I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7015 

To amend the Rural Innovation Stronger Economy Grant Program of the 

Department of Agriculture. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 17, 2024 

Mr. LANGWORTHY (for himself, Ms. TOKUDA, Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota, 

Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Mr. MOYLAN, Ms. SALINAS, Mr. DUARTE, Mr. 

LAMALFA, Mr. DAVIS of North Carolina, Mr. NUNN of Iowa, Ms. 

CARAVEO, Mr. MANN, Ms. CRAIG, Mr. LAWLER, Ms. SPANBERGER, Ms. 

BLUNT ROCHESTER, Mr. SORENSEN, Mr. FITZPATRICK, and Mrs. 

FISCHBACH) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture 

A BILL 

To amend the Rural Innovation Stronger Economy Grant 

Program of the Department of Agriculture. 

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 ‘‘Creating Access to 

5 Rural Employment and Education for Resilience and Suc6 cess Act’’ or the ‘‘CAREERS Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. WORKFORCE TRAINING PROGRAMS. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 379I of the Consolidated 

3 Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 2008w) is 

4 amended— 

5 (1) in subsection (a)— 

6 (A) in paragraph (1)(A)— 

7 (i) in clause (iii)— 

8 (I) by striking subclause (I) and 

9 inserting the following: 

10 ‘‘(I) an institution of higher edu11 cation (as defined in section 101, and 

12 subparagraphs (A) and (B) of section 

13 102(a)(1), of the Higher Education 

14 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001, 

15 1002(a)(1)));’’; 

16 (II) by redesignating subclauses 

17 (II) and (III) as subclauses (III) and 

18 (IV), respectively, and inserting after 

19 subclause (I) the following: 

20 ‘‘(II) an area career and tech21 nical education school (as defined in 

22 section 3 of the Carl D. Perkins Ca23 reer and Technical Education Act of 

24 2006 (20 U.S.C. 2302);’’; and 


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1 (III) in subclause (IV) (as so re2 designated by subclause (II) of this 

3 clause), by striking ‘‘and’’; 

4 (ii) in clause (iv)— 

5 (I) by striking subclause (IV) 

6 and inserting the following: 

7 ‘‘(IV) an institution of higher 

8 education (as defined in section 101, 

9 and subparagraphs (A) and (B) of 

10 section 102(a)(1), of the Higher Edu11 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001, 

12 1002(a)(1)));’’; and 

13 (II) by redesignating subclause 

14 (V) as subclause (VI) and inserting 

15 after subclause (IV) the following: 

16 ‘‘(V) an area career and technical 

17 education school (as defined in section 

18 3 of the Carl D. Perkins Career and 

19 Technical Education Act of 2006 (20 

20 U.S.C. 2302); or’’; and 

21 (iii) by adding at the end the fol22 lowing: 

23 ‘‘(v) in the case of a career pathway 

24 program, includes 1 or more member of 

25 the local workforce development board esVerDate Sep 11 2014 07:26 Jan 30, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7015.IH H7015

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1 tablished under section 107 of the Work2 force Innovation and Opportunity Act and 

3 serving the region to ensure such program 

4 is integrated with the activities carried out 

5 by the local workforce development board; 

6 and’’; and 

7 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘(6) CAREER PATHWAY.—The term ‘career 

9 pathway’ has the meaning given the term in section 

10 3 of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act 

11 (29 U.S.C. 3102). 

12 ‘‘(7) INDUSTRY OR SECTOR PARTNERSHIP.— 

13 The term ‘industry or sector partnership’ has the 

14 meaning given the term in section 3 of the Work15 force Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 

16 3102).’’; 

17 (2) in subsection (b)— 

18 (A) in paragraph (1)— 

19 (i) in the matter preceding subpara20 graph (A), by inserting ‘‘carry out career 

21 pathway programs or industry or sector 

22 partnerships aligned with industry sectors 

23 in rural communities’’ before the 3rd 

24 comma; 


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1 (ii) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

2 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

3 (iii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

4 the period and inserting a semicolon; and 

5 (iv) by adding at the end the fol6 lowing: 

7 ‘‘(C) address workforce challenges faced by 

8 specific industry sectors in rural communities; 

9 and 

10 ‘‘(D) promote targeted skills development 

11 initiatives to stimulate innovation and enhance 

12 economic development in rural regions.’’; 

13 (B) in paragraph (3)— 

14 (i) in subparagraph (A)— 

15 (I) in clause (i), by inserting ‘‘ca16 reer pathway program, or industry or 

17 sector partnerships’’ before the semi18 colon; and 

19 (II) in clause (ii)— 

20 (aa) by inserting ‘‘career 

21 pathway program, or industry or 

22 sector partnerships’’ before ‘‘to 

23 provide’’; and 


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1 (bb) by inserting ‘‘leadership 

2 development,’’ before ‘‘cus3 tomized’’; 

4 (ii) in subparagraph (E), by striking 

5 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

6 (iii) in subparagraph (F), by striking 

7 the period and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

8 (iv) by adding at the end the fol9 lowing: 

10 ‘‘(G) the ability of the eligible entity to 

11 carry out activities to address the issues of 

12 worker displacement, an aging workforce, and 

13 youth migration.’’; and 

14 (C) by striking paragraph (5) and insert15 ing the following; 

16 ‘‘(5) GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION.—The Sec17 retary shall ensure regional diversity of recipients of 

18 grants or participants in providing grants under 

19 paragraph (1) for jobs accelerators, career pathway 

20 programs, industry or sector partnerships, and re21 lated programming.’’; 

22 (3) in subsection (d)(1)— 

23 (A) in subparagraph (B), by striking the 

24 period and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 

25 (B) by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(C) to support career pathway programs 

2 or industry or sector partnerships to be carried 

3 out in industries in rural communities, includ4 ing— 

5 ‘‘(i) telecommunications or broadband 

6 services; 

7 ‘‘(ii) water, waste water, and disposal 

8 services; 

9 ‘‘(iii) electric supply services; 

10 ‘‘(iv) conservation practices and man11 agement; 

12 ‘‘(v) health care; 

13 ‘‘(vi) child care; 

14 ‘‘(vii) manufacturing; 

15 ‘‘(viii) agribusiness related to produc16 tion, processing, and distribution; and 

17 ‘‘(ix) any other sectors that are identi18 fied by the local workforce development 

19 board serving the region to be an in-de20 mand industry sector or occupation, as de21 fined in section 3 of the Workforce Innova22 tion and Opportunity Act.’’; 

23 (4) in subsection (e)— 

24 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

25 the end; 


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1 (B) in paragraph (2)(B)— 

2 (i) in clause (xvii), by striking ‘‘or’’ at 

3 the end; and 

4 (ii) by redesignating clause (xviii) as 

5 clause (xix) and inserting after clause 

6 (xvii) the following: 

7 ‘‘(xviii) the number of individuals who 

8 have completed skills development, recog9 nized postsecondary credentials, or gained 

10 specialized education through career path11 ways programs or industry or sector part12 nership; or’’; and 

13 (iii) in clause (xix) (as so redesignated 

14 by clause (ii) of this subparagraph), by 

15 striking the period and inserting ‘‘; and’’; 

16 and 

17 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

18 ‘‘(3) in the case of a career pathway program 

19 or industry or sector partnership, report to the Sec20 retary the employment and earnings outcomes for 

21 individuals who participate in the program on the in22 dicators described in subclauses (I) through (III) of 

23 section 116(b)(2)(A)(i) of the Workforce Innovation 

24 and Opportunity Act.’’; and 


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1 (5) in subsection (f), by striking ‘‘2019 through 

2 2023’’ and inserting ‘‘2024 through 2028’’. 

3 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

4 subsection (a) shall take effect on such date as the Sec5 retary of Agriculture shall determine, which shall be not 

6 later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this 

7 Act. 

Æ 


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