Accelerating Individuals into the Workforce Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4571 To provide for the conduct of demonstration projects to test the effectiveness of subsidized employment for TANF recipients. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SEPTEMBER 27, 2019 Mrs. MILLER (for herself, Mrs. WALORSKI, and Mr. ESTES) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means A BILL To provide for the conduct of demonstration projects to test the effectiveness of subsidized employment for TANF recipients. 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 ‘‘Accelerating Individ- 4 uals into the Workforce Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS TO SUPPORT SUB- 6 SIDIZED EMPLOYMENT FOR TANF RECIPI- 7 ENTS. 8 Section 403 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 9 603) is amended by adding at the end the following: 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:48 Oct 04, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4571.IH H4571 SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 4571 IH ‘‘(c) SUBSIDIZED EMPLOYMENT DEMONSTRATION 1 PROJECTS.— 2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall make 3 grants to States to conduct demonstration projects 4 designed to implement and evaluate strategies that 5 provide wage subsidies to enable low-income individ- 6 uals to enter into and retain employment. 7 ‘‘(2) APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS.—The Sec- 8 retary shall require each State that applies for a 9 grant under this subsection to do the following: 10 ‘‘(A) Describe how wage subsidies will be 11 provided (such as whether paid directly to the 12 employer or the individual), the duration of the 13 subsidies, the amount of the subsidies, the 14 structure of the subsidies, and how employers 15 will be recruited to participate in the subsidized 16 employment program. 17 ‘‘(B) Describe how the State expects those 18 participating in subsidized employment to be 19 able to retain employment after the subsidy 20 ends. 21 ‘‘(C) Describe how the State will coordi- 22 nate subsidized employment funded under this 23 subsection with other efforts to help low-income 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:35 Oct 03, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4571.IH H4571 SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 4571 IH individuals enter work as conducted by the 1 State. 2 ‘‘(3) USE OF FUNDS.— 3 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A State to which a 4 grant is made under this subsection may use 5 the grant to subsidize the wages of an eligible 6 recipient for a period not exceeding 12 months, 7 and only to the extent that the total of the 8 funds paid under this project and any other 9 Federal funds so used with respect to the re- 10 cipient does not exceed 50 percent of the 11 amount of the wages received by the recipient 12 during the period. 13 ‘‘(B) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENT.—For purposes 14 of subparagraph (A), an eligible recipient is an 15 adult recipient of assistance under the State 16 program funded under this part or any other 17 State program funded with qualified State ex- 18 penditures (as defined in section 19 409(a)(7)(B)(i)) (or a noncustodial parent of a 20 minor child who is receiving such assistance)— 21 ‘‘(i) who, at the time the subsidy be- 22 gins, is unemployed; or 23 ‘‘(ii) whose income, at that time, is 24 less than 200 percent of the poverty line 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:35 Oct 03, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4571.IH H4571 SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 4571 IH (as defined by the Office of Management 1 and Budget, and revised annually in ac- 2 cordance with section 673(2) of the Omni- 3 bus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981 (42 4 U.S.C. 9902(2))). 5 ‘‘(4) NONDISPLACEMENT.—A State to which a 6 grant is made under this subsection shall ensure 7 that no participant in a subsidized employment pro- 8 gram funded in whole or in part under this sub- 9 section is employed or assigned to a job under the 10 program when any other individual is on layoff from 11 the same or any substantially equivalent job. 12 ‘‘(5) REPORTS.—As a condition of receiving 13 funds under this subsection for a fiscal year, a State 14 shall submit to the Secretary, within 12 months 15 after the end of the fiscal year, a report that— 16 ‘‘(A) specifies, for each month of the fiscal 17 year, the number of individuals whose employ- 18 ment is subsidized with these funds; 19 ‘‘(B) describes the structure of the State 20 activities to use the funds to subsidize employ- 21 ment, including the amount and duration of the 22 subsidies provided; 23 ‘‘(C) specifies the percentage of eligible re- 24 cipients who received a subsidy who are in un- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:35 Oct 03, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4571.IH H4571 SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 4571 IH subsidized employment during the 2nd quarter 1 after the subsidy ended; 2 ‘‘(D) specifies the percentage of eligible re- 3 cipients who received a subsidy who are in un- 4 subsidized employment during the 4th quarter 5 after the subsidy ended; and 6 ‘‘(E) specifies the median earnings of eligi- 7 ble recipients who received a subsidy who are in 8 unsubsidized employment during the 2nd quar- 9 ter after the subsidy ended. 10 ‘‘(6) EVALUATION.—The Secretary, in consulta- 11 tion with each State conducting a demonstration 12 project, shall conduct a high-quality impact evalua- 13 tion to determine the effects of the demonstration 14 project, including on individual skill levels and earn- 15 ings and employment retention, and may reserve 16 funds made available under this subsection to con- 17 duct the evaluation in accordance with the following: 18 ‘‘(A) EVALUATOR QUALIFICATIONS.—The 19 Secretary may not enter into a contract with an 20 evaluator unless the evaluator has demonstrated 21 experience in conducting rigorous evaluations of 22 program effectiveness including, where available 23 and appropriate, well-implemented randomized 24 controlled trials. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:35 Oct 03, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4571.IH H4571 SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 4571 IH ‘‘(B) METHODOLOGIES TO BE USED.—The 1 evaluation of a demonstration project shall use 2 experimental designs using random assignment 3 or other reliable, evidence-based research meth- 4 odologies that allow for the strongest possible 5 causal inferences when random assignment is 6 not feasible. 7 ‘‘(C) RECOMMENDATIONS.—The evaluation 8 of a demonstration project shall include rec- 9 ommendations relating to updated goals for the 10 advancement and improvement of the program 11 and a description of specific challenges encoun- 12 tered in the program and recommended solu- 13 tions. 14 ‘‘(D) PUBLIC DISCLOSURE.—The Sec- 15 retary shall publish the results of the evaluation 16 on the website of the Department of Health and 17 Human Services in a location easily accessible 18 by the public. 19 ‘‘(7) FUNDING.—Of the amounts made avail- 20 able to carry out subsection (b) for fiscal year 2021, 21 the Secretary shall reserve $100,000,000 to carry 22 out this subsection. 23 ‘‘(8) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Funds pro- 24 vided to a State under this subsection in a fiscal 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:35 Oct 03, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4571.IH H4571 SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 4571 IH year shall be expended by the State in the fiscal year 1 or in the succeeding 2 fiscal years.’’. 2 SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE. 3 The amendment made by this Act shall take effect 4 on October 1, 2020. 5 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:35 Oct 03, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4571.IH H4571 SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS