I
107TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 5015
To promote workforce development in rural areas and assist low income
residents of rural communities in moving from welfare to work.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JUNE 25, 2002
Mrs. CLAYTON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Education and the Workforce
A BILL
To promote workforce development in rural areas and assist
low income residents of rural communities in moving
from welfare 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 ‘‘Rural Self-Sufficiency
and Workforce Advancement Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) Unemployment and underemployment rates
are higher in rural than in urban areas.
(2) Jobs in rural areas are more heavily con-
centrated in minimum wage, part-time, and seasonal
employment than in urban areas.
(3) Average earnings are lower and poverty
rates are higher in rural areas than in urban areas.
(4) Work support services such as education
and job training, child care, and public transpor-
tation are less available in rural areas.
(5) Rural residents have less formal education
than do urban residents.
(6) Overall, the barriers to successfully moving
from welfare to work and to achieving economic sta-
bility and security among low-income families are
greater in rural than in urban and suburban areas.
(7) Research on rural welfare reform has shown
that—
(A) State welfare reform programs have
found positive impacts on long-term welfare re-
cipients in urban areas but not in rural areas;
(B) employment, earnings, and poverty
outcomes have been found to be worse for rural
single mothers than for urban single mothers
during the 1990s; and
(C) there is some evidence that it is more
difficult to reduce welfare caseloads in rural
areas than in urban ones.
(8) One of the main purposes of the 1996 wel-
fare reform law was to move all low-income families
toward economic self-sufficiency and not just those
residing in urban and suburban areas.
(9) Therefore, additional jobs, work supports,
and targeted resources are needed to support low-in-
come residents of rural areas in entering the work-
force and moving towards self-sufficiency.
SEC. 3. GRANTS FOR TRANSITIONAL JOBS PROGRAMS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and
Human Services (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Sec-
retary’’) shall make grants among eligible applicants, on
a competitive basis, in accordance with this section.
(b) APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS.—An entity desir-
ing to receive a grant under this section shall submit to
the Secretary an application in such form and manner and
at such time as the Secretary may require. Any such appli-
cation shall include a description of—
(1) the local labor market of the eligible rural
area, the barriers that low income individuals face in
the labor market, and the problems associated with
implementing welfare reform in the area;
(2) how the applicant’s use of grant funds
under subsection (d) will address the problems re-
ferred to in paragraph (1); and
(3) the criteria which the applicant will use to
select entities to participate in the provision of tran-
sitional jobs and employment services under a tran-
sitional jobs program established by the applicant,
as described in subsection (e).
(c) BASIS
FOR
COMPETITION.—In determining
whether to make a grant to an applicant under this sec-
tion, the Secretary shall consider the following:
(1) The percentage by which the national aver-
age unemployment or poverty rate is exceeded by the
unemployment or poverty rate in the area in which
the program proposed in the application would seek
to provide transitional jobs.
(2) The extent to which the program proposed
in the application would be effective in helping the
program participants achieve stable employment and
job advancement.
(3) The extent to which the program proposed
in the application would seek to place participants in
transitional jobs that expand the diversity of the
local economy and that are not in traditional rural
occupations such as agriculture, mining, and for-
estry.
(4) The extent to which the program proposed
in the application was developed in consultation and
coordination with appropriate stakeholders in the eli-
gible rural areas, including—
(A) potential program participants;
(B) employers;
(C) labor organizations;
(D) community-based organizations; and
(E) units of local government.
(d) USE OF GRANT FUNDS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Each grantee shall use the
grant funds to—
(A) establish a transitional jobs program
as described in subsection (e);
(B) provide each program participant with
an individualized plan of services as described
in subsection (f); and
(C) prepare and submit the reports de-
scribed in subsection (g).
(2) LIMITATION
ON
ADMINISTRATIVE
EX-
PENSES.—A grantee shall not use more than 10 per-
cent of the grant funds for administrative expenses
(including expenses associated with preparing and
submitting the reports described in subsection (g)).
(e) REQUIREMENTS FOR A TRANSITIONAL JOBS PRO-
GRAM.—With respect to the transitional jobs program of
the grantee, the grantee shall ensure the following:
(1) IN GENERAL.—The transitional jobs pro-
gram shall—
(A) place each program participant in a
position of employment with an employer in the
eligible rural area; and
(B) provide for the reimbursement of each
such employer in an amount equal to 100 per-
cent (50 percent in the case of any for-profit
employer) of the sum of all wages paid to each
program participant employed by such employer
and all payroll taxes required to be paid by
such employer with respect to each such partici-
pant.
(2) MEANS
TEST
FOR
PROGRAM
PARTICI-
PANTS.—Each program participant shall be an indi-
vidual who has income that is less than 185 percent
of the poverty line (as defined in section 673(2) of
the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981, in-
cluding any revision required by such section, appli-
cable to a family of the size involved), and not less
than 50 percent of all such participants in the pro-
gram shall have income that is less than 100 percent
of the poverty line (as of the date that such partici-
pants enroll in the program).
(3) DURATION OF EMPLOYMENT.—A program
participant shall not be placed in a position of em-
ployment for more than 12 months.
(4) MINIMUM
WAGE.—A program participant
shall not be placed in a position of employment
which is compensated at a rate less than the great-
est applicable minimum wage provided under Fed-
eral or State law.
(5) HOURS PER WEEK.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—Each program partici-
pant shall be placed in a position of employ-
ment which provides for such number of hours
of employment per week as equals or exceeds
the relevant minimum and does not exceed the
relevant maximum.
(B) RELEVANT MAXIMUM.—For purposes
of subparagraph (A), the term ‘‘relevant max-
imum’’ means, with respect to any program
participant for any week, the difference between
40 and the number of hours such participant
participates in counseling, training, and services
during such week under subsection (f)(3).
(C) RELEVANT
MINIMUM.—For purposes
of subparagraph (A) and except as provided in
subparagraph (D), the term ‘‘relevant min-
imum’’ means, with respect to any program
participant for any week, the difference between
30 and the number of hours such participant
participates in counseling, training, and services
during such week under subsection (f)(3).
(D) 
EXCEPTION
TO
RELEVANT
MIN-
IMUM.—With respect to any program partici-
pant for any week, the relevant minimum may
be determined by substituting ‘‘20’’ for ‘‘30’’ in
subparagraph (C) if such participant—
(i) is a parent with a child who—
(I) has not attained 6 years of
age;
(II) is disabled; or
(III) has other special needs; or
(ii) is an individual, or a member of
a class of individuals, identified by the Sec-
retary for purposes of this clause as eligi-
ble for reduced hours.
(6) REQUIREMENTS RELATED TO WORKER PRO-
TECTIONS.—With respect to the program, the grant-
ee shall ensure the following:
(A) LIMIT ON PROGRAM PARTICIPATION.—
An employer with more than 20 employees shall
not employ a program participant if more than
5 percent of such employer’s workforce would
consist of program participants as a result of
such employment. An employer with 20 or
fewer employees shall not employ more than 1
program participant at a time or employ any
program participant for more than 12 months
during any 18-month period.
(B) 
NONDISPLACEMENT.—An 
employer
shall not—
(i) displace an employee or position
(including partial displacement such as re-
duction in hours, wages, or benefits) or im-
pair a contract or collective bargaining
agreement, as a result of the employment
of a program participant, or
(ii) assign any program participant to
fill any established unfilled vacancy or to
perform any service, duty, or activity with
respect to which an individual has recall
rights pursuant to a collective bargaining
agreement or applicable personnel proce-
dures, or which had been performed by or
assigned to an employee who—
(I) resigned or was discharged
during the preceding 12 months;
(II) is subject to a reduction in
force;
(III) is on leave;
(IV) is on strike; or
(V) is being locked out.
(C) 
PROMOTIONAL
OPPORTUNITY.—An
employer shall not assign any program partici-
pant to an employment position if any employee
of such employer is eligible and qualified to be
promoted to such position.
(D) CONSULTATION.—Before placing any
program participant, the grantee shall consult
with the appropriate local labor organizations
representing employees in the area who are en-
gaged in the same or similar work as that pro-
posed for the participant, to ensure compliance
with this paragraph.
(f) REQUIREMENTS FOR INDIVIDUALIZED PLANS OF
SERVICES.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The grantee shall develop an
individual plan of services for each program partici-
pant designed to prepare such participant for em-
ployment positions available in the local economy
which offer the potential for advancement and
growth.
(2) COUNSELING
AND
TRAINING.—Each plan
developed under paragraph (1) shall provide for—
(A) case management services to monitor
the progress of the participant;
(B) appropriate education, training, and
other services to prepare the participant for em-
ployment;
(C) job placement assistance; and
(D) counseling and other services to aid
the participant in obtaining and retaining em-
ployment.
(3) DURATION.—Each plan developed under
paragraph (1) shall provide for at least 6 (and not
more than 15) hours per week of counseling, train-
ing, and services for each program participant dur-
ing the 24-month period beginning on the date that
such participant is placed in a position of employ-
ment under the program.
(4) STIPEND.—Under each plan developed
under paragraph (1), the grantee shall pay the pro-
gram participant a weekly stipend in an amount
equal to the product of—
(A) the hourly wage earned by such partic-
ipant in the position of employment in which
such participant is placed under the program,
and
(B) the number of hours of counseling,
training, and services in which the participant
took part during such week.
(g) ANNUAL REPORTS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Each grantee shall submit to
the Secretary an annual report described in para-
graph (2) for each year during which any program
participant participated in a transitional jobs pro-
gram under subsection (e) or received a stipend
under subsection (f)(4).
(2) FORM AND CONTENTS.—Each report sub-
mitted under paragraph (1) shall be submitted at
such time and in such form and manner as the Sec-
retary may require, and shall include—
(A) demographic information about each
participant, including education level, literacy
level, and prior work experience;
basic life skills, and achieve economic security and
stability;
(2) evaluate the progress of grantees in achiev-
ing the annual performance goals referred to in sub-
section (d)(1)(H); and
(3) with respect to any year for which a grantee
submits a report under subsection (h), submit a re-
port to the President and to the Congress describing
the effects on eligible rural areas of the grants made
under this section and such other information as the
Secretary determines appropriate.
(j) REGULATIONS AND NONCOMPLIANCE.—
(1) REGULATIONS.—Within 90 days after the
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary
shall prescribe such regulations as may be necessary
to carry out this section, including procedures for
the reporting of alleged violations of this section and
remedies for such violations.
(2) NONCOMPLIANCE.—If a grantee fails to
comply with any requirement of this title, the Sec-
retary may take such actions as are necessary to ob-
tain reimbursement of any grant funds which were
misused or remain unused.
(k) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: