IB 
Union Calendar No. 22
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 444
[Report No. 108–35] 
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 
MARCH 13, 2003 
Additional sponsors: Mr. GILLMOR, Mr. ROGERS of Alabama, Mr. JANKLOW, 
Mr. BAKER, Mrs. MYRICK, Mr. MURPHY, Ms. GINNY BROWN-WAITE of 
Florida, Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida, Mr. KOLBE, Ms. DUNN, 
Ms. HART, Mr. FOLEY, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, and 
Mr. OSE
MARCH 13, 2003 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on January 29, 2003] 
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.
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 ‘‘Back to Work Incentive 
Act of 2003’’. 
SEC. 2. GRANTS TO SUPPORT PERSONAL REEMPLOYMENT 
ACCOUNTS. 
Subtitle B of title I of the Workforce Investment Act 
of 1998 (29 U.S.C. 2811 et seq.) is amended by inserting 
after chapter 5 the following new chapter: 
‘‘CHAPTER 5A—PERSONAL 
REEMPLOYMENT ACCOUNTS 
‘‘SEC. 135A. PURPOSES. 
‘‘The purposes of this chapter are to provide for the 
establishment of personal reemployment accounts for cer-
tain individuals identified as likely to exhaust their unem-
ployment compensation in order to—
‘‘(1) accelerate the reemployment of such individ-
uals; 
‘‘(2) promote the retention in employment of 
such individuals; and 
‘‘(3) provide such individuals with enhanced 
flexibility, choice, and control in obtaining intensive 
reemployment, training, and supportive services. 
‘‘SEC. 135B. DEFINITION. 
‘‘In this chapter, the term ‘State’ means each of the 
several States of the United States, the District of Columbia, 
the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the United States 
Virgin Islands. 
‘‘SEC. 135C. GRANTS TO STATES. 
‘‘(a) GRANTS.—The Secretary shall—
‘‘(1) reserve 2⁄10 of 1 percent of the amount ap-
propriated under section 137(d) for use under section 
135I; and 
‘‘(2) use the remainder of the amount appro-
priated under section 137(d) to make allotments in 
accordance with subsection (b). 
‘‘(b) ALLOTMENT AMONG STATES.—
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—From the amount made 
available under subsection (a)(2), the Secretary shall 
allot to each State an amount that is proportionate 
to the relative number of unemployed individuals in
the State as compared to the total number of unem-
ployed individuals in all States in order to provide 
assistance for eligible individuals in accordance with 
this chapter. 
‘‘(2) SMALL STATE MINIMUM ALLOTMENT.—The 
Secretary shall ensure that—
‘‘(A) each State (other than the United 
States Virgin Islands) shall receive an allotment
under paragraph (1) that is not less than 3⁄10 
of 1 percent of the amount made available under 
subsection (a)(2) for the fiscal year; and 
‘‘(B) the United States Virgin Islands shall 
receive an allotment under paragraph (1) that is 
not less than 1⁄10 of 1 percent of the amount 
made available under subsection (a)(2) for the 
fiscal year. 
‘‘(c) 
AVAILABILITY.—Notwithstanding 
section 
189(g)(1), amounts made available under subsection (a) to 
carry out this chapter shall be available for obligation and 
expenditure beginning on the date of the enactment of the 
Back to Work Incentive Act of 2003. 
‘‘SEC. 135D. WITHIN STATE ALLOCATION. 
‘‘(a) ALLOCATION.—Of the amount allotted to a State 
under section 135C—
‘‘(1) not more than 2 percent of the amount may 
be reserved by the Governor of the State to enhance 
the system of worker profiling described in section 
303(j) of the Social Security Act and to establish and 
operate a data management system, as necessary, and 
carry out other appropriate activities to implement 
this chapter; 
‘‘(2) 5 percent of the amount shall be allocated 
by the State to local areas in accordance with the for-
mula described in subsection (b) for start-up costs 
and other operating costs related to the provision of 
assistance under this chapter; and 
‘‘(3) the remainder of the amount shall be pro-
vided to local areas consistent with the methods and 
procedures described in section 135G(a)(4) for the es-
tablishment of personal reemployment accounts de-
scribed in section 135E for eligible individuals in 
such local areas. 
‘‘(b) FORMULA.—A State shall allocate funds to local 
areas in the State under subsection (a)(2) in an amount 
that is proportionate to the relative number of unemployed 
individuals in the local area as compared to the total num-
ber of unemployed individuals in the State. 
‘‘(c) 
AVAILABILITY.—Notwithstanding 
section 
189(g)(2), amounts allotted to a State under section 135C,
and amounts subsequently provided to a local area under 
this section, shall be available for obligation and expendi-
ture only for the 3-year period beginning on the date of 
the enactment of the Back to Work Incentive Act of 2003. 
‘‘SEC. 135E. PERSONAL REEMPLOYMENT ACCOUNTS. 
‘‘(a) ACCOUNTS.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Funds provided to a local 
area under section 135D shall be used to provide eli-
gible individuals with personal reemployment ac-
counts to be used in accordance with section 135F. An 
eligible individual may receive only one personal re-
employment account. 
‘‘(2) AMOUNT.—The State shall establish the 
amount of a personal reemployment account, which 
shall be uniform throughout the State, and shall not 
exceed $3,000. 
‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUALS.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each State shall establish 
eligibility criteria for individuals for personal reem-
ployment accounts in accordance with this subsection. 
‘‘(2) ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA REQUIREMENTS.—
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—Subject to subpara-
graph (B), an individual shall be eligible to re-
ceive assistance under this chapter if, beginning
after the date of enactment of the Back to Work 
Incentive Act of 2003, the individual— 
‘‘(i) is identified by the State pursuant 
to section 303(j)(1) of the Social Security 
Act as likely to exhaust regular unemploy-
ment compensation and in need of job 
search assistance to make a successful tran-
sition to new employment or an individ-
ual’s unemployment can be attributed in 
substantial part to unfair competition from 
Federal Prison Industries, Inc.; 
‘‘(ii) is receiving regular unemploy-
ment compensation under any State or Fed-
eral unemployment compensation program 
administered by the State; and 
‘‘(iii) is eligible for not less than 20 
weeks of regular unemployment compensa-
tion described in clause (ii). 
‘‘(B) ADDITIONAL
ELIGIBILITY
AND
PRI-
ORITY CRITERIA.—A State may establish criteria 
that is in addition to the criteria described in 
subparagraph (A) for the eligibility of individ-
uals to receive assistance under this chapter. A 
State may also establish criteria for priority in
the provision of assistance to such eligible indi-
viduals under this chapter. 
‘‘(3) TRANSITION RULE.—
‘‘(A) PREVIOUSLY
IDENTIFIED
AS
LIKELY 
TO EXHAUST UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION.—
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—At the option of the 
State, and subject to clause (ii), an indi-
vidual may be eligible to receive assistance 
under this chapter if the individual—
‘‘(I) during the 13-week period 
ending the week prior to the date of the 
enactment of the Back to Work Incen-
tive Act of 2003, was identified by the 
State pursuant to section 303(j)(1) of 
the Social Security Act as likely to ex-
haust 
regular 
unemployment 
com-
pensation and in need of job search as-
sistance to make a successful transition 
to new employment; and 
‘‘(II) otherwise meets the require-
ments of clauses (ii) and (iii) of para-
graph (2)(A). 
‘‘(ii) ADDITIONAL
ELIGIBILITY
AND 
PRIORITY CRITERIA.—A State may establish 
criteria that is in addition to the criteria
described in clause (i) for the eligibility of 
individuals to receive assistance under this 
chapter. A State may also establish criteria 
for priority in the provision of assistance to 
such eligible individuals under this chapter. 
‘‘(B) PREVIOUSLY EXHAUSTED UNEMPLOY-
MENT
COMPENSATION.—At the option of the 
State, an individual may be eligible to receive 
assistance under this chapter if the individual—
‘‘(i) during the 26-week period ending 
the week prior to the date of the enactment 
of the Back to Work Incentive Act of 2003, 
exhausted all rights to any unemployment 
compensation; and 
‘‘(ii)(I) is enrolled in training and 
needs additional support to complete such 
training, with a priority of service to be 
provided to such individuals who are train-
ing for shortage occupations or high-growth 
industries; or 
‘‘(II) is separated from employment in 
an industry or occupation that has experi-
enced declining employment, or no longer 
provides any employment, in the local labor 
market during the two-year period ending
on the date of the determination of eligi-
bility of the individual under this subpara-
graph. 
‘‘(4) NO INDIVIDUAL ENTITLEMENT.—Nothing in 
this chapter shall be construed to entitle any indi-
vidual to receive a personal reemployment account. 
‘‘(c) LOCAL ADMINISTRATION.—
‘‘(1) INFORMATION AND ATTESTATION.—Prior to 
the establishment of a personal reemployment account 
for an eligible individual under this chapter, the local 
board, through the one-stop delivery system, shall en-
sure that the individual—
‘‘(A) is informed of the requirements appli-
cable to the personal reemployment account, in-
cluding the allowable uses of funds from the ac-
count, the limitations on access to services de-
scribed under section 135F(a)(3)(C) and a de-
scription of such services, and the conditions for 
receiving a reemployment bonus; 
‘‘(B) has the option to develop a personal 
reemployment plan which will identify the em-
ployment goals and appropriate combination of 
services selected by the individual to achieve the 
employment goals; and
‘‘(C) signs an attestation that the indi-
vidual has been given the option to develop a 
personal reemployment plan in accordance with 
subparagraph (B), will comply with the require-
ments relating to the personal reemployment ac-
counts under this chapter, and will reimburse 
the account or, if the account has been termi-
nated, the program under this chapter, for any 
amounts expended from the account that are not 
allowable. 
‘‘(2) PERIODIC INTERVIEWS.—If a recipient ex-
hausts his or her rights to any unemployment com-
pensation, and the recipient has a remaining balance 
in his or her personal reemployment account, the one-
stop delivery system shall conduct periodic interviews 
with the recipient to assist the recipient in meeting 
his or her individual employment goals. 
‘‘SEC. 135F. USE OF FUNDS. 
‘‘(a) ALLOWABLE ACTIVITIES.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the requirements 
contained in paragraphs (2) and (3), a recipient may 
use amounts in a personal reemployment account to 
purchase one or more of the following:
‘‘(A) Intensive services, including those 
types 
of 
services 
specified 
in 
section 
134(d)(3)(C). 
‘‘(B) Training services, including those 
types 
of 
services 
specified 
in 
section 
134(d)(4)(D). 
‘‘(C) Supportive services, except for needs-
related payments. 
‘‘(D) Assistance to purchase or lease an 
automobile, if such assistance is necessary to 
allow the recipient to accept a bona fide offer of 
employment for which there is a reasonable ex-
pectation of long-term duration. 
‘‘(2) DELIVERY OF SERVICES.—The following re-
quirements relating to delivery of services shall apply 
to the program under this chapter: 
‘‘(A) Recipients may use funds from the 
personal reemployment account to purchase the 
services described in paragraph (1) through the 
one-stop delivery system on a fee-for-service 
basis, or through other providers, consistent with 
safeguards described in the State and local plans 
under section 135G. 
‘‘(B) The local board, through the one-stop 
delivery system, may pay costs for such services
directly on behalf of the recipient, through a 
voucher system, or by reimbursement to the re-
cipient upon receipt of appropriate cost docu-
mentation, consistent with safeguards described 
in the State plan under section 135G. 
‘‘(C) Each local board, through the one-stop 
delivery system, shall make available to recipi-
ents information on training providers specified 
in section 134(d)(4)(F)(ii), information avail-
able to the one-stop delivery system on providers 
of the intensive and supportive services described 
in paragraph (1), and information relating to 
occupations in demand in the local area. 
‘‘(3) LIMITATIONS.—The following limitations 
shall apply with respect to personal reemployment ac-
counts under this chapter: 
‘‘(A)(i) Amounts in a personal reemploy-
ment account may be used for up to one year 
from the date of the establishment of the account. 
‘‘(ii) No personal reemployment account 
may be established beginning 2 years after the 
date of the enactment of the Back to Work Incen-
tive Act of 2003.
‘‘(B) Each recipient shall submit cost docu-
mentation as required by the one-stop delivery 
system. 
‘‘(C) For the 1-year period following the es-
tablishment of the account, recipients may not 
receive intensive, supportive, or training services 
funded under this title except on a fee-for-services 
basis as specified in paragraph (2)(A). 
‘‘(D) Amounts in a personal reemployment 
account shall be nontransferable. 
‘‘(b) INCOME SUPPORT.—A State may authorize re-
cipients determined eligible under section 135E(b)(3)(B) to 
withdraw amounts from the personal reemployment account
on a weekly basis for purposes of income support in 
amounts up to the average weekly amount of unemployment 
compensation that the individual received prior to his or 
her exhaustion of rights to unemployment compensation if 
the individual is engaged in job search, intensive services, 
or training that is expected to lead to employment. 
‘‘(c) REEMPLOYMENT BONUS.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2)—
‘‘(A) if a recipient determined eligible under 
section 135E(b)(2) obtains full-time employment 
before the end of the 13th week of unemployment 
for which unemployment compensation is paid,
the balance of his or her personal reemployment 
account shall be provided directly to the recipi-
ent in cash; and 
‘‘(B) if a recipient determined eligible 
under section 135E(b)(3) obtains full-time em-
ployment before the end of the 13th week after 
the date on which the account is established, the 
balance of his or her personal reemployment ac-
count shall be provided directly to the recipient 
in cash. 
‘‘(2) LIMITATIONS.—The following limitations 
shall apply with respect to a recipient described in 
paragraph (1): 
‘‘(A) 60 percent of the remaining personal 
reemployment account balance shall be paid to 
the recipient at the time of reemployment. 
‘‘(B) 40 percent of the remaining personal 
reemployment account balance shall be paid to 
the recipient after 26 weeks of employment reten-
tion. 
‘‘(3) EXCEPTION REGARDING SUBSEQUENT UN-
EMPLOYMENT.—If a recipient described in paragraph 
(1) subsequently becomes unemployed due to a lack of 
work after receiving the portion of the reemployment 
bonus specified under paragraph (2)(A), the indi-
vidual may use the amount remaining in the per-
sonal reemployment account for the purposes de-
scribed in subsection (a) but may not be eligible for 
additional cash payments under this subsection. 
‘‘SEC. 135G. STATE AND LOCAL PLANS. 
‘‘(a) STATE PLAN.—In order for a State to receive an 
allotment under section 135C, the Governor of the State 
shall submit to the Secretary a plan for approval that in-
cludes a description of how the State intends to carry out 
the personal reemployment accounts authorized under this 
chapter, including—
‘‘(1) the criteria and methods to be used for de-
termining eligibility for the personal reemployment 
accounts, including whether the State intends to in-
clude the optional categories described in section 
135E(b)(3), and the additional criteria and priority 
for service that the State intends to apply, if any, 
pursuant to section 135E(b)(2)(B); 
‘‘(2) the methods or procedures, developed in con-
sultation with local boards and chief elected officials, 
to be used to provide eligible individuals information 
relating to services and providers, and safeguards, de-
veloped in consultation with such boards and officials, 
to ensure that funds from the personal reemployment 
accounts are used for purposes authorized under this
chapter and to ensure the quality and integrity of 
services and providers, consistent with the purpose of 
providing such individuals with enhanced flexibility, 
choice, and control in obtaining intensive reemploy-
ment, training, and supportive services; 
‘‘(3) how the State will coordinate the activities 
carried out under this chapter with the employment 
and training activities carried out under section 134 
and other activities carried out by each local board 
through the one-stop delivery system in the State; and 
‘‘(4) the methods and procedures for providing 
funds to local areas under section 135D(a)(3). 
‘‘(b) LOCAL PLAN.—In order for a local area to receive 
an allocation under section 135D, the local board, in part-
nership with the chief elected official for the local area in-
volved, shall submit to the Governor a plan for approval 
that includes a description of how the local board intends 
to carry out the personal reemployment accounts, consistent 
with the requirements of this chapter and with the State 
plan established under subsection (a), including—
‘‘(1) a description of how the local board will co-
ordinate the activities carried out under this chapter 
with the employment and training activities carried 
out in the local area under section 134; and
‘‘(2) a description of the methods or procedures 
to be used to provide eligible individuals information 
relating to the jobs that are available in the local area 
in high demand occupations and information on serv-
ices and providers, and the safeguards the local area 
will initiate to ensure that funds from the personal 
reemployment accounts are used for purposes author-
ized under this chapter and to ensure the quality and 
integrity of services and providers, consistent with the 
purpose of providing such individuals with enhanced 
flexibility, choice, and control in obtaining intensive 
reemployment, training, and supportive services, and 
consistent with the State plan. 
‘‘(c) STATE PLAN SUBMISSION AND APPROVAL.—A 
State plan submitted to the Secretary under subsection (a) 
by a Governor shall be considered to be approved by the 
Secretary at the end of the 30-day period beginning on the 
date the Secretary receives the plan, unless the Secretary 
makes a written determination during such period that the 
plan is incomplete or otherwise inconsistent with the provi-
sions of this chapter. 
‘‘SEC. 135H. PROGRAM INFORMATION. 
‘‘The Secretary may require from States the collection 
and reporting on such financial, performance, and other 
program-related information as the Secretary determines is
appropriate to carry out this chapter, including the evalua-
tion described in section 135I. 
‘‘SEC. 135I. EVALUATION. 
‘‘(a) EVALUATION.—From the amount made available 
under section 135C(a)(1), the Secretary, pursuant to the 
authority provided under section 172, shall, directly or 
through grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements with 
appropriate entities, conduct an evaluation of the activities 
carried out under this chapter. 
‘‘(b) CONDUCT OF EVALUATION.—The evaluation shall 
examine the effectiveness of such activities in achieving the 
purposes described in section 135A and such other purposes 
as the Secretary determines are appropriate.
‘‘(c) REPORT.—The report to Congress under section 
172(e) relating to the results of the evaluations required 
under section 172 shall include the recommendation of the 
Secretary with respect to the use of personal reemployment 
accounts as a mechanism to assist individuals in obtaining 
and retaining employment.’’. 
SEC. 3. ADMINISTRATION. 
Section 117(d) of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 
(29 U.S.C. 2832(d)) is amended—
(1) in paragraph (3)(B)(i)(I), by striking ‘‘sec-
tions 128 and 133’’ and inserting ‘‘sections 128, 133, 
and 135D’’; and
(2) in paragraph (4), by inserting ‘‘, activities 
authorized under section 135F’’ after ‘‘section 134’’. 
SEC. 4. DELIVERY OF SERVICES. 
Section 134(c)(1) of the Workforce Investment Act of 
1998 (29 U.S.C. 2864(c)(1)) is amended—
(1) in subparagraph (D), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 
the end; 
(2) in subparagraph (E), by striking the period 
at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(F) shall provide access to personal reem-
ployment accounts in accordance to section 
135E.’’. 
SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATION. 
Section 137 of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 
(29 U.S.C. 2872) is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(d) PERSONAL REEMPLOYMENT ACCOUNTS.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be ap-
propriated $3,600,000,000 for fiscal year 2003 to 
carry out chapter 5A. 
‘‘(2) 
AVAILABILITY.—Amounts 
appropriated 
pursuant to the authorization of appropriations 
under paragraph (1) to carry out section 135I are 
authorized to remain available until expended.’’.
SEC. 6. CONFORMING AMENDMENT. 
The table of contents for the Workforce Investment Act 
of 1998 is amended by inserting after the items relating 
to chapter 5 of subtitle B of title I the following new items:
‘‘CHAPTER 5A—PERSONAL REEMPLOYMENT ACCOUNTS 
‘‘Sec. 135A. Purposes. 
‘‘Sec. 135B. Definition. 
‘‘Sec. 135C. Grants to States. 
‘‘Sec. 135D. Within State allocation. 
‘‘Sec. 135E. Personal reemployment accounts. 
‘‘Sec. 135F. Use of funds. 
‘‘Sec. 135G. State and local plans. 
‘‘Sec. 135H. Program information. 
‘‘Sec. 135I. Evaluation.’’.
Union Calendar No. 22
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 444
[Report No. 108–35] 
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. 
MARCH 13, 2003
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Com-
mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 
and ordered to be printed