Long-Term Unemployment Elimination Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1920 To establish jobs programs for long-term unemployed workers, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 20, 2019 Mr. VAN HOLLEN (for himself and Mr. WYDEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Edu- cation, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To establish jobs programs for long-term unemployed workers, 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 ‘‘Long-Term Unemploy- 4 ment Elimination Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 6 The purpose of this Act is to provide job opportuni- 7 ties for every long-term unemployed worker in the United 8 States. 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:26 Jun 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1920.IS S1920 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1920 IS SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 1 In this Act: 2 (1) COVERED AREA.—The term ‘‘covered area’’ 3 means the local area in which a local board is car- 4 rying out a jobs program, or (in the circumstances 5 described in section 4(d)) the local area in which a 6 community-based organization is carrying out a jobs 7 program, under this Act. 8 (2) ELIGIBLE WORKER.—The term ‘‘eligible 9 worker’’ means an individual who— 10 (A) is not less than 18 years old; 11 (B) is authorized to be employed in the 12 United States for purposes of section 274A of 13 the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 14 1324a); 15 (C) has not been employed or a full-time 16 student for a period of not less than 27 weeks 17 (except as modified under section 5(e)); and 18 (D) is currently seeking employment and 19 has been seeking employment for a period of 20 not less than 4 weeks (except as modified under 21 section 5(e)). 22 (3) INDIVIDUAL WITH A BARRIER TO EMPLOY- 23 MENT.—The term ‘‘individual with a barrier to em- 24 ployment’’ has the meaning given in section 3(24) of 25 the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:26 Jun 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1920.IS S1920 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1920 IS U.S.C. 3102(24)), except that such term shall not 1 include individuals who meet the terms of the defini- 2 tion in that section solely on the basis of their status 3 as long-term unemployed individuals. 4 (4) ON-THE-JOB TRAINING.—The term ‘‘on-the- 5 job training’’ has the meaning given the term in sec- 6 tion 3(44) of the Workforce Innovation and Oppor- 7 tunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3102(44)), except that sub- 8 paragraph (B) of that section shall not apply. 9 (5) PARTICIPATING EMPLOYER.—The term 10 ‘‘participating employer’’ means an employer— 11 (A) that is— 12 (i) a government agency; 13 (ii) a nonprofit organization; or 14 (iii) a business; and 15 (B) includes— 16 (i) an employer at the site of employ- 17 ment for an eligible worker in a program 18 position; or 19 (ii) a community-based organization 20 that acts as an employer of record by— 21 (I) assuming the roles and re- 22 sponsibilities assigned to employers 23 described in clause (i) under this Act; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:26 Jun 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1920.IS S1920 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1920 IS (II) entering into an agreement 1 with an employer described in clause 2 (i) to set forth the terms and condi- 3 tions for employment of an eligible 4 worker in a program position in a jobs 5 program in accordance with the provi- 6 sions of this Act; and 7 (III) acting as an intermediary 8 between eligible workers and employ- 9 ers described in clause (i) to facilitate 10 participation in the jobs program in- 11 volved. 12 (6) PAYROLL TAXES.—The term ‘‘payroll 13 taxes’’ means taxes under section 3111, 3221, 3301, 14 or 3321 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, and 15 any similar State or local tax imposed on employers. 16 (7) PRE-APPRENTICESHIP.—The term ‘‘pre-ap- 17 prenticeship’’, used with respect to a program, 18 means a program that is designed to prepare indi- 19 viduals to enter and succeed in a registered appren- 20 ticeship program and is carried out by an entity that 21 has a documented partnership with at least one 22 sponsor of a registered apprenticeship program. 23 (8) PROGRAM POSITION.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:26 Jun 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1920.IS S1920 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1920 IS (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘program po- 1 sition’’, used with respect to a jobs program— 2 (i) means a position— 3 (I) in a temporary job that is de- 4 signed to lead to long-term employ- 5 ment; and 6 (II) that is provided along with, 7 as necessary, supportive services and 8 training services to enable an indi- 9 vidual to succeed in the job and ob- 10 tain and retain long-term employ- 11 ment; and 12 (ii) includes— 13 (I) a position in a transitional 14 job; 15 (II) a position in a registered ap- 16 prenticeship program; and 17 (III) an approved national service 18 position made available under section 19 129 of the National and Community 20 Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 21 12581), including a position spon- 22 sored under subsection (i) of that sec- 23 tion, subject to subparagraph (B). 24 (B) RULE.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:26 Jun 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1920.IS S1920 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1920 IS (i) EMPLOYERS WITH CERTAIN PRO- 1 GRAM POSITIONS.—A participating em- 2 ployer for an eligible worker (or an em- 3 ployer at the site of employment for an eli- 4 gible worker) in a program position de- 5 scribed in subparagraph (A)(ii)(III) shall 6 be considered to be a service sponsor, as 7 defined in section 101 of the National and 8 Community Service Act of 1990 (42 9 U.S.C. 12511). 10 (ii) ELIGIBLE WORKERS IN CERTAIN 11 PROGRAM POSITIONS.—In parity with sec- 12 tion 101(30) of the National and Commu- 13 nity Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 14 12511(30)), an eligible worker in such a 15 program position shall not be considered to 16 be an employee of the participating em- 17 ployer (or of an employer at the site of em- 18 ployment for the eligible worker). 19 (9) RECOGNIZED POSTSECONDARY CREDEN- 20 TIAL.—The term ‘‘recognized postsecondary creden- 21 tial’’ means such a credential as defined in section 22 3 of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act 23 (29 U.S.C. 3102), if the provider of the program 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:26 Jun 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1920.IS S1920 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1920 IS leading to the credential is identified under section 1 122(h) of such Act (29 U.S.C. 3152(h)). 2 (10) REGISTERED APPRENTICESHIP PRO- 3 GRAM.—The term ‘‘registered apprenticeship pro- 4 gram’’ means a program registered under the Act of 5 August 16, 1937 (commonly known as the ‘‘National 6 Apprenticeship Act’’; 50 Stat. 664, chapter 663; 29 7 U.S.C. 50 et seq.). 8 (11) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 9 means the Secretary of Labor. 10 (12) TRANSITIONAL JOB.—The term ‘‘transi- 11 tional job’’ means a job described in section 12 134(d)(5) of the Workforce Innovation and Oppor- 13 tunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3174(d)(5)), without regard 14 to the limitation described in that section on funding 15 for such jobs. 16 (13) WIOA TERMS.—The terms ‘‘adult edu- 17 cation and literacy activities’’, ‘‘career pathway’’, 18 ‘‘community-based organization’’, ‘‘customized train- 19 ing’’, ‘‘industry or sector partnership’’, ‘‘in-demand 20 industry sector or occupation’’, ‘‘integrated edu- 21 cation and training’’, ‘‘local area’’, ‘‘local board’’, 22 ‘‘one-stop operator’’, ‘‘poverty line’’, ‘‘State area’’, 23 ‘‘State board’’, ‘‘supportive services’’, and ‘‘training 24 services’’ have the meanings given the terms in sec- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:26 Jun 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1920.IS S1920 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1920 IS tion 3 of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity 1 Act (29 U.S.C. 3102). 2 (14) WORKER-OWNED ENTERPRISE.— 3 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘worker- 4 owned enterprise’’ means— 5 (i) an eligible worker-owned coopera- 6 tive, as defined in section 1042(c)(2) of the 7 Internal Revenue Code of 1986; or 8 (ii) an enterprise for which the major- 9 ity of the voting stock is owned by workers 10 employed by such enterprise. 11 (B) VOTING STOCK.—For purposes of sub- 12 paragraph (A)(ii), the share of the voting stock 13 owned by workers shall include stock held by an 14 employee stock ownership plan, as defined in 15 section 4975(e)(7) of such Code. 16 SEC. 4. JOBS PROGRAMS FOR LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYED 17 WORKERS. 18 (a) IN GENERAL.— 19 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall es- 20 tablish and administer a jobs initiative for eligible 21 workers, consisting of jobs programs carried out 22 through local boards. 23 (2) PARTNERSHIPS.—A local board may enter 24 into a partnership with one or more community- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:26 Jun 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1920.IS S1920 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1920 IS based organizations to submit an application and 1 carry out a jobs program. 2 (3) AGREEMENTS.—In administering the initia- 3 tive, the Secretary shall enter into 4-year agree- 4 ments with local boards, under which the Secretary 5 shall provide payments to local boards. Such an 6 agreement shall specify which functions described in 7 this Act will be carried out by the local board, by the 8 community-based organization, and by the partner- 9 ship. 10 (4) PAYMENTS.—The Secretary shall make 11 such a payment in an amount that equals the eligi- 12 ble costs incurred by the local board— 13 (A) to provide wages and compensation for 14 program positions for eligible workers under 15 this section, minus any employer share of the 16 eligible costs of providing the wages and com- 17 pensation; 18 (B) to provide supportive services and 19 training services to eligible workers under this 20 section; and 21 (C) to administer the jobs program under 22 this section. 23 (b) LOCAL BOARD APPLICATION.—To be eligible to 24 enter into an agreement under subsection (a), a local 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:26 Jun 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1920.IS S1920 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 1920 IS board shall submit an application to the Secretary at such 1 time, in such manner, and containing a 4-year plan that 2 includes such information as the Secretary may require, 3 including— 4 (1) the number of eligible workers that the local 5 board proposes to serve under the jobs program in- 6 volved and the estimated cost of serving that number 7 of workers; 8 (2) a plan for one-stop operators to identify the 9 issues preventing each eligible worker served by the 10 jobs program from securing employment, and to re- 11 duce the impact of those issues with supportive serv- 12 ices and training services; 13 (3) a description of how the local board will en- 14 gage labor organizations, community-based organiza- 15 tions, community colleges, economic development 16 agencies, and area career and technical education 17 schools as partners to provide training services to el- 18 igible workers, including any— 19 (A) adult education and literacy activities, 20 including activities of English language acquisi- 21 tion, and integrated education and training pro- 22 grams; 23 (B) pre-apprenticeship programs; and 24 (C) career pathways; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:26 Jun 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1920.IS S1920 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 1920 IS (4) a description of how the local board will 1 support the creation and expansion of industry or 2 sector partnerships and alignment of the jobs pro- 3 gram with career pathways to improve outcomes for 4 eligible workers in program positions; 5 (5) proposed levels for the performance ac- 6 countability measures described in subsection (c); 7 (6) a description of the controls established by 8 the local board to assure that the local board— 9 (A) disburses funding to each participating 10 employer for all eligible costs described in sub- 11 section (h) incurred under the jobs program, 12 minus the employer share described in sub- 13 section (i); 14 (B) oversees participating employers to en- 15 sure compliance with program rules and collec- 16 tion of accurate data for performance account- 17 ability measures described in subsection (c); 18 and 19 (C) requests accurate advance payment or 20 reimbursement for the eligible costs described 21 in subsection (h), minus any employer share de- 22 scribed in subsection (i) of the eligible costs; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:26 Jun 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1920.IS S1920 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •S 1920 IS (7) a description of how the local board will 1 align the activities carried out under the grant with 2 the activities carried out under— 3 (A) the plans submitted by the cor- 4 responding State board and local board under 5 subtitle A of title I of the Workforce Innovation 6 and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3111 et seq.); 7 (B) the employment and training program 8 established by the corresponding State under 9 the supplemental nutrition assistance program 10 established under the Food and Nutrition Act 11 of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.); 12 (C) the corresponding State program for 13 temporary assistance for needy families estab- 14 lished under part A of title IV of the Social Se- 15 curity Act (42 U.S.C. 601 et seq.); 16 (D) the national service plan submitted by 17 the corresponding State Commission on Na- 18 tional and Community Service under section 19 178 of the National and Community Service 20 Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12638); 21 (E) programs established under the Second 22 Chance Act of 2007 (34 U.S.C. 60501 et seq.); 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:26 Jun 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1920.IS S1920 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 13 •S 1920 IS (F) employment and community develop- 1 ment programs carried out by the Secretary of 2 Housing and Urban Development; 3 (G) career and technical education pro- 4 grams authorized by the Carl D. Perkins Ca- 5 reer and Technical Education Act of 2006 (20 6 U.S.C. 2301 et seq.); 7 (H) the continuum of care projects (relat- 8 ing to ending homelessness) carried out under 9 applications submitted, by communities serving 10 an area that is substantially similar to the cov- 11 ered area, under s [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]