Hurricane Katrina Employment and Training Assistance Act

Bill: 109-s-1718
Sponsor: Sen. Enzi, Michael B. [R-WY]
Introduced: 2005-09-19 in the Senate
Policy area: Labor and Employment
Subjects: Alabama
Disaster relief
Dislocated workers
Displaced persons
Economics and Public Finance
Emergency Management
Emergency housing
Employment agencies
Floods
Government Operations and Politics
Government paperwork
Grants-in-aid
Housing and Community Development
Hurricane aftermath legislation
Hurricanes
Job hunting
Louisiana
Mississippi
Public service employment
Temporary employment
Unemployment insurance
Water Resources Development

Summary:
action_date: 2005-09-19
text: 
Hurricane Katrina Employment and Training Assistance Act - Allows national emergency grant funds to states under the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) for addressing the effects of Hurricane Katrina (HK) to be used to provide disaster relief employment on projects that provide assistance in areas outside of the HK-disaster area.

Allows such funds to be used to provide disaster relief employment and other WIA assistance, or temporary general public sector employment, to HK-affected individuals, including those who have relocated from states in the disaster area, who were unemployed at the time of the disaster, or who are without employment history, in addition those who meet WIA eligibility requirements. 

Limits such general public sector employment to not more than six months in addition to such disaster relief employment. Authorizes the Secretary of Labor, however, to extend the duration of employment under this Act and WIA for up to an additional six months due to extraordinary circumstances. 

Directs the Secretary, in awarding WIA national emergency grants for disaster relief employment, to give priority: (1) first, to states with major disaster areas; and (2) second, to the remaining states that have been most heavily impacted by the demand for services by HK-affected workers.

Prohibits an entity that is providing such disaster relief employment from denying such employment because of an HK-affected worker's inability, due to HK's effects, to provide documentation of eligibility.

Allows any state, with the Secretary's approval, to use available WIA national emergency grant funds to assist HK-affected workers, including those who have relocated from states in the HK-disaster area.

Authorizes the Secretary to award a WIA national emergency grant for employment and training assistance (ETA) for dislocated workers to an eligible entity to provide ETA to HK-affected workers, including workers who have relocated from HK-disaster areas.

(Sec. 3) Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) states operating one-stop centers should make them available for use in HK-affected areas and areas where large numbers of HK's victims have been relocated; and (2) one-stop operators should increase access for HK-affected individuals, including through expanded operational hours and on-site services for those in temporary housing locations.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2005-09-20
text: Read the second time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 215.
action_date: 2005-09-19
text: Introduced in the Senate. Read the first time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under Read the First Time.
action_date: 2005-09-19
text: Introduced in Senate