I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1419

To establish regional skills alliances, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

APRIL 4, 2001

Mr. HINCHEY (for himself, Mr. LAFALCE, Mr. MCNULTY, Ms. SLAUGHTER,

Mrs. MALONEY of New York, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. RANGEL, and Mr.

TOWNS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce

A BILL

To establish regional skills alliances, 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 ‘‘Regional Skills Alli5 ances Act of 2001’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 (1) Many small businesses lack the financial ca8 pacity to support the training of high-skilled work9 ers.

10 (2) Many high-tech companies concerned about

11 worker training consider recruiting employees from
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1 overseas because a shortage of information tech2 nology workers remains a significant problem.

3 (3) Too many highly educated workers in un4 derserved communities do not have the specialized

5 skills needed to meet the needs of local businesses.

6 (4) Regional skills alliances bring businesses

7 and 4-year colleges and universities and community

8 colleges together to help develop and implement ef9 fective programs to make sure workers have the

10 training needed to compete in the modern workplace.

11 SEC. 3. DEFINITION.

12 In this Act, the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Sec13 retary of Labor.

14 TITLE I—SKILL GRANTS

15 SEC. 101. AUTHORIZATION.

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in consultation

17 with the Secretary of Commerce, shall award grants to

18 eligible entities described in subsection (b) to assist such

19 entities to improve the job skills necessary for employment

20 in specific industries.

21 (b) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES DESCRIBED.—

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity described

23 in this subsection is a consortium that—

24 (A) shall consist of representatives from

25 not less than 5 businesses, or a lesser number
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1 of businesses if such lesser number of busi2 nesses employs at least 30 percent of the em3 ployees in the industry involved in the region

4 (or a non-profit organization that represents

5 such businesses);

6 (B) may consist of representatives from—

7 (i) labor organizations;

8 (ii) State and local government; and

9 (iii) educational institutions;

10 (C) is established to serve one or more par11 ticular industries; and

12 (D) is established to serve a particular geo13 graphic region.

14 (2) MAJORITY OF REPRESENTATIVES.—A ma15 jority of the representatives comprising the consor16 tium shall be representatives described in paragraph

17 (1)(A).

18 (c) PRIORITY FOR SMALL BUSINESSES.—In pro19 viding grants under subsection (a), the Secretary shall

20 give priority to an eligible entity if a majority of represent21 atives forming the entity represent small-business con22 cerns (as defined in section 3(a) of the Small Business

23 Act (15 U.S.C. 632(a)).
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1 (d) MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF GRANT.—The amount of

2 a grant awarded to an eligible entity under subsection (a)

3 may not exceed $1,000,000 for any fiscal year.

4 SEC. 102. USE OF AMOUNTS.

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may not award a

6 grant under section 101 to an eligible entity unless such

7 entity agrees to use amounts received from such grant to

8 improve the job skills necessary for employment by busi9 nesses in the industry with respect to which such entity

10 was established.

11 (b) CONDUCT OF PROGRAM.—

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the program

13 described in subsection (a), the eligible entity may

14 provide for—

15 (A) an assessment of training and job skill

16 needs for the industry;

17 (B) the development of a sequence of skill

18 standards that are benchmarked to advanced

19 industry practices;

20 (C) the development of curriculum and

21 training methods, including, where appropriate,

22 e-learning or technology-based training;

23 (D) the purchase, lease, or receipt of dona24 tions of training equipment;
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1 (E) the identification of training providers

2 and the development of partnerships between

3 the industry and educational institutions, in4 cluding community colleges;

5 (F) the development of apprenticeship pro6 grams;

7 (G) the development of training programs

8 for workers, including dislocated workers;

9 (H) the development of training plans for

10 businesses; and

11 (I) the development of the membership of

12 the entity.

13 (2) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENT.—In carrying

14 out the program described in subsection (a), the eli15 gible entity shall provide for the development and

16 tracking of performance outcome measures for the

17 program and the training providers involved in the

18 program.

19 (c) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—The eligible entity

20 may use not more than 10 percent of the amount of a

21 grant to pay for administrative costs associated with the

22 program described in subsection (a).

23 SEC. 103. REQUIREMENT OF MATCHING FUNDS.

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may not award a

25 grant under section 101 to an eligible entity unless such
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1 entity agrees that the entity will make available non-Fed2 eral contributions toward the costs of carrying out activi3 ties under the grant in an amount that is not less than

4 $2 for each $1 of Federal funds provided under the grant,

5 of which—

6 (1) $1 shall be provided by the businesses par7 ticipating in the entity; and

8 (2) $1 shall be provided by the State or local

9 government involved.

10 (b) OTHER CONTRIBUTIONS.—

11 (1) EQUIPMENT.—Equipment donations to fa12 cilities that are not owned or operated by the mem13 bers of the eligible entity involved and that are

14 shared by such members may be included in deter15 mining compliance with subsection (a).

16 (2) LIMITATION.—An eligible entity may not in17 clude in-kind contributions in complying with the re18 quirement of subsection (a). The Secretary may con19 sider such donations in ranking applications.

20 SEC. 104. LIMIT ON ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.

21 The Secretary may use not more than 5 percent of

22 the amounts made available to carry out this title to pay

23 the Federal administrative costs associated with awarding

24 grants under this title.
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1 SEC. 105. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

2 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out

3 this title $50,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2002,

4 2003, and 2004, and such sums as are necessary for each

5 fiscal year thereafter.

6 TITLE II—PLANNING GRANTS

7 SEC. 201. AUTHORIZATION.

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in consultation

9 with the Secretary of Commerce, shall award grants to

10 States to enable such States to assist businesses, organiza11 tions, and agencies described in section 101(b) in con12 ducting planning to form consortia described in such sec13 tion.

14 (b) MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF GRANT.—The amount of

15 a grant awarded to a State under subsection (a) may not

16 exceed $500,000 for any fiscal year.

17 SEC. 202. APPLICATION.

18 The Secretary may not award a grant under section

19 201 to a State unless such State submits to the Secretary

20 an application at such time, in such manner, and con21 taining such information as the Secretary may reasonably

22 require.

23 SEC. 203. REQUIREMENT OF MATCHING FUNDS.

24 The Secretary may not award a grant under section

25 201 to a State unless such State agrees that it will make

26 available non-Federal contributions toward the costs of
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1 carrying out activities under this title in an amount that

2 is not less than $1 for each $1 of Federal funds provided

3 under the grant.

4 SEC. 204. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

5 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out

6 this title $5,000,000 for fiscal year 2002.

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