paragraph (1) shall include a description of 

17 the demonstration or pilot project to be completed 

18 with the grant funds, which description shall in19 clude— 

20 (A) a description of the members of the el21 igible partnership who will be involved in the 

22 demonstration or pilot program and the services 

23 each member will provide; 

24 (B) a description of the training services 

25 that will be available to individuals participating 


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1 in the demonstration or pilot project, which 

2 may include— 

3 (i) a plan to train dislocated workers 

4 from industries likely to be impacted by 

5 automation and transition the workers into 

6 regionally in-demand industry sectors or 

7 occupations; and 

8 (ii) a plan to partner with local busi9 nesses to retrain, upskill, and re-deploy 

10 workers within an industry as an alter11 native to layoffs; 

12 (C) a plan to provide workers with tech13 nology-based skills training, which may include 

14 training to provide skills related to coding, sys15 tems engineering, or information technology se16 curity, in addition to other skills; and 

17 (D) a description of the goals that the eli18 gible partnership intends to achieve to upskill 

19 workers and prepare them for in-demand indus20 try sectors or occupations. 

21 (c) PRIORITIES.—In awarding grants under this sec22 tion, the Secretary shall give priority to— 

23 (1) eligible partnerships that are located in an 

24 area with a high concentration of— 


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1 (A) industries with a higher likelihood of 

2 being impacted by automation; or 

3 (B) industries included in in-demand in4 dustry sectors, as determined under subpara5 graphs (A)(i) and (B) of section 3(23) of the 

6 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 

7 U.S.C. 3102(23)); 

8 (2) eligible partnerships— 

9 (A) with a plan to provide incumbent 

10 worker training— 

11 (i) to assist workers in obtaining the 

12 skills necessary to retain employment or 

13 avert layoffs; or 

14 (ii) that allows a worker working for 

15 an employer to acquire new skills that 

16 allow the worker to obtain a higher-skilled 

17 or higher-paid position with such employer; 

18 and 

19 (B) that partner with local employers that 

20 intend to backfill the pre-training positions of 

21 the incumbent workers by hiring new workers 

22 to fill those positions; 

23 (3) eligible partnerships that will provide work24 ers with a transportation stipend, paid sick leave, 


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1 paid family and medical leave, access to child care 

2 services, or other employment benefits; or 

3 (4) eligible partnerships with a plan to develop 

4 a shared training curriculum that can be used across 

5 local and regional networks of employers and train6 ing providers. 

7 (d) USE OF FUNDS.—An eligible partnership that re8 ceives a grant under this section shall use the grant funds 

9 for 1 or more of the following: 

10 (1) Providing training services under the dem11 onstration or pilot project, which may include train12 ing services that prepare workers for in-demand in13 dustry sectors or occupations. 

14 (2) Providing assistance for employers in devel15 oping a staff position for an individual who will be 

16 responsible for supporting training services provided 

17 under the grant. 

18 (3) Purchasing equipment or technology nec19 essary for training services provided under para20 graph (1). 

21 (4) Providing job search and other transitional 

22 assistance to workers in industries with high rates of 

23 job loss. 

24 (5) Providing a training stipend to workers for 

25 training services. 


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1 (6) Providing integrated education and train2 ing. 

3 (e) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after an eligible 

4 partnership’s completion of a demonstration or pilot 

5 project supported under this section, the eligible partner6 ship shall prepare and submit to the Secretary a report 

7 regarding— 

8 (1) the number of workers who received train9 ing services through the demonstration or pilot 

10 project, disaggregated by type of training service 

11 and the age, gender, and race of the workers; 

12 (2) the number of such workers who success13 fully transitioned into a new position following com14 pletion of the training services; 

15 (3) the number of individuals who successfully 

16 transitioned into an in-demand industry sector or oc17 cupation following completion of the training serv18 ices; 

19 (4) annual earnings data for individuals who 

20 have completed training services through the dem21 onstration or pilot project; 

22 (5) the percentage of individuals described in 

23 paragraph (4) who are in education or training ac24 tivities, or in employment, during the second quarter 

25 after exit from the training services; 


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1 (6) the percentage of individuals described in 

2 paragraph (4) who are in education or training ac3 tivities, or in employment, during the fourth quarter 

4 after exit from the training services; and 

5 (7) any practices used by the partnership that 

6 should be considered best practices with respect to 

7 training workers in industries that have, or are ex8 pected to have, high rates of job loss as a result of 

9 automation. 

10 (f) GENERAL REQUIREMENTS.—An eligible partner11 ship that receives a grant under this section shall use the 

12 grant funds in a manner that is consistent with the labor 

13 standards and protections described in section 181 of the 

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

15 3241) and nondiscrimination provisions described in sec16 tion 188 of such Act (29 U.S.C. 3248). 

17 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

18 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

19 such sums as may be necessary for the first 5 full fiscal 

20 years beginning after the earlier of the date of submission 

21 of the GAO study on automation or October 1, 2022. 

22 SEC. 5. EXPANSION OF WORKER TRAINING SERVICES. 

23 (a) ADULT AND DISLOCATED WORKER EMPLOY24 MENT AND TRAINING.—Section 134(d)(1)(A) of the 


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

2 3174(d)(1)(A)) is amended— 

3 (1) in clause (xi), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

4 (2) in clause (xii), by striking the period and in5 serting ‘‘; and’’; and 

6 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(xiii) training programs for individ8 uals who are, or are likely to become, dis9 located workers as a result of automation, 

10 including activities that prepare the indi11 viduals for occupations in the technology 

12 sector.’’. 

13 (b) NATIONAL DISLOCATED WORKER GRANTS.—Sec14 tion 170 of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act 

15 (29 U.S.C. 3225) is amended— 

16 (1) in subsection (b)(1)(A), by inserting ‘‘ad17 vances in automation technology,’’ before ‘‘plant clo18 sures,’’; and 

19 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

20 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—In ad21 dition to any funds reserved under section 132(a)(2)(A) 

22 to carry out this section, there are authorized to be appro23 priated to carry out this section $40,000,000 for each of 

24 fiscal years 2022 through 2026.’’. 

Æ 


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