Key Provisions in the Substitute to HR 27, "Job Training
Improvement Act"
passed by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce during mark-up,
2/17/05
The substitute bill offered by Subcommittee Chairman McKeon, made several
changes to the underlying bill, including:
- Authorizing $211 million for the WIA pilot and demonstration
authority (of which $125 million could be used for the President’s community-based
job training grants) and also authorizes the Labor Secretary to use up to
$125 million more from WIA national reserved funds to fund the community-based
job training grants. During the FY 2005 appropriations process, the
President’s community college proposal was funded in a similar fashion;
- Clarifies that community colleges are the only training providers eligible
to participate in the Community-Based Job Training grants;
- Authorizes the Labor Secretary, through pilot and demonstration authority
and funding, to fund projects carried out by states and local areas to assist
adults and out of school youth in starting a small business;
- Allows the Labor Secretary to provide technical assistance to states
that have failed to meet their state-developed performance indicators;
- Allows Governors to consider whether training providers allow participants
to attain a certification, credential, or mastery as they develop their criteria
for determining eligible providers of training;
- Allows state library systems to participate as optional partners in
the one-stop delivery system;
- Authorizes the American Indian Consortium to receive funds under the
Client Assistance Program to provide protection and advocacy services to
Native Americans, consistent with the Assistive Technology Act enacted last
year;
- Allows programs under the Protection and Advocacy for Individual Rights
program to retain program income generated by the system for up to one additional
year after it was generated;
- Requires the State VR agency to coordinate with the lead agencies established
under the Assistive Technology Act of 1998, as amended, to ensure that individuals
with disabilities receive access to assistive technology devices and services;
- Allows State VR agencies to spend funds to support activities authorized
under the Assistive Technology Act of 1998, as amended, to ensure that individuals
with disabilities receive access to assistive technology devices and services;
and
- Makes other technical and conforming changes.
Provided by the Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation
(CSAVR), 2/17/05