Amendments to H.R. 7309 – Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2022
Each amendment receives up to 10 minutes of debate. Each En Bloc receives up to 20 minutes of debate
En Bloc #1: Bipartisan Amendments – VOTE REQUESTED
Bice (R-OK) – Amendment No. 1 – Expands the use of funds in three WIOA programs for public private partnerships to create job training programs for in-demand jobs
Bowman (D-NY) – Amendment No. 4 – Strengthens connectivity between K-12 education and local work workforce development boards by adding language for standing committees to support alignment, coordination, and continuity with K-12 education providers
Case (D-HI) – Amendment No. 8 – Adds a GAO report on the unique challenges unemployed and low-income Native Americans, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians face in the labor market and provides recommendations for improving their access to federal employment and training services
Gottheimer (D-NJ) – Amendment No. 12 – Ensures that veterans are eligible for career and training services
Harder (D-CA) – Amendment No. 13 – Clarifies eligibility and encourages inclusion of community-based out of school time organizations operating youth workforce readiness programs in the federal workforce development system
Kaptur (D-OH) – Amendment No. 21 – Directs the Secretary of Labor, in coordination with relevant federal agencies, to conduct a study examining auto mechanic workforce shortage issues, and how Federal agencies are adjusting training programs or providing a higher number of apprenticeships to deal with advanced modern technology in automobiles and EVs
Lee (D-CA) – Amendment No. 25 – Authorizes the Secretary of Labor and the Secretary of Education to conduct a study on the STEM workforce and STEM education
McGovern (D-MA) – Amendment No. 26 – Authorizes the Secretary of Labor to conduct a study on the integration of individuals with creative skillsets into in-demand industry sectors and occupations
Morelle (D-NY) – Amendment No. 30 – Allows workforce development funds to be used to raise awareness about the local workforce system and for the marketing of such system
Phillips (D-MN) – Amendment No. 32 – Includes information on entrepreneurship in career and training services provided by OneStop Career Centers, which provide various employment services and connects job seekers with relevant trainings and education
Scanlon (D-PA) – Amendment No. 36 – Ensures that the Department of Labor’s technical assistance supports employers, programs, and staff that mentor youth
En Bloc #2: Democratic Amendments – VOTE REQUESTED
Blunt Rochester (D-DE) – Amendment No. 2 – Provides supports to small businesses in the summer and year-round employment program for youth
Blunt Rochester (D-DE) – Amendment No. 3 – Provides grants for year-round job training and workforce programs to support opportunity youth in communities disproportionately affected by gun violence
Bowman (D-NY) – Amendment No. 5 – Ensures State Workforce Development Boards include a youth representative in its membership
Bustos (D-IL) – Amendment No. 6 – Increases funding for National Dislocated Worker Grants and ensure workers who are dislocated by automation are included in WIOA programs. Defines “automation” under WIOA
Cartwright (D-PA) – Amendment No. 7 – Adds transportation to the allowable uses of funds for YouthBuild program participants with disabilities
Cohen (D-TN) – Amendment No. 9 – Ensures that relevant subject matter experts, professionals, and community leaders may be included as members of local workforce development boards
Golden (D-ME) – Amendment No. 10 – Adds “provide access to broadband internet service, including for rural communities” to the list of programs, services, and activities that one-stop centers provide
Harder (D-CA) – Amendment No. 14 – Adds priority language to the competitive Sector Partnership grants to target areas where the local unemployment rate is higher than that national unemployment rate
Horsford (D-NV) – Amendment No. 15 – Directs States to make publicly available performance accountability indicators and performance measures for each recognized postsecondary credential that is obtained by any program participant of a core program; and instructs the Secretaries of Labor and Education to develop and disseminate an objective statistical model based on actual economic conditions in States that will be used to make adjustments in the State adjusted levels of performance
Jackson Lee (D-TX) – Amendment No. 16 – Ensures access for women and girls to STEM education (science, technology, engineering, math)
Jackson Lee (D-TX) – Amendment No. 17 – Directs the Secretary to encourage HBCUs (historically Black colleges and universities), minority-serving institutions, and Tribally Controlled colleges and institutions to apply for assistance under this Act to provide job skills training and educational services, and to prioritize applications for assistance from such entities
Jacobs (D-CA) – Amendment No. 19 – Enables up to 5 percent of local Title I Adult and Dislocated Worker funds to be used for supportive services without demonstrating that the participants could not obtain supportive services through other programs, so long as the worker is participating in a training program
Jayapal (D-WA) – Amendment No. 20 – Authorizes the Secretary of Labor to conduct a study on the development of career pathways, national training standards, apprenticeship programs, and other workforce development initiatives for domestic workers and how those programs may affect the wages of those workers
Kilmer (D-WA) – Amendment No. 22 – Directs research and best practice recommendations related to the impact of access to certain Federal programs on jobseekers’ economic self-sufficiency
Lawrence (D-MI) – Amendment No. 23 – Ensures One-Stop Centers service individuals seeking upskilling to maintain employment
Lawrence (D-MI) -Amendment No. 24 – Limits reporting requirements for the Innovative Performance Grant for Adult Education Providers to expand participation
Morelle (D-NY) – Amendment No. 29 – Requires the State to distribute funds made available for Adult Education and Family Literacy programs within 30 days after approval of the unified State plan
Newman (D-IL) – Amendment No. 31 – Strengthens financial literacy and empowerment activities for youth and adults within the workforce system by adding language to allow coordination with entities that provide financial literacy education and empowerment activities. Supports workers’ ability to understand relevant tax information and obligations and adds language for financial health factors
Porter (D-CA) – Amendment No. 33 – Adds mental health experts to the panel conducting Comprehensive Needs Assessments for Youth Workforce Investment Activities and adds mental health resources training to Youth Workforce Training Programs
Scanlon (D-PA) – Amendment No. 34 – Expands eligibility for summer and year-round employment programs for youth and revises the language to better target youth most in need of services
Scanlon (D-PA) – Amendment No. 35 – Adds language for training on how to ensure positive outcomes and service delivery specifically for young people
Schneider (D-IL) – Amendment No. 37 – Clarifies performance requirements for community colleges to qualify for the strengthening community colleges training grants program and directs the 11 Secretary of Education to provide technical assistance to institutions that do not meet adequate performance levels
Smith (D-WA) – Amendment No. 38 – Ensures that meals and other food assistance is provided to participants in youth workforce training activities, as appropriate
Torres (D-CA) – Amendment No. 39 – Provides workers information on wages, hours, safe working conditions, forming, joining, and assisting a labor organization, and other applicable terms and conditions of employment to any individual that receives training
En Bloc #3: Republican Amendments – VOTE REQUESTED
Good (R-VA) – Amendment No. 11 – Strikes language from the bill that prevents non-registered apprenticeships from receiving WIOA funding
Jacobs (R-NY) – Amendment No. 18 – Requires states to provide a timeline for awarding grants and contracts for adult basic education in the Unified State Plan and specifies grants and contacts for adult basic education must be distributed in a timely manner
Miller (R-IL) – Amendment No. 27 – Prohibits WIOA funds from being used to reimburse any health care services
Miller-Meeks (R-IA) – Amendment No. 28 – Strikes all and reauthorizes the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act for six years and includes provisions updating the workforce development system, including by adding allowable uses of funds for statewide and local workforce development activities. Makes changes to the Job Corps program and codifies the Reentry Employment Opportunities program – VOTE REQUESTED