I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 444

To amend the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 to establish a Personal 

Reemployment Accounts grant program to assist Americans in returning 

to work. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 29, 2003

Mr. PORTER (for himself, Mr. BOEHNER, Mr. MCKEON, Ms. PRYCE of Ohio, 

Mr. BALLENGER, Mr. GREENWOOD, Mr. SOUDER, Mr. NORWOOD, Mr. 

DEMINT, Mr. ISAKSON, Mr. PLATTS, Mr. TIBERI, Mr. KELLER, Mr. 

WILSON of South Carolina, Mr. KLINE, Mr. BEAUPREZ, Mr. 

CUNNINGHAM, Mr. GREEN of Wisconsin, Mr. HAYES, Mr. MCHUGH, Mr. 

NETHERCUTT, Mr. OXLEY, Mr. SIMMONS, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. 

TIAHRT, and Mr. WOLF) introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL

To amend the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 to establish 

a Personal Reemployment Accounts grant program to 

assist Americans in returning to work.

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 ‘‘Back to Work Incen5 tive Act of 2003’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. GRANTS TO SUPPORT PERSONAL REEMPLOYMENT 

2 ACCOUNTS. 

3 Subtitle B of title I of the Workforce Investment Act 

4 of 1998 (29 U.S.C. 2811 et seq.) is amended by inserting 

5 after chapter 5 the following new chapter: 

6 ‘‘CHAPTER 5A—PERSONAL 

7 REEMPLOYMENT ACCOUNTS 

8 ‘‘SEC. 135A. PURPOSES. 

9 ‘‘The purposes of this chapter are to provide for the 

10 establishment of personal reemployment accounts for cer11 tain individuals identified as likely to exhaust their unem12 ployment compensation in order to—

13 ‘‘(1) accelerate the reemployment of such indi14 viduals; 

15 ‘‘(2) promote the retention in employment of 

16 such individuals; and 

17 ‘‘(3) provide such individuals with enhanced 

18 flexibility, choice, and control in obtaining intensive 

19 reemployment, training, and supportive services. 

20 ‘‘SEC. 135B. DEFINITION. 

21 ‘‘In this chapter, the term ‘State’ means each of the 

22 several States of the United States, the District of Colum23 bia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the United 

24 States Virgin Islands. 

25 ‘‘SEC. 135C. GRANTS TO STATES. 

26 ‘‘(a) GRANTS.—The Secretary shall—
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‘‘(1) reserve 2 1 ⁄10 of 1 percent of the amount ap2 propriated under section 137(d) for use under sec3 tion 135I; and 

4 ‘‘(2) use the remainder of the amount appro5 priated under section 137(d) to make allotments in 

6 accordance with subsection (b). 

7 ‘‘(b) ALLOTMENT AMONG STATES.—

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—From the amount made 

9 available under subsection (a)(2), the Secretary shall 

10 allot to each State an amount that is proportionate 

11 to the relative number of unemployed individuals in 

12 the State as compared to the total number of unem13 ployed individuals in all States in order to provide 

14 assistance for eligible individuals in accordance with 

15 this chapter. 

16 ‘‘(2) SMALL STATE MINIMUM ALLOTMENT.—

17 The Secretary shall ensure that—

18 ‘‘(A) each State (other than the United 

19 States Virgin Islands) shall receive an allotment 

under paragraph (1) that is not less than 3 20 ⁄10

21 of 1 percent of the amount made available 

22 under subsection (a)(2) for the fiscal year; and 

23 ‘‘(B) the United States Virgin Islands shall 

24 receive an allotment under paragraph (1) that 

is not less than 1 25 ⁄10 of 1 percent of the amount 
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1 made available under subsection (a)(2) for the 

2 fiscal year. 

3 ‘‘(c) AVAILABILITY.—Notwithstanding section 

4 189(g)(1), amounts made available under subsection (a) 

5 to carry out this chapter shall be available for obligation 

6 and expenditure beginning on the date of the enactment 

7 of the Back to Work Incentive Act of 2003. 

8 ‘‘SEC. 135D. WITHIN STATE ALLOCATION. 

9 ‘‘(a) ALLOCATION.—Of the amount allotted to a 

10 State under section 135C—

11 ‘‘(1) not more than 2 percent of the amount 

12 may be reserved by the Governor of the State to en13 hance the system of worker profiling described in 

14 section 303(j) of the Social Security Act and to es15 tablish and operate a data management system, as 

16 necessary, and carry out other appropriate activities 

17 to implement this chapter; 

18 ‘‘(2) 5 percent of the amount shall be allocated 

19 by the State to local areas in accordance with the 

20 formula described in subsection (b) for start-up 

21 costs and other operating costs related to the provi22 sion of assistance under this chapter; and 

23 ‘‘(3) the remainder of the amount shall be pro24 vided to local areas for the establishment of personal 
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1 reemployment accounts described in section 135E 

2 for eligible individuals in such local areas. 

3 ‘‘(b) FORMULA.—A State shall allocate funds to local 

4 areas in the State under subsection (a)(2) in an amount 

5 that is proportionate to the relative number of unemployed 

6 individuals in the local area as compared to the total num7 ber of unemployed individuals in the State. 

8 ‘‘(c) AVAILABILITY.—Notwithstanding section 

9 189(g)(2), amounts allotted to a State under section 

10 135C, and amounts subsequently provided to a local area 

11 under this section, shall be available for obligation and ex12 penditure only for the 3-year period beginning on the date 

13 of the enactment of the Back to Work Incentive Act of 

14 2003. 

15 ‘‘SEC. 135E. PERSONAL REEMPLOYMENT ACCOUNTS. 

16 ‘‘(a) ACCOUNTS.—

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Funds provided to a local 

18 area under section 135D shall be used to provide eli19 gible individuals with personal reemployment ac20 counts to be used in accordance with section 135F. 

21 An eligible individual may receive only one personal 

22 reemployment account. 

23 ‘‘(2) AMOUNT.—The State shall establish the 

24 amount of a personal reemployment account, which
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1 shall be uniform throughout the State, and shall not 

2 exceed $3,000. 

3 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUALS.—

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each State shall establish 

5 eligibility criteria for individuals for personal reem6 ployment accounts in accordance with this sub7 section. 

8 ‘‘(2) MINIMUM ELIGIBILITY CRITERIAREQUIRE9 MENTS.—

10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara11 graph (B), an individual shall be eligible to re12 ceive assistance under this chapter if, beginning 

13 after the date of enactment of the Back to 

14 Work Incentive Act of 2003, the individual— 

15 ‘‘(i) is identified by the State pursu16 ant to section 303(j)(1) of the Social Secu17 rity Act as likely to exhaust regular unem18 ployment compensation and in need of job 

19 search assistance to make a successful 

20 transition to new employment; 

21 ‘‘(ii) is receiving regular unemploy22 ment compensation under any State or 

23 Federal unemployment compensation pro24 gram administered by the State; and 
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1 ‘‘(iii) is eligible for not less than 20 

2 weeks for the regular unemployment com3 pensation described in clause (ii). 

4 ‘‘(B) ADDITIONAL ELIGIBILITY AND PRI5 ORITY CRITERIA.—A State may establish cri6 teria that is in addition to the criteria described 

7 in subparagraph (A) for the eligibility of indi8 viduals to receive assistance under this chapter. 

9 A State may also establish criteria for priority 

10 in the provision of assistance to such eligible in11 dividuals under this chapter. 

12 ‘‘(3) TRANSITION RULE.—

13 ‘‘(A) PREVIOUSLY IDENTIFIED AS LIKELY

14 TO EXHAUST UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSA15 TION.—

16 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—At the option of 

17 the State, and subject to clause (ii), an in18 dividual may be eligible to receive assist19 ance under this chapter if the individual—

20 ‘‘(I) during the 90-day period 

21 ending on the date of the enactment 

22 of the Back to Work Incentive Act of 

23 2003, was identified by the State pur24 suant to section 303(j)(1) of the So25 cial Security Act as likely to exhaust 
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1 regular unemployment compensation 

2 and in need of job search assistance 

3 to make a successful transition to new 

4 employment; and 

5 ‘‘(II) otherwise meets the re6 quirements of clauses (ii) and (iii) of 

7 paragraph (2)(A). 

8 ‘‘(ii) ADDITIONAL ELIGIBILITY AND

9 PRIORITY CRITERIA.—A State may estab10 lish criteria that is in addition to the cri11 teria described in clause (i) for the eligi12 bility of individuals to receive assistance 

13 under this chapter. A State may also es14 tablish criteria for priority in the provision 

15 of assistance to such eligible individuals 

16 under this chapter. 

17 ‘‘(B) PREVIOUSLY EXHAUSTED UNEM18 PLOYMENT COMPENSATION.—At the option of 

19 the State, an individual may be eligible to re20 ceive assistance under this chapter if the indi21 vidual—

22 ‘‘(i) during the 90-day period ending 

23 on the date of the enactment of the Back 

24 to Work Incentive Act of 2003, exhausted 
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1 all rights to any unemployment compensa2 tion; and 

3 ‘‘(ii)(I) is enrolled in training and 

4 needs additional support to complete such 

5 training, with a priority of service to be 

6 provided to such individuals who are train7 ing for shortage occupations or high8 growth industries; or 

9 ‘‘(II) is separated from employment in 

10 an industry or occupation that has experi11 enced declining employment, or no longer 

12 provides any employment, in the local labor 

13 market during the two-year period ending 

14 on the date of the determination of eligi15 bility of the individual under this subpara16 graph. 

17 ‘‘(4) NO INDIVIDUAL ENTITLEMENT.—Nothing 

18 in this chapter shall be construed to entitle any indi19 vidual to receive a personal reemployment account. 

20 ‘‘(c) LOCAL ADMINISTRATION.—

21 ‘‘(1) INFORMATION AND ATTESTATION.—Prior 

22 to the establishment of a personal reemployment ac23 count for an eligible individual under this chapter, 

24 the one-stop delivery system shall ensure that the in25 dividual—
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1 ‘‘(A) is informed of the requirements appli2 cable to the personal reemployment account, in3 cluding the allowable uses of funds from the ac4 count, the limitations on access to services de5 scribed under section 135F(a)(3)(C) and a de6 scription of such services, and the conditions for 

7 receiving a reemployment bonus; 

8 ‘‘(B) has the option to develop a personal 

9 reemployment plan which will identify the em10 ployment goals and appropriate combination of 

11 services selected by the individual to achieve the 

12 employment goals; and 

13 ‘‘(C) signs an attestation that the indi14 vidual will comply with the requirements relat15 ing to the personal reemployment accounts 

16 under this chapter and will reimburse the ac17 count or, if the account has been terminated, 

18 the program under this chapter, for any 

19 amounts expended from the account that are 

20 not allowable. 

21 ‘‘(2) PERIODIC INTERVIEWS.—If a recipient ex22 hausts his or her rights to any unemployment com23 pensation, and the recipient has a remaining balance 

24 in his or her personal reemployment account, the 

25 one-stop delivery system shall conduct periodic inter-
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1 views with the recipient to assist the recipient in 

2 meeting his or her individual employment goals. 

3 ‘‘SEC. 135F. USE OF FUNDS. 

4 ‘‘(a) ALLOWABLE ACTIVITIES.—

5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the require6 ments contained in paragraphs (2) and (3), a recipi7 ent may use amounts in a personal reemployment 

8 account to purchase one or more of the following: 

9 ‘‘(A) Intensive services, including those 

10 types of services specified in section 

11 134(d)(3)(C). 

12 ‘‘(B) Training services, including those 

13 types of services specified in section 

14 134(d)(4)(D). 

15 ‘‘(C) Supportive services, except for needs16 related payments. 

17 ‘‘(D) Assistance to purchase or lease an 

18 automobile, if such assistance is necessary to 

19 allow the recipient to accept a bona fide offer 

20 of employment for which there is a reasonable 

21 expectation of long-term duration. 

22 ‘‘(2) DELIVERY OF SERVICES.—The following 

23 requirements relating to delivery of services shall 

24 apply to the program under this chapter: 
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1 ‘‘(A) Recipients may use funds from the 

2 personal reemployment account to purchase the 

3 services described in paragraph (1) through the 

4 one-stop delivery system on a fee-for-service 

5 basis, or through other providers, consistent 

6 with safeguards described in the State plan 

7 under section 135G. 

8 ‘‘(B) The one-stop delivery system may 

9 pay costs for such services directly on behalf of 

10 the recipient, through a voucher system, or by 

11 reimbursement to the recipient upon receipt of 

12 appropriate cost documentation, consistent with 

13 safeguards described in the State plan under 

14 section 135G. 

15 ‘‘(C) Each one-stop delivery system shall 

16 make available to recipients information on 

17 training providers specified in section 

18 134(d)(4)(F)(ii), information available to the 

19 one-stop delivery system on providers of the in20 tensive and supportive services described in 

21 paragraph (1), and information relating to oc22 cupations in demand in the local area. 

23 ‘‘(3) LIMITATIONS.—The following limitations 

24 shall apply with respect to personal reemployment 

25 accounts under this chapter: 
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1 ‘‘(A)(i) Amounts in a personal reemploy2 ment account may be used for up to one year 

3 from the date of the establishment of the ac4 count. 

5 ‘‘(ii) No personal reemployment account 

6 may be established beginning 2 years after the 

7 date of the enactment of the Back to Work In8 centive Act of 2003. 

9 ‘‘(B) Each recipient shall submit cost doc10 umentation as required by the one-stop delivery 

11 system. 

12 ‘‘(C) For the 1-year period following the 

13 establishment of the account, recipients may 

14 not receive intensive, supportive, or training 

15 services funded under this title except on a fee16 for-services basis as specified in paragraph 

17 (2)(A). 

18 ‘‘(D) Amounts in a personal reemployment 

19 account shall be nontransferable. 

20 ‘‘(b) INCOME SUPPORT.—A State may authorize re21 cipients determined eligible under section 135E(b)(3)(B) 

22 to withdraw amounts from the personal reemployment ac23 count on a weekly basis for purposes of income support 

24 in amounts up to the average weekly amount of unemploy25 ment compensation that the individual received prior to 
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1 his or her exhaustion of rights to unemployment com2 pensation if the individual is engaged in job search, inten3 sive services, or training that is expected to lead to em4 ployment. 

5 ‘‘(c) REEMPLOYMENT BONUS.—

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2)—

7 ‘‘(A) if a recipient determined eligible 

8 under section 135E(b)(2) obtains full-time em9 ployment before the end of the 13th week of 

10 unemployment for which unemployment com11 pensation is paid, the balance of his or her per12 sonal reemployment account shall be provided 

13 directly to the recipient in cash; and 

14 ‘‘(B) if a recipient determined eligible 

15 under section 135E(b)(3) obtains full-time em16 ployment before the end of the 13th week after 

17 the date on which the account is established, 

18 the balance of his or her personal reemployment 

19 account shall be provided directly to the recipi20 ent in cash. 

21 ‘‘(2) LIMITATIONS.—The following limitations 

22 shall apply with respect to a recipient described in 

23 paragraph (1):
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1 ‘‘(A) 60 percent of the remaining personal 

2 reemployment account balance shall be paid to 

3 the recipient at the time of reemployment. 

4 ‘‘(B) 40 percent of the remaining personal 

5 reemployment account balance shall be paid to 

6 the recipient not later than 6 months after the 

7 date of reemployment. 

8 ‘‘(3) EXCEPTION REGARDING SUBSEQUENT UN9 EMPLOYMENT.—If a recipient described in para10 graph (1) subsequently becomes unemployed due to 

11 a lack of work after receiving the portion of the re12 employment bonus specified under paragraph (2)(A), 

13 the individual may use the amount remaining in the 

14 personal reemployment account for the purposes de15 scribed in subsection (a) but may not be eligible for 

16 additional cash payments under this subsection. 

17 ‘‘SEC. 135G. STATE PLAN. 

18 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In order for a State to receive 

19 an allotment under section 135C, the Governor of the 

20 State shall submit to the Secretary a plan that includes 

21 a description of how the State intends to carry out the 

22 personal reemployment accounts authorized under this 

23 chapter, including—

24 ‘‘(1) the criteria and methods to be used for de25 termining eligibility for the personal reemployment 
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1 accounts, including whether the State intends to in2 clude the optional categories described in section 

3 135E(b)(3), and the additional criteria and priority 

4 for service that the State intends to apply, if any, 

5 pursuant to section 135E(b)(2)(B); 

6 ‘‘(2) the methods or procedures, developed in 

7 consultation with local boards and chief elected offi8 cials, to be used to provide eligible individuals infor9 mation relating to services and providers, and safe10 guards, developed in consultation with such boards 

11 and officials, to ensure that funds from the personal 

12 reemployment accounts are used for purposes au13 thorized under this chapter and are not used for 

14 services or providers that are wholly unreasonable or 

15 egregious; 

16 ‘‘(3) how the State will coordinate the activities 

17 carried out under this chapter with the employment 

18 and training activities carried out under section 134 

19 and other activities carried out through the one-stop 

20 delivery system in the State. 

21 ‘‘(b) PLAN SUBMISSION AND APPROVAL.—A State 

22 plan submitted to the Secretary under subsection (a) by 

23 a Governor shall be considered to be approved by the Sec24 retary at the end of the 30-day period beginning on the 

25 date the Secretary receives the plan, unless the Secretary 
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1 makes a written determination during such period that the 

2 plan is incomplete or otherwise inconsistent with the provi3 sions of this chapter. 

4 ‘‘SEC. 135H. PROGRAM INFORMATION. 

5 ‘‘The Secretary may require from States the collec6 tion and reporting on such financial, performance, and 

7 other program-related information as the Secretary deter8 mines is appropriate to carry out this chapter, including 

9 the evaluation described in section 135I. 

10 ‘‘SEC. 135I. EVALUATION. 

11 ‘‘(a) EVALUATION.—From the amount made avail12 able under section 135C(a)(1), the Secretary, pursuant to 

13 the authority provided under section 172, shall, directly 

14 or through grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements 

15 with appropriate entities, conduct an evaluation of the ac16 tivities carried out under this chapter. 

17 ‘‘(b) CONDUCT OF EVALUATION.—The evaluation 

18 shall examine the effectiveness of such activities in achiev19 ing the purposes described in section 135A and such other 

20 purposes as the Secretary determines are appropriate. 

21 ‘‘(c) REPORT.—The report to Congress under section 

22 172(e) relating to the results of the evaluations required 

23 under section 172 shall include the recommendation of the 

24 Secretary with respect to the use of personal reemploy-
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1 ment accounts as a mechanism to assist individuals in ob2 taining and retaining employment.’’. 

3 SEC. 3. ADMINISTRATION. 

4 Section 117(d) of the Workforce Investment Act of 

5 1998 (29 U.S.C. 2832(d)) is amended—

6 (1) in paragraph (3)(B)(i)(I), by striking ‘‘sec7 tions 128 and 133’’ and inserting ‘‘sections 128, 

8 133, and 135D’’; and 

9 (2) in paragraph (4), by inserting ‘‘, activities 

10 authorized under section 135F’’ after ‘‘section 134’’. 

11 SEC. 4. DELIVERY OF SERVICES. 

12 Section 134(c)(1) of the Workforce Investment Act 

13 of 1998 (29 U.S.C. 2864(c)(1)) is amended—

14 (1) in subparagraph (D), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

15 the end; 

16 (2) in subparagraph (E), by striking the period 

17 at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

18 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

19 ‘‘(F) shall provide access to personal reemployment 

20 accounts in accordance to section 135E.’’. 

21 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATION. 

22 Section 137 of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 

23 (29 U.S.C. 2872) is amended by adding at the end the 

24 following: 

25 ‘‘(d) PERSONAL REEMPLOYMENT ACCOUNTS.—
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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be 

2 appropriated $3,600,000,000 for fiscal year 2003 to 

3 carry out chapter 5A. 

4 ‘‘(2) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts appropriated 

5 pursuant to the authorization of appropriations 

6 under paragraph (1) to carry out section 135I are 

7 authorized to remain available until expended.’’. 

8 SEC. 6. CONFORMING AMENDMENT. 

9 The table of contents for the Workforce Investment 

10 Act of 1998 is amended by inserting after the items relat11 ing to chapter 5 of subtitle B of title I the following new 

12 items:

‘‘CHAPTER 5A—PERSONAL REEMPLOYMENT ACCOUNTS

‘‘Sec. 135A. Purposes. 

‘‘Sec. 135B. Definitions. 

‘‘Sec. 135C. Grants to States. 

‘‘Sec. 135D. Within State allocation. 

‘‘Sec. 135E. Personal reemployment accounts. 

‘‘Sec. 135F. Use of funds. 

‘‘Sec. 135G. State plan. 

‘‘Sec. 135H. Program information. 

‘‘Sec. 135I. Evaluation, technical assistance, and data collection activities.’’.

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