```

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 291 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 291

  To amend the Rural Innovation Stronger Economy Grant Program of the 
                       Department of Agriculture.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 9, 2025

 Mr. Langworthy (for himself and Ms. Tokuda) 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.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Creating Access to Rural Employment 
and Education for Resilience and Success Act'' or the ``CAREERS Act''.

SEC. 2. WORKFORCE TRAINING PROGRAMS.

    (a) In General.--Section 379I of the Consolidated Farm and Rural 
Development Act (7 U.S.C. 2008w) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) in paragraph (1)(A)--
                            (i) in clause (iii)--
                                    (I) by striking subclause (I) and 
                                inserting the following:
                                    ``(I) an institution of higher 
                                education (as defined in section 101, 
                                and subparagraphs (A) and (B) of 
                                section 102(a)(1), of the Higher 
                                Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001, 
                                1002(a)(1)));'';
                                    (II) by redesignating subclauses 
                                (II) and (III) as subclauses (III) and 
                                (IV), respectively, and inserting after 
                                subclause (I) the following:
                                    ``(II) an area career and technical 
                                education school (as defined in section 
                                3 of the Carl D. Perkins Career and 
                                Technical Education Act of 2006 (20 
                                U.S.C. 2302);''; and
                                    (III) in subclause (IV) (as so 
                                redesignated by subclause (II) of this 
                                clause), by striking ``and'';
                            (ii) in clause (iv)--
                                    (I) by striking subclause (IV) and 
                                inserting the following:
                                    ``(IV) an institution of higher 
                                education (as defined in section 101, 
                                and subparagraphs (A) and (B) of 
                                section 102(a)(1), of the Higher 
                                Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001, 
                                1002(a)(1)));''; and
                                    (II) by redesignating subclause (V) 
                                as subclause (VI) and inserting after 
                                subclause (IV) the following:
                                    ``(V) an area career and technical 
                                education school (as defined in section 
                                3 of the Carl D. Perkins Career and 
                                Technical Education Act of 2006 (20 
                                U.S.C. 2302); or''; and
                            (iii) by adding at the end the following:
                            ``(v) in the case of a career pathway 
                        program, includes 1 or more member of the local 
                        workforce development board established under 
                        section 107 of the Workforce Innovation and 
                        Opportunity Act and serving the region to 
                        ensure such program is integrated with the 
                        activities carried out by the local workforce 
                        development board; and''; and
                    (B) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(6) Career pathway.--The term `career pathway' has the 
        meaning given the term in section 3 of the Workforce Innovation 
        and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3102).
            ``(7) Industry or sector partnership.--The term `industry 
        or sector partnership' has the meaning given the term in 
        section 3 of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 
        U.S.C. 3102).'';
            (2) in subsection (b)--
                    (A) in paragraph (1)--
                            (i) in the matter preceding subparagraph 
                        (A), by inserting ``carry out career pathway 
                        programs or industry or sector partnerships 
                        aligned with industry sectors in rural 
                        communities'' before the 3rd comma;
                            (ii) in subparagraph (A), by striking 
                        ``and'' at the end;
                            (iii) in subparagraph (B), by striking the 
                        period and inserting a semicolon; and
                            (iv) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(C) address workforce challenges faced by 
                specific industry sectors in rural communities; and
                    ``(D) promote targeted skills development 
                initiatives to stimulate innovation and enhance 
                economic development in rural regions.'';
                    (B) in paragraph (3)--
                            (i) in subparagraph (A)--
                                    (I) in clause (i), by inserting 
                                ``career pathway program, or industry 
                                or sector partnerships'' before the 
                                semicolon; and
                                    (II) in clause (ii)--
                                            (aa) by inserting ``career 
                                        pathway program, or industry or 
                                        sector partnerships'' before 
                                        ``to provide''; and
                                            (bb) by inserting 
                                        ``leadership development,'' 
                                        before ``customized'';
                            (ii) in subparagraph (E), by striking 
                        ``and'' at the end;
                            (iii) in subparagraph (F), by striking the 
                        period and inserting ``; and''; and
                            (iv) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(G) the ability of the eligible entity to carry 
                out activities to address the issues of worker 
                displacement, an aging workforce, and youth 
                migration.''; and
                    (C) by striking paragraph (5) and inserting the 
                following;
            ``(5) Geographic distribution.--The Secretary shall ensure 
        regional diversity of recipients of grants or participants in 
        providing grants under paragraph (1) for jobs accelerators, 
        career pathway programs, industry or sector partnerships, and 
        related programming.'';
            (3) in subsection (d)(1)--
                    (A) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period and 
                inserting ``; or''; and
                    (B) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(C) to support career pathway programs or 
                industry or sector partnerships to be carried out in 
                industries in rural communities, including--
                            ``(i) telecommunications or broadband 
                        services;
                            ``(ii) water, waste water, and disposal 
                        services;
                            ``(iii) electric supply services;
                            ``(iv) conservation practices and 
                        management;
                            ``(v) health care;
                            ``(vi) child care;
                            ``(vii) manufacturing;
                            ``(viii) agribusiness related to 
                        production, processing, and distribution; and
                            ``(ix) any other sectors that are 
                        identified by the local workforce development 
                        board serving the region to be an in-demand 
                        industry sector or occupation, as defined in 
                        section 3 of the Workforce Innovation and 
                        Opportunity Act.'';
            (4) in subsection (e)--
                    (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ``and'' at the 
                end;
                    (B) in paragraph (2)(B)--
                            (i) in clause (xvii), by striking ``or'' at 
                        the end; and
                            (ii) by redesignating clause (xviii) as 
                        clause (xix) and inserting after clause (xvii) 
                        the following:
                            ``(xviii) the number of individuals who 
                        have completed skills development, recognized 
                        postsecondary credentials, or gained 
                        specialized education through career pathways 
                        programs or industry or sector partnership; 
                        or''; and
                            (iii) in clause (xix) (as so redesignated 
                        by clause (ii) of this subparagraph), by 
                        striking the period and inserting ``; and''; 
                        and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(3) in the case of a career pathway program or industry 
        or sector partnership, report to the Secretary the employment 
        and earnings outcomes for individuals who participate in the 
        program on the indicators described in subclauses (I) through 
        (III) of section 116(b)(2)(A)(i) of the Workforce Innovation 
        and Opportunity Act.''; and
            (5) in subsection (f), by striking ``2019 through 2023'' 
        and inserting ``2025 through 2030''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) shall 
take effect on such date as the Secretary of Agriculture shall 
determine, which shall be not later than 1 year after the date of the 
enactment of this Act.
                                 <all>
```