This week, the House Committee on Education and Workforce held a hearing to reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (PL 105-220). The bill, HR 4297 Workforce Investment Improvement Act of 2012, was introduced and co-sponsored by Representatives Virginia Foxx (R-NC), Joe Heck (R-NV) and Howard "Buck" McKeon (R-CA). There are numerous changes the bill proposes to make to existing law.

H.R. 4297 would consolidate 27 existing federal workforce programs into a single "Workforce Investment Fund."  Changes include:

• For FY 2013, approximately $6.08 billion is authorized to be appropriated under H.R. 4297, with funding allocated among states based on the following: 25 percent based on the relative number of unemployed individuals in each state to the total unemployed in all states; 25 percent based on the relative number of individuals in the civilian labor force in each state compared to the number in all states; 25 percent based on the relative number of individuals in each state who have been unemployed for 15 weeks or more, compared to the number in all states; and 25 percent based on the relative number of disadvantaged youth in each state compared to the number in all states.
• H.R. 4297 adds new requirements for the way states establish, monitor, and report on performance measures. The State performance measures would consist of a set of core indicators of performance, any additional indicators identified by the State, and a state adjusted level of performance for each of the core indicators. The current customer satisfaction indicator has been removed.
• H.R. 4297 eliminates most of the employment services authorized under the Wagner-Peyser Act. The only provision that remains pertains to Section 15 regarding labor market Information.

Virtual Career Network

The U.S. Department of Labor announced a new online tool that will allow current and prospective health care workers to explore more than 80 different occupations, identify local education and training programs, and tap into current job listings. Through the Virtual Career Network, users also can learn how previous experience such as military or on-the-job training can be applied toward a health care career, take free online courses and find sources of financial aid.

The Virtual Career Network is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration under the leadership of the American Association of Community Colleges, and is funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. To build the Virtual Career Network and provide initial content, the AACC collaborated with the National Association of Workforce Boards, the American Council on Education, the National Association of State Workforce Agencies, the DirectEmployers Association, the U.S. Department of Defense, Jobs for the Future, the American Dental Education Association's Explore Health Careers, XPAND, Education 2 Go and iSeek Solutions.

Goodwill Industries International, the International Association of Jewish Vocational Services and SER-Jobs for Progress National have received additional grant funds to ensure that local training centers in nearly 100 sites across the U.S. have the appropriate number of computers, sufficient Internet connections and trained career coaches to make use of the Virtual Career Network and provide in-person support for job seekers.

House Passes FY 2013 Budget Rolution

On March 29, the House narrowly adopted a fiscal 2013 budget blueprint put forward by the House Majority (H. Con. Res. 112).  With the Senate not expected to take up a budget resolution, lawmakers will have to find a way to eventually bridge the gap between the House budget's discretionary spending cap of $1.028 trillion for FY 2013 and the Senate's top line limit of $1.047 trillion approved last year. Failure to do so by the Oct. 1 start of the new fiscal year could lead to a temporary stopgap spending bill to keep the government operating through the Nov. 6 general election.

The resolution, written by Paul Ryan (R-WI), Chairman of the House Budget Committee, calls for $3.5 trillion in outlays in FY 2013, while also assuming revenue of $2.9 trillion — for a net deficit of $797 billion, or 5% of gross domestic product (GDP). It caps non-defense discretionary spending for FY 2013 at $1.028 trillion, $19 billion below the level set by the Budget Control Act, and provides for the cancellation of the automatic spending cuts of defense discretionary spending currently scheduled to occur in January 2013 — thereby preventing the cuts to defense spending.

Instead, it assumes $554 billion would be provided for defense budget — $8 billion more than the cap for defense set by the budget law and $63 billion more than defense would receive if the scheduled automatic defense cuts or "sequestration" were to occur. Non-defense programs, which include domestic appropriations as well as international affairs funding, would essentially be capped at $474 billion — $27 billion below the level set by the budget law and $16 billion more than the programs would receive if the sequestration were to occur.

To replace the savings lost from the cancelled sequestration, the budget includes reconciliation instructions directing six House committees to report legislation that would modify mandatory programs to produce total savings of $18 billion for FY 2013 and $261 billion over 10 years. Those savings would be in addition to the $19 billion in savings in 2013 from the lower discretionary cap. The six committees would be required to approve their reconciliation recommendations by April 27.

Impact on Workforce Programs:

The resolution would consolidate a number of workforce and job-training programs. While the report does not provide specifics on these programs, it cites the House Committee on Education and the Workforce’s proposed Workforce Investment Act (WIA) reauthorization legislation (H.R. 3610) as an example for this reform. H.R. 3610 would consolidate several federal job-training programs into four larger funding streams. These four funding streams—the Workforce Investment Fund, the State Youth Workforce Investment Fund, the Veterans Workforce Investment Fund, and the Targeted Populations Workforce Investment Fund—would operate as block grants to states for various workforce and job training activities. This legislation would also repeal the Wagner-Peyser Act.

Similar to last year, the FY 2013 resolution also proposes tracking the type of training provided, the cost per student, employment after training, and whether or not trainees are working in the field for which they were trained. In addition, the resolution notes these programs should also track beneficiaries’ participation levels in other federal support programs (e.g., SNAP) before and after training to determine if the training led to self-sufficiency.

Representatives John Tierney (D-MA), Ruben Hinojosa (D-TX) and George Miller (D-CA) introduced legislation to reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act (WIA). The legislation, the Workforce Investment Act of 2012 seeks to streamline and improve workforce programs, strengthen workforce investment system accountability and promote innovation and best practices within the workforce investment system. The bill would take the following actions:

• Streamline and improve workforce services by streamlining and coordinating the operation of vocational and job training programs with educational programs.
• Improve accountability and transparency through performance measures and reporting across programs by using uniformed performance measures across various programs to inform employers and workers.
• Promote innovation and promising practices to spur innovation and new strategies in the workforce system.
• Expand the role of community colleges in job training through the Administration’s Community College to Career Fund, an initiative to expand the ability of community colleges to train workers in high-growth industries.
• Develop a 21st century delivery system for adult education literacy and workplace skills services through greater access to adult education, literacy services and workplace skills.
• Engage youth through multiple pathways to success for youth to participate in summer jobs and pre-apprenticeship programs and on-the-job training.
• Create competitive employment services and opportunities for individuals with a disability to receive training and support services needed for employment.