II 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1965

To provide for the creation of private-sector-led Community Workforce 

Partnerships, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 25, 2003

Mr. BAYH introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to 

the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL

To provide for the creation of private-sector-led Community 

Workforce Partnerships, 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 ‘‘Community Workforce 

5 Development and Modernization Partnership Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—From amounts made available to 

8 carry out this Act, the Secretary of Labor (referred to in 

9 this Act as the ‘‘Secretary’’), in consultation with the Sec10 retary of Commerce and the Secretary of Education, shall 
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1 award grants on a competitive basis to eligible entities de2 scribed in subsection (b) to assist each entity to—

3 (1) help workers improve those job skills that 

4 are necessary for employment by businesses in the 

5 industry with respect to which the entity was estab6 lished; 

7 (2) help dislocated workers find employment; 

8 and 

9 (3) upgrade the operating and competitive ca10 pacities of businesses that are members of the enti11 ty. 

12 (b) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—An eligible entity de13 scribed in this subsection is a consortium (either estab14 lished prior to the date of enactment of this Act or estab15 lished specifically to carry out programs under this Act) 

16 that—

17 (1) shall include—

18 (A) 2 or more businesses (or nonprofit or19 ganizations representing businesses) that are 

20 facing similar workforce development or busi21 ness modernization challenges; 

22 (B) labor organizations, if the businesses 

23 described in subparagraph (A) employ workers 

24 who are covered by collective bargaining agree25 ments; and 
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1 (C) 1 or more businesses (or nonprofit or2 ganizations that represent businesses) with re3 sources or expertise that can be brought to bear 

4 on the workforce development and business 

5 modernization challenges referred to in sub6 paragraph (A); and 

7 (2) may include—

8 (A) State governments and units of local 

9 government; 

10 (B) educational institutions; 

11 (C) labor organizations; or 

12 (D) nonprofit organizations. 

13 (c) COMMON GEOGRAPHIC REGION.—To the max14 imum extent practicable, the organizations that are mem15 bers of an eligible entity described in subsection (b) shall 

16 be located within a single geographic region of the United 

17 States. 

18 (d) PRIORITY CONSIDERATION.—In awarding grants 

19 under subsection (a), the Secretary shall give priority con20 sideration to—

21 (1) eligible entities that serve dislocated work22 ers or workers who are threatened with becoming to23 tally or partially separated from employment; 

24 (2) eligible entities that include businesses with 

25 fewer than 250 employees; or 
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1 (3) eligible entities from a geographic region in 

2 the United States that has been adversely impacted 

3 by the movement of manufacturing operations or 

4 businesses to other regions or countries, due to cor5 porate restructuring, technological advances, Federal 

6 law, international trade, or another factor, as deter7 mined by the Secretary. 

8 SEC. 3. PARTNERSHIP ACTIVITIES. 

9 (a) USE OF GRANT AMOUNTS.—Each eligible entity 

10 that receives a grant under section 2 shall use the amount 

11 made available through the grant to carry out a program 

12 that provides—

13 (1) workforce development activities to improve 

14 the job skills of individuals who have, are seeking, 

15 or have been dislocated from, employment with a 

16 business that is a member of that eligible entity, or 

17 with a business that is in the industry of a business 

18 that is a member of that eligible entity; 

19 (2) business modernization activities; or 

20 (3) activities that are—

21 (A) workforce investment activities (includ22 ing such activities carried out through one-stop 

23 delivery systems) carried out under subtitle B 

24 of title I of the Workforce Investment Act of 

25 1998 (42 U.S.C. 2811 et seq.); or
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1 (B) activities described in section 25 of the 

2 National Institute of Standards and Technology 

3 Act (15 U.S.C. 278k). 

4 (b) ACTIVITIES INCLUDED.—

5 (1) WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES.—

6 The workforce development activities referred to in 

7 subsection (a)(1) may include activities that—

8 (A) develop skill standards and provide 

9 training, including—

10 (i) assessing the training and job skill 

11 needs of the industry involved; 

12 (ii) developing a sequence of skill 

13 standards that are benchmarked to ad14 vanced industry practices; 

15 (iii) developing curricula and training 

16 methods; 

17 (iv) purchasing, leasing, or receiving 

18 donations of training equipment; 

19 (v) identifying and developing the 

20 skills of training providers; 

21 (vi) developing apprenticeship pro22 grams; and 

23 (vii) developing training programs for 

24 dislocated workers; 
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1 (B) assist workers in finding new employ2 ment; or 

3 (C) provide supportive services to workers 

4 who—

5 (i) are participating in a program car6 ried out by the entity under this Act; and 

7 (ii) are unable to obtain the sup8 portive services through another program 

9 providing the services. 

10 (2) BUSINESS MODERNIZATION ACTIVITIES.—

11 The business modernization activities referred to in 

12 subsection (a)(2) may include activities that upgrade 

13 technical or organizational capabilities in conjunc14 tion with improving the job skills of workers in a 

15 business that is a member of that entity. 

16 SEC. 4. APPLICATION. 

17 To be eligible to receive a grant under section 2, an 

18 entity shall submit an application to the Secretary at such 

19 time, in such manner, and containing such information as 

20 the Secretary may reasonably require. 

21 SEC. 5. SEED GRANTS AND OUTREACH ACTIVITIES. 

22 (a) SEED GRANTS.—The Secretary shall provide 

23 technical assistance and award financial assistance (not 

24 to exceed $150,000 per award) on such terms and condi25 tions as the Secretary determines to be appropriate—
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1 (1) to businesses, nonprofit organizations rep2 resenting businesses, and labor organizations, for 

3 the purpose of establishing an eligible entity; and 

4 (2) to entities described in paragraph (1) and 

5 established eligible entities, for the purpose of pre6 paring such application materials as may be required 

7 under section 4. 

8 (b) OUTREACH AND PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITIES.—

9 The Secretary may undertake such outreach and pro10 motional activities as the Secretary determines will best 

11 carry out the objectives of this Act. 

12 (c) LIMITATIONS ON EXPENDITURES.—The Sec13 retary may not use more than 10 percent of the amount 

14 authorized to be appropriated under section 8 to carry out 

15 this section. 

16 SEC. 6. LIMITATIONS ON FUNDING. 

17 (a) REQUIREMENT OF MATCHING FUNDS.—The Sec18 retary may not award a grant under this Act to an eligible 

19 entity unless such entity agrees that the entity will make 

20 available non-Federal contributions toward the costs of 

21 carrying out activities funded by that grant in an amount 

22 that is not less than $2 for each $1 of Federal funds made 

23 available through the grant. 

24 (b) IN-KIND CONTRIBUTIONS.—The Secretary—
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1 (1) shall, in awarding grants under this Act, 

2 give priority consideration to those entities whose 

3 members offer in-kind contributions; and 

4 (2) may not consider any in-kind contribution 

5 in lieu of or as any part of the contributions re6 quired under subsection (a). 

7 (c) SENIOR MANAGEMENT TRAINING AND DEVELOP8 MENT.—An eligible entity may not use any amount made 

9 available through a grant awarded under this Act for 

10 training and development activities for senior manage11 ment, unless that entity certifies to the Secretary that ex12 penditures for the activities are—

13 (1) an integral part of a comprehensive mod14 ernization plan; or 

15 (2) dedicated to team building or employee in16 volvement programs. 

17 (d) PERFORMANCE MEASURES.—Each eligible entity 

18 shall, in carrying out the activities described in section 3, 

19 provide for development of, and tracking of performance 

20 according to, performance outcome measures. 

21 (e) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—Each eligible entity 

22 may use not more than 10 percent of the amount made 

23 available to that entity through a grant awarded under 

24 this Act to pay for administrative costs.
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1 (f) MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF GRANT.—No eligible enti2 ty may receive—

3 (1) a grant under this Act in an amount of 

4 more than $1,000,000 for any fiscal year; or 

5 (2) grants under this Act in any amount for 

6 more than 3 fiscal years. 

7 (g) SUPPORT FOR EXISTING OPERATIONS.—

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—In making grants under this 

9 Act, the Secretary may use a portion equal to not 

10 more than 50 percent of the funds appropriated to 

11 carry out this Act for a fiscal year, to support the 

12 existing training and modernization operations of ex13 isting eligible entities. 

14 (2) ENTITIES.—The Secretary may award a 

15 grant to an existing eligible entity for existing train16 ing and modernization operations only if the enti17 ty—

18 (A) currently offers (as of the date of the 

19 award of the grant) a combination of training, 

20 modernization, and business assistance services; 

21 and 

22 (B) has demonstrated success in accom23 plishing the objectives of activities described in 

24 section 3. 
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1 (3) APPLICATION.—Paragraph (1) shall not 

2 apply to support for the expansion of training and 

3 modernization operations of existing eligible entities. 

4 (4) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

5 (A) EXISTING TRAINING AND MODERNIZA6 TION ACTIVITY.—The term ‘‘existing training 

7 and modernization activity’’ means a training 

8 and modernization activity carried out prior to 

9 the date of enactment of this Act. 

10 (B) EXISTING ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The 

11 term ‘‘existing eligible entity’’ means an eligible 

12 entity that was established prior to the date of 

13 enactment of this Act. 

14 SEC. 7. GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE STUDY. 

15 (a) STUDY.—Beginning 3 years after the date of en16 actment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United 

17 States shall conduct a study concerning the activities car18 ried out under this Act. In conducting the study, the 

19 Comptroller General shall assess the effectiveness of the 

20 activities and suggest improvements to the grant program 

21 established under this Act, including recommending 

22 whether the program should be administered by the De23 partment of Labor or by another agency or an alternative 

24 entity. 
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1 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 3 years and 6 months 

2 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 

3 General of the United States shall prepare and submit to 

4 Congress a report containing the results of the study. 

5 SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

6 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

7 this Act—

8 (1) $15,000,000 for fiscal year 2004; 

9 (2) $20,000,000 for fiscal year 2005; 

10 (3) $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2006; and 

11 (4) $30,000,000 for fiscal year 2007.

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