I 
112TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5805 
To direct the Secretary of Labor to establish alternate guidelines for meas-
uring the progress of State and local performance for entrepreneurial 
training services under the Workforce Investment Act of 1998. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 17, 2012 
Mrs. CAPPS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Education and the Workforce 
A BILL 
To direct the Secretary of Labor to establish alternate guide-
lines for measuring the progress of State and local per-
formance for entrepreneurial training services under the 
Workforce Investment Act of 1998. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Entrepreneurial Train-
ing Improvement Act of 2012’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
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(1) Entrepreneurship represents an important 
part of the economic recovery. According to the 
2012 Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity, 
adults in the United States created an average of 
543,000 new businesses each month in 2011, among 
the highest levels of entrepreneurship in the last 16 
years. 
(2) Of the estimated 27.5 million small busi-
nesses in the United States, 21.4 million had no em-
ployees in 2008 according to Small Business Admin-
istration Office of Advocacy. 
(3) According to a January 2010 report enti-
tled ‘‘Think Entrepreneurs: A Call to Action’’ pre-
pared by the Consortium for Entrepreneurship Edu-
cation for the Department of Labor, Employment 
and Training Administration, ‘‘Entrepreneurship is 
not well established in Federal and statewide policy 
and execution strategies.’’ The report continues to 
state that Workforce Investment Board staff ‘‘lacks 
information and training about self-employment as a 
career option, including accessibility to resources, 
technical assistance, outreach efforts, available part-
nerships, assessment processes, and coordination of 
available funding options’’ and that Boards report 
that ‘‘self-employment outcomes are hard to docu-
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ment for [Department of Labor] regulations; self- 
employment does not fit into current methods for 
measuring performance’’. 
(4) In Training and Employment Guidance Let-
ter No. 12–10, issued November 15, 2010, the Em-
ployment and Training Administration noted that 
‘‘Certain types of employment, particularly self-em-
ployment, are generally not covered by State [unem-
ployment insurance] wage records, and the system 
has noted this as a challenge in providing entrepre-
neurship training. However, supplemental data op-
tions for some performance measures, combined with 
performance target negotiations, offer flexibility to 
accommodate entrepreneurship training within the 
workforce system’’. 
(5) There are many existing supplemental data 
sources and authorities that can be used to better 
measure the success of an entrepreneurial training 
program. 
(6) All reasonable effort should be made by the 
Secretary of Labor to reduce regulatory barriers and 
disincentives that discourage local Workforce Invest-
ment Boards from offering entrepreneurial training 
programs. 
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SEC. 3. RULEMAKING. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 9 months after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Labor shall 
establish alternate guidelines for measuring the progress 
of State and local performance for entrepreneurial train-
ing services, as authorized in section 134 subsection 
(d)(4)(D)(vi) of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 
(29 U.S.C. 2864(d)(4)(D)(vi)), and provide the State and 
local Workforce Investment Boards with specific guidance 
on successful approaches to collecting performance infor-
mation on entrepreneurial self employment. 
(b) CONSIDERATIONS.—In determining the alternate 
guidelines, the Secretary shall consider utilizing existing 
authorities granted under the Workforce Investment Act 
of 1998, including a State’s waiver authority, as author-
ized in section 189(i)(4) of such Act (29 U.S.C. 
2939(i)(4)). 
(c) REPORT.—Not later than 12 months after publi-
cation of the final rule, the Secretary shall issue a report 
on the progress of Workforce Investment Boards in imple-
menting new entrepreneurial training programs and any 
ongoing challenges to offering entrepreneurial training 
programs, with recommendations to Congress on how best 
to address those challenges. 
Æ 
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