WORK Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1413 To amend part A of title IV of the Social Security Act, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 27, 2019 Mr. WENSTRUP (for himself, Mrs. WALORSKI, Mr. FERGUSON, and Mr. SMITH of Nebraska) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Education and Labor, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall with- in the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend part A of title IV of the Social Security Act, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Workforce Opportunity 4 Realignment Kickstart Act’’ or the ‘‘WORK Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:33 Mar 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1413.IH H1413 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1413 IH SEC. 2. PROMOTING ACCOUNTABILITY BY MEASURING 1 WORK OUTCOMES. 2 Section 407(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 3 607(a)) is amended to read as follows: 4 ‘‘(a) PERFORMANCE ACCOUNTABILITY AND WORK 5 OUTCOMES.— 6 ‘‘(1) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this subsection 7 is to provide for the establishment of performance 8 accountability measures to assess the effectiveness of 9 States in increasing employment, retention, and ad- 10 vancement among families receiving assistance under 11 the State program funded under this part. 12 ‘‘(2) IN GENERAL.—A State to which a grant 13 is made under section 403 for a fiscal year shall 14 achieve the requisite level of performance on an indi- 15 cator described in paragraph (3)(B) of this sub- 16 section for the fiscal year. 17 ‘‘(3) MEASURING STATE PERFORMANCE.— 18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Each State, in con- 19 sultation with the Secretary, shall collect and 20 submit to the Secretary the information nec- 21 essary to measure the level of performance of 22 the State for each indicator described in sub- 23 paragraph (B), for fiscal year 2021 and each 24 fiscal year thereafter, and the Secretary shall 25 use the information collected for fiscal year 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:33 Mar 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1413.IH H1413 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1413 IH 2021 to establish the baseline level of perform- 1 ance for each State for each such indicator. 2 ‘‘(B) INDICATORS OF PERFORMANCE.— 3 The indicators described in this subparagraph, 4 for a fiscal year, are the following: 5 ‘‘(i) The percentage of individuals who 6 were work-eligible individuals as of the 7 time of exit from the program, who are in 8 unsubsidized employment during the 2nd 9 quarter after the exit. 10 ‘‘(ii) The percentage of individuals 11 who were work-eligible individuals who 12 were in unsubsidized employment in the 13 2nd quarter after the exit, who are also in 14 unsubsidized employment during the 4th 15 quarter after the exit. 16 ‘‘(iii) The median earnings of individ- 17 uals who were work-eligible individuals as 18 of the time of exit from the program, who 19 are in unsubsidized employment during the 20 2nd quarter after the exit. 21 ‘‘(iv) The percentage of individuals 22 who have not attained 24 years of age, are 23 attending high school or enrolled in an 24 equivalency program, and are work-eligible 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:33 Mar 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1413.IH H1413 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1413 IH individuals or were work-eligible individ- 1 uals as of the time of exit from the pro- 2 gram, who obtain a high school degree or 3 its recognized equivalent while receiving as- 4 sistance under the State program funded 5 under this part or within 1 year after the 6 exit. 7 ‘‘(C) LEVELS OF PERFORMANCE.— 8 ‘‘(i) AGREEMENT ON REQUISITE PER- 9 FORMANCE LEVEL FOR EACH INDI- 10 CATOR.— 11 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—For each 12 State submitting a State plan pursu- 13 ant to section 402(a), the Secretary 14 and the State shall negotiate the req- 15 uisite level of performance for the 16 State with respect to each indicator 17 described in subparagraph (B), for 18 each of fiscal years 2021 through 19 2024, and in the case of each of fiscal 20 years 2022 through 2024, shall do so 21 before the beginning of the respective 22 fiscal year. 23 ‘‘(II) REQUIREMENTS IN ESTAB- 24 LISHING PERFORMANCE LEVELS.—In 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:33 Mar 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1413.IH H1413 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1413 IH establishing the requisite levels of per- 1 formance, the State and the Secretary 2 shall— 3 ‘‘(aa) take into account how 4 the levels involved compare with 5 the levels established for other 6 States; and 7 ‘‘(bb) ensure the levels in- 8 volved are adjusted, using the ob- 9 jective statistical model referred 10 to in clause (iii), based on— 11 ‘‘(AA) the differences 12 among States in economic 13 conditions, including dif- 14 ferences in unemployment 15 rates or employment losses 16 or gains in particular indus- 17 tries; and 18 ‘‘(BB) the characteris- 19 tics of participants on entry 20 into the program, including 21 indicators of prior work his- 22 tory, lack of educational or 23 occupational skills attain- 24 ment, or other factors that 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:33 Mar 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1413.IH H1413 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1413 IH may affect employment and 1 earnings; and 2 ‘‘(CC) take into account 3 the extent to which the lev- 4 els involved promote contin- 5 uous improvement in per- 6 formance by each State. 7 ‘‘(ii) REVISIONS BASED ON ECONOMIC 8 CONDITIONS AND INDIVIDUALS RECEIVING 9 ASSISTANCE DURING THE FISCAL YEAR.— 10 The Secretary shall, in accordance with the 11 objective statistical model referred to in 12 clause (iii), revise the requisite levels of 13 performance for a State and a fiscal year 14 to reflect the economic conditions and 15 characteristics of the relevant individuals 16 in the State during the fiscal year. 17 ‘‘(iii) STATISTICAL ADJUSTMENT 18 MODEL.—The Secretary shall use an objec- 19 tive statistical model to make adjustments 20 to the requisite levels of performance for 21 the economic conditions and characteristics 22 of the relevant individuals, and shall con- 23 sult with the Secretary of Labor to develop 24 a model that is the same as or similar to 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:33 Mar 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1413.IH H1413 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 1413 IH the model described in section 1 116(b)(3)(A)(viii) of the Workforce Inno- 2 vation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3 3141(b)(3)(A)(viii)). 4 ‘‘(iv) DEFINITION OF EXIT.—In this 5 subsection, the term ‘exit’ means, with re- 6 spect to a State program funded under 7 this part, ceases to a receive a benefit 8 under the program. 9 ‘‘(D) STATE OPTION TO ESTABLISH COM- 10 MON EXIT MEASURES.—Notwithstanding sub- 11 paragraph (C)(iv) of this paragraph, a State 12 that has not provided the notification under 13 section 121(b)(1)(C)(ii) of the Workforce Inno- 14 vation and Opportunity Act to exclude the State 15 program funded under this part as a mandatory 16 one-stop partner may adopt an alternative defi- 17 nition of ‘exit’ for the purpose of creating com- 18 mon exit measures to improve alignment with 19 workforce programs operated under title I of 20 such Act. 21 ‘‘(E) REGULATIONS.—In order to ensure 22 nationwide comparability of data, the Secretary, 23 after consultation the Secretary of Labor and 24 with States, shall issue regulations governing 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:33 Mar 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1413.IH H1413 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 1413 IH the establishment of the performance account- 1 ability system under this subsection and a tem- 2 plate for performance reports to be used by all 3 States consistent with subsection (b).’’. 4 SEC. 3. EXPANSION OF AUTHORITY TO TRANSFER FUNDS 5 TO OTHER PROGRAMS. 6 Section 404(d) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 7 604(d)) is amended— 8 (1) in paragraph (1)— 9 (A) by striking ‘‘30’’ and inserting ‘‘50’’; 10 and 11 (B) by adding at the end the following: 12 ‘‘(C) Title I of the Workforce Innovation 13 and Opportunity Act.’’; 14 (2) in paragraph (3), by adding at the end the 15 following: 16 ‘‘(C) FUNDS TRANSFERRED TO THE 17 WIOA.—In the case of funds transferred under 18 paragraph (1)(C) of this subsection— 19 ‘‘(i) all of the funds will be used to 20 support families eligible for assistance 21 under the State program funded under this 22 part; and 23 ‘‘(ii) not more than 15 percent of the 24 funds will be reserved for statewide work- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:33 Mar 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1413.IH H1413 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 1413 IH force investment activities referred to in 1 section 128(a)(1) of the Workforce Innova- 2 tion and Opportunity Act.’’; and 3 (3) by adding at the end the following: 4 ‘‘(4) EXCLUSION OF STATES EXCLUDING THE 5 STATE JOBS PROGRAM AS A MANDATORY ONE-STOP 6 PARTNER UNDER THE WIOA.—The authority pro- 7 vided by this subsection may not be exercised by a 8 State that has provided the notification referred to 9 in section 407(a)(3)(D).’’. 10 SEC. 4. MODIFICATIONS TO STATE PLANS. 11 Section 402 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 12 602) is amended— 13 (1) in subsection (a)(1)(A), by adding at the 14 end the following: 15 ‘‘(ix) Describe coordination with other 16 programs, including whether the State in- 17 tends to exercise authority provided by sec- 18 tion 404(d) of this Act to transfer any 19 funds paid to the State under this part, 20 provide assurance that, in the case of a 21 transfer to carry out a program under title 22 I of the Workforce Innovation and Oppor- 23 tunity Act, the State will comply with sec- 24 tion 404(d)(3)(C) of this Act and coordi- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:33 Mar 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1413.IH H1413 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 1413 IH nate with the one-stop delivery system 1 under the Workforce Innovation and Op- 2 portunity Act, and describe how the State 3 will coordinate with the programs involved 4 to provide services to families receiving as- 5 sistance under the program referred to in 6 clause (i) of this subparagraph.’’; and 7 (2) by adding at the end the following: 8 ‘‘(d) 2-YEAR PLAN.—A plan submitted pursuant to 9 this section shall be designed to be implemented during 10 a 2-year period. 11 ‘‘(e) COMBINED PLAN ALLOWED.—A State may sub- 12 mit to the Secretary and the Secretary of Labor a com- 13 bined State plan that meets the requirements of sub- 14 sections (a) and (d) and that is for programs and activities 15 under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.’’. 16 SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE. 17 The amendments made by this Act shall take effect 18 on October 1, 2019. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:33 Mar 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1413.IH H1413 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS