I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2074 
To provide effective employment, training, and career and technical education 
programs and to address barriers that result from family responsibilities, 
and to encourage and support individuals to enter nontraditional occupa-
tional fields. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 23, 2009 
Ms. DELAURO (for herself, Ms. LINDA T. SA´NCHEZ of California, Mr. POLIS 
of Colorado, Ms. KILROY, Ms. CLARKE, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. MCDERMOTT, 
Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. HARE, Mr. 
LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. FATTAH, Mr. MICHAUD, Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of 
California, Ms. NORTON, Mr. FARR, Mr. CONYERS, Ms. BORDALLO, Mr. 
HINOJOSA, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mrs. MALONEY, Mr. KENNEDY, 
Mrs. LOWEY, Ms. BALDWIN, and Mr. HASTINGS of Florida) introduced 
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and 
Labor 
A BILL 
To provide effective employment, training, and career and 
technical education programs and to address barriers 
that result from family responsibilities, and to encourage 
and support individuals to enter nontraditional occupa-
tional fields. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Pathways Advancing 
Career Training Act’’. 
SEC. 2. PURPOSE AND FINDINGS. 
(a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is— 
(1) to create workforce pathways for individuals 
who face barriers during employment transitions and 
help to meet the employment needs of high-skilled, 
high-wage industries, including those facing signifi-
cant skilled labor shortages; 
(2) to provide assistance to States for effective 
employment and training programs to address bar-
riers to employment that result from current or 
prior family responsibilities, including time out of 
the workforce to care for a child or family members; 
and 
(3) to provide assistance to States for effective 
employment and training programs to encourage and 
support individuals to enter occupational fields that 
are nontraditional for their gender. 
(b) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) A high quality, productive, and diverse 
workforce is necessary to compete in the global econ-
omy. 
(2) Nearly 14,000,000 individuals in the United 
States are the sole breadwinners and caretakers for 
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their families and nearly a third of them (31 per-
cent) have family incomes below the poverty level. 
(3) More than 7,000,000 individuals in the 
United States face barriers to entering or re-enter-
ing the workforce due to extended periods of time 
spent caring for family members, and nearly half of 
them (42 percent) have family incomes below the 
poverty level. 
(4) Employment in high-skill, high-wage, non-
traditional careers offers wages and advancement 
opportunities to help families achieve economic self- 
sufficiency. 
(5) Job training and career and technical edu-
cation programs continue to be highly sex-seg-
regated, resulting in a dearth of female students fill-
ing the pipeline for jobs in the growing high-skill, 
high-wage labor market, especially in the areas of 
technology and the skilled trades. 
(6) The employment and training needs of indi-
viduals who have taken time out of the workforce to 
care for children or family members, and individuals 
pursuing nontraditional occupations are not suffi-
ciently met through existing systems. 
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(7) Individuals who face barriers during em-
ployment transitions represent an untapped work-
force pool to address growing skilled labor shortages. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
Except as otherwise specified in this Act, as used in 
this Act the following definition apply: 
(1) AREA CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION 
SCHOOL.—The term ‘‘area career and technical edu-
cation school’’ has the same meaning given such 
term in section 3(a)(22) of the Carl D. Perkins Ca-
reer and Technical Education Improvement Act of 
2006 (20 U.S.C. 2302(a)(22)). 
(2) COMMUNITY-BASED
ORGANIZATION.—The 
term ‘‘community-based organization’’ means a pub-
lic or private nonprofit organization of demonstrated 
effectiveness that— 
(A) is representative of a community or 
significant segments of a community; and 
(B) 
provides 
educational, 
preparatory, 
training, or related services to individuals in the 
community. 
(3) DISPLACED HOMEMAKER.—The term ‘‘dis-
placed homemaker’’ means an individual who— 
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