In Attendance
Helen Thatcher, Department of Workforce Services
Garth Mangum, private author, Utah Issues Board
Lois Kelson, Community Action Services, Provo
Shauna South, State Office of Education
Jude Schmid, Salt Lake County Youth Services
Pat Nielson, SL League of Women Voters
Ali Fitzgerald, Governor's Council for People with Disabilities
Shirley Weathers, Walsh & Weathers Research and Policy Studies (WWRPS), UREAP staff
Bill Walsh, WWRPS, UREAP staff

Welcome
An early question led to a discussion about TANF participation issues. Helen Thatcher said that Karen Silver has convinced Rayleen Ireland and Olene Walker that a study should be done to evaluate the 3- and 5-year results of time limits, extensions and participation issues. It seems that an evaluation will be done in the near future, although no policy changes are being considered at this time.  Helen said that people who have had extensions usually had health or mental health issues and that in the rural areas, extensions have sometimes been given because resources like training and health services were not readily available so people had to wait. She said it takes too long to help families become eligible for Social Security programs, even when Legal Services attorneys are involved. She said that the Social Research Institute Two-Parent Study, now available on the SRI web site, showed that clients were generally in long term relationships (average 9 years) and often had work skills. One respondent in the study observed that, while she was willing to do community service in exchange for the financial assistance she and her family received, the placement should in no way be represented as "job training." Helen said that DWS expects to have to change the two-parent pay-after-performance policy to match single-parent policy in response to provisions in both the House and Senate TANF reauthorization bills prohibiting different sets of rules in programs for single- and two-parent programs.

Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Reauthorization Update
Shirley Weathers reported that a Conference Committee to reconcile differences between the House and Senate WIA reauthorization bills has still not been named. However, as directed and with input from UREAP participants, she and Bill have finalized a document conveying UREAP's preferences on various issues where the two bills differ.

Shirley said that an email from the National Rehabilitation Association received during the holiday recess had warned that the Administration was pressing hard for the House Bill, HR 1261. This same message was sent directly to UREAP by Mason Bishop of the Department of Labor a few months ago. The NRA related a specific concern in their alert about the House Bill's  downgrading of the Rehabilitation Service Administration (RSA) Commissioner from a Presidential appointment to a Cabinet appointment. The Senate Bill leaves this issue as it is in current law. UREAP's document includes comment on the RSA issue (preference for S. 1627), along with ten other UREAP positions. Bill Walsh distributed a summary of UREAP positions and said the full document, including rationale for each position, will be posted at the website as it is sent to Utah's Congressional Delegation and conferees.

Garth Mangum asked what is known about the President's priorities from his State of the Union Speech. Helen said the emphasis was on trade-related layoffs, but there are few specifics as yet. Shirley agreed, and said that the White House press release reveals a thrust on people with a work history and less on people without, along the same lines as the Administration's WIA reauthorization proposal and the House Bill. She said the President is proposing more funding for community colleges, but the intent is to provide additional training to current workers to enhance their earning power. While this is positive, the trend to focus adequate attention on the unemployed, especially the lower tier of unemployed people, promises to leave them further behind than they already are.

Shirley also reported on DOL funding in the final 2004 Omnibus Appropriations Act. While UREAP has been concerned that block granting of Adult, Dislocated Worker and Wagner-Peyser funding in the House WIA Reauthorization bill could result in reduced funding for Adult WIA programs, she pointed out that the Appropriations Act did just that even though the separate funding streams were left intact. $4.1 million was taken from Adult WIA programs and given to Dislocated Worker, with a tiny increase going to Youth programs. The lesson seems to be that money will be adjusted to Administration and congressional priorities even if the mechanisms remain unchanged.

Shauna South asked why the Adult Education Core Indicators issue was left out of the "Conference" document. Shirley said that at this point in the process, lost battles such as Core Indicators and the CBOs seat on State Workforce Boards--areas that have been addressed in all previous UREAP communications--cannot be fought at this point when neither the House nor Senate Bill provides for them. To be considered by Conferees, a communication of this type needs to focus on issues areas of difference between the two bills.

The One-Stop Infrastructure Funding issue will be decided either as in the House version or the Senate version. The House Bill  provides that the Governor will take federal administrative dollars from "partner" programs to fund infrastructure costs. The Senate version allows a first step where local areas can come to agreement about how to fund One-Stop operations. If negotiation does not yield agreement by a set deadline, the Governor will step in. The Senate Bill also includes caps on the amount of money can be taken from the various partners.

Shirley observed that UREAP has found the Senate language more compatible with its Principles in almost all cases.

TANF/Welfare Reform Reauthorization Update
Bill noted that the House passed HR 4 and the Senate Finance Committee passed the PRIDE Act, but the latter bill has not yet reached the Senate Floor. Shirley reported on a phone conversation with Jace Johnson, Senator Hatch's aide. Jace said he thought TANF could come up in February, since leadership is talking about it and the budget has passed. If the PRIDE Act passes, the dramatic differences between it and HR 4 are causing predictions from many quarters that there may not be a Conference Committee before the November 2004 elections. There are many variables in this situation.

UREAP's top priorities at this juncture are child care funding and increasing months of education and training that count towards state participation rates from the current law's 12 to 24. Senator Hatch is indeed working on both of these issues. It is well known that Senator Snowe has been joined by Senators Hatch, Dodd, and Alexander in sponsoring a child care amendment that would increase new funding from $1 billion (in both the House and Senate Finance Committee Bills) to $5-$6 billion over five years, without requiring a state match. Senator Snowe has been promised by Senate leadership that she will be allowed to bring this amendment when the Bill reaches the Floor. However, an offset by existing funds is needed and it has not yet been identified. Recently, Robin Arnold-Williams has made it known that there is discussion of restricting eligibility for any new funds from the amendment to states that have drawn down already existing federal child care dollars. This would create a serious problem for Utah. Helen revealed that Utah annually leaves around $12 million federal dollars on the table for want of a state match. Robin is working with Jace in an attempt to solve this critical matter. These negotiations are bound to be fluid and Shirley and Bill promised to pass on new information as it becomes known.

As for months of education and training, the House Bill reduces the 12 months in current law to three and the Senate Finance Bill leaves it at 12 months. UREAP has asked Senator Hatch to sponsor and/or support a Floor amendment to increase it to 24 months to enable Utah to continue with its current practice and to help TANF parents receive training for existing jobs in demand, especially in the medical field. Utah statue currently allows 24 months. Jace Johnson requested language from UREAP and advocates for the potential amendment. Shirley called Mark Greenberg from CLASP who will work with Jace on that. Pat Nielson suggested that messages in support of child care funding and education and training should be sent to Senator Hatch from as many groups as possible.

UREAP Future Activities
Bill said that the UREAP contract and funding, already extended two times, ends on March 31, 2004. More than a few sources are predicting that, if action has not been taken by Congress by that time, it is doubtful that there will be apetite to move forward before the November election. Therefore, Bill and Shirley suggested meeting on February 24 and March 23, but not scheduling other meetings beyond that. They said they will continue to provide updates via email as needed, but otherwise UREAP will go into a reactive, waiting mode. Future activities will be considered and determined at a later time, depending on the elections and other matters.

Next UREAP Meeting: February 24, 2004, 2:30-4:30 p.m. at Horizonte