II 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2870 

To amend certain provisions of the Social Security Act relating to demonstration projects designed to provide unemployed workers with the information, skills, and relationships they need for reemployment. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014 

Mr. PORTMAN (for himself and Mr. KING) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To amend certain provisions of the Social Security Act relating to demonstration projects designed to provide unemployed workers with the information, skills, and relationships they need for reemployment. 

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 ‘‘On the Job Training 

5 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REMOVAL OF BARRIERS TO PROMOTE REEMPLOY2 MENT THROUGH DEMONSTRATION 

3 PROJECTS. 

4 (a) MODIFICATION OF NUMERICAL LIMITATION.— 

5 Subsection (a) of section 305 of the Social Security Act 

6 (42 U.S.C. 505) is amended by inserting ‘‘per year’’ after 

7 ‘‘10 States’’. 

8 (b) CLARIFICATION OF APPLICATION REQUIRE9 MENTS.—Subsection (b) of such section 305 is amended— 

10 (1) by inserting ‘‘or his or her designee’’ after 

11 ‘‘The Governor of any State’’; and 

12 (2) by striking paragraph (2) and inserting the 

13 following: 

14 ‘‘(2) for any waiver requested under subsection 

15 (c), a statement describing— 

16 ‘‘(A) the specific provision or provisions of 

17 law for which such waiver is requested; and 

18 ‘‘(B) the specific aspects of the project to 

19 which such waiver would apply and the reasons 

20 why it is needed;’’. 

21 (c) EXTENSION OF ELIGIBLE TIME PERIOD.—Sub22 section (d) of such section 305 is amended— 

23 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘may’’ and all 

24 that follows through the semicolon and inserting 

25 ‘‘must be commenced not later than December 31, 

26 2017; and’’; 


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1 (2) in paragraph (2)— 

2 (A) by striking ‘‘may not be approved’’ and 

3 inserting ‘‘may not be conducted’’; and 

4 (B) by striking ‘‘; and’’ and inserting a pe5 riod; and 

6 (3) by striking paragraph (3). 

7 (d) CLARIFICATION OF DEMONSTRATION ACTIVI8 TIES.—Subsection (e) of such section 305 is amended— 

9 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘for employer10 provided training, such as’’ and inserting ‘‘to em11 ployers or claimants for employer-provided training 

12 or’’; and 

13 (2) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘, not to ex14 ceed the weekly benefit amount for each such indi15 vidual, to pay part of the cost of wages that exceed 

16 the unemployed individual’s prior benefit level’’ and 

17 inserting ‘‘that include disbursements promoting re18 tention’’. 

19 (e) SELECTION OF QUALIFYING APPLICATIONS ON A

20 FIRST-COME, FIRST-SERVED BASIS AND REVIEW OF

21 COST NEUTRALITY.—Subsection (f) of such section 305 

22 is amended to read as follows: 

23 ‘‘(f) The Secretary of Labor shall, in the case of any 

24 State for which an application is submitted under sub25 section (b)— 


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1 ‘‘(1) approve completed applications in the 

2 order of receipt; 

3 ‘‘(2) before approving an application, determine 

4 whether the assurances that the demonstration 

5 project would not result in any increased costs to the 

6 State’s account in the Unemployment Trust Fund 

7 required under subsection (b)(4) are credible and 

8 disapprove any application that includes assurances 

9 that are determined to not be credible; 

10 ‘‘(3) notify the State as to whether such appli11 cation has been approved or denied within 30 days 

12 after receipt of a complete application; and 

13 ‘‘(4) provide public notice of the decision within 

14 10 days after providing notification to the State in 

15 accordance with paragraph (3). 

16 Public notice under paragraph (3) may be provided 

17 through the Internet or other appropriate means. Any ap18 plication under this section that has not been denied with19 in the 30-day period described in paragraph (3) shall be 

20 deemed approved, and public notice of any approval under 

21 this sentence shall be provided within 10 days thereafter.’’. 

22 (f) TERMINATION OF DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS.— 

23 Subsection (g) of such section 305 is amended to read as 

24 follows: 


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1 ‘‘(g) The Secretary of Labor may terminate a dem2 onstration project under this section if the Secretary— 

3 ‘‘(1) determines that the State has violated the 

4 substantive terms or conditions of the project; 

5 ‘‘(2) notifies the State in writing with sufficient 

6 detail describing the violation; and 

7 ‘‘(3) determines that the State has not taken 

8 action to correct the violation within 90 days after 

9 the notification.’’. 

10 (g) FUNDING FOR ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—Such 

11 section 305 is amended by adding at the end the following 

12 new subsection: 

13 ‘‘(i) In addition to the amounts described in sub14 section (h), during the period of fiscal years 2015 through 

15 2020 there is authorized to be appropriated $6,000,000 

16 to the Secretary of Labor for purposes of making pay17 ments to States that have entered into agreements with 

18 the Secretary to conduct demonstration projects under 

19 this section. A payment to a State under this subsection— 

20 ‘‘(1) shall be used by the State to administer a 

21 demonstration project approved under this section; 

22 ‘‘(2) shall remain available until expended; and 

23 ‘‘(3) shall not exceed $200,000 for any fiscal 

24 year.’’. 

25 (h) EFFECTIVE DATE; TRANSITION RULE.— 


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1 (1) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 

2 by this section shall take effect on the date of the 

3 enactment of this Act. 

4 (2) TRANSITION RULE.— 

5 (A) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this Act 

6 shall be considered to terminate or otherwise af7 fect any demonstration project approved under 

8 section 305 of the Social Security Act before 

9 the date of the enactment of this Act. 

10 (B) ORIGINAL CONDITIONS CONTINUE TO

11 APPLY.—A demonstration project described in 

12 subparagraph (A) shall be conducted in the 

13 same manner as if subsections (a) through (f) 

14 had not been enacted. 

15 SEC. 3. EVALUATION OF DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 305 of the Social Security 

17 Act (42 U.S.C. 505) is amended by adding at the end the 

18 following: 

19 ‘‘(i) The Secretary of Labor shall conduct an impact 

20 evaluation of each demonstration project conducted under 

21 this section, using existing data sources to the extent pos22 sible and methodology appropriate to determine the effects 

23 of the demonstration project, including on individual skill 

24 levels, earnings, and employment retention.’’. 


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1 (b) COOPERATION BY STATE.—Section 305(b) of the 

2 Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 505(b)) (as amended by 

3 section 2(b) of this Act) is further amended by striking 

4 paragraphs (5) and (6) and inserting the following: 

5 ‘‘(5) a description of the manner in which the 

6 State will determine the extent to which the goals 

7 and outcomes described in paragraph (3) were 

8 achieved; 

9 ‘‘(6) assurances that the State will cooperate, in 

10 a timely manner, with the Secretary of Labor with 

11 respect to the impact evaluation conducted under 

12 subsection (i); and’’. 

13 (c) REPORTING.—Not later than 90 days after the 

14 end of fiscal year 2014 and each fiscal year thereafter, 

15 until the completion of the last evaluation under section 

16 305(i) of the Social Security Act, the Secretary shall sub17 mit to the Committee on Ways and Means of the House 

18 of Representatives and the Committee on Finance of the 

19 Senate, a report that includes a description of— 

20 (1) the status of each demonstration project 

21 being carried out under this section; 

22 (2) the results of the evaluation completed dur23 ing the previous fiscal year; and 

24 (3) the Secretary’s plan for— 


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1 (A) disseminating the findings of the re2 port to appropriate State agencies; and 

3 (B) incorporating the components of suc4 cessful demonstration projects that reduced 

5 benefit duration and increased employment into 

6 Federal unemployment law. 

7 (d) PUBLIC DISSEMINATION.—In addition to the re8 porting requirements under subparagraph (c), evaluation 

9 results shall be shared broadly to inform policymakers, 

10 service providers, other partners, and the public in order 

11 to promote wide use of successful strategies, including by 

12 posting evaluation results on the Internet website of the 

13 Department of Labor. 

Æ 


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