Employer-Directed Skills Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4186 To amend the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act to establish employer-directed skills accounts, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 15, 2023 Ms. STEFANIK introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce A BILL To amend the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act to establish employer-directed skills accounts, 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 ‘‘Employer-Directed 4 Skills Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. EMPLOYER-DIRECTED SKILLS ACCOUNTS. 6 (a) DEFINITIONS.— 7 (1) EMPLOYER-SPONSORED SKILLS DEVELOP- 8 MENT.—Section 3 of the Workforce Innovation and 9 Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3102) is amended— 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:11 Jul 22, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4186.IH H4186 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 4186 IH (A) by redesignating paragraphs (19) 1 through (71) as paragraphs (20) through (72), 2 respectively; and 3 (B) by inserting after paragraph (18), the 4 following: 5 ‘‘(19) EMPLOYER-SPONSORED SKILLS DEVEL- 6 OPMENT.—The term ‘employer-sponsored skills de- 7 velopment’ means a skills development program— 8 ‘‘(A) that is selected by an employer to 9 meet the specific skill demands of the employer; 10 ‘‘(B) that is conducted pursuant to terms 11 and conditions which are established under an 12 employer-sponsored skills development agree- 13 ment described in section 134(c)(3)(I)(iv), in- 14 cluding a commitment by the employer to em- 15 ploy an individual upon successful completion of 16 the program; 17 ‘‘(C) for which an employer pays a portion 18 of the cost of the program, which shall not be 19 less than— 20 ‘‘(i) 10 percent of the cost, in the case 21 of an employer with not more than 50 em- 22 ployees; 23 ‘‘(ii) 25 percent of the cost, in the 24 case of an employer with more than 50 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:11 Jul 22, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4186.IH H4186 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 4186 IH employees but not more than 100 employ- 1 ees; and 2 ‘‘(iii) 50 percent of the cost, in the 3 case of an employer with more than 100 4 employees; and 5 ‘‘(D) for which the Federal share of the 6 cost of the program is provided to the employer 7 through an employer-directed skills account in 8 accordance with section 134(c)(3)(I)(ii).’’. 9 (2) ON-THE-JOB TRAINING.—Paragraph (45) of 10 section 3 of the Workforce Innovation and Oppor- 11 tunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3102) is amended, as redesig- 12 nated by paragraph (1)(A)— 13 (A) in subparagraph (B), by striking 14 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 15 (B) in subparagraph (C), by striking the 16 period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 17 (C) by adding at the end the following: 18 ‘‘(D) in a case in which each of the condi- 19 tions under section 134(c)(3)(I)(i) are met with 20 respect to such training (including the estab- 21 lishment of an on-the-job training agreement 22 described in section 134(c)(3)(I)(iii)), provides 23 the Federal share of the cost of training to the 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:11 Jul 22, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4186.IH H4186 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 4186 IH employer through an employer-directed skills 1 account.’’. 2 (3) RELATED CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 3 The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 4 U.S.C. 3101 et seq.) is amended— 5 (A) in section 134(c)(3)(H)(i) (20 U.S.C. 6 3174(c)(3)(H)(i)), by striking ‘‘section 3(44)’’ 7 and by inserting ‘‘section 3(45)’’; 8 (B) in section 211(e)(3) (20 U.S.C. 9 3291(e)(3)), by striking ‘‘section 3(45)’’ and in- 10 serting ‘‘section 3(46)’’; 11 (C) in section 181(d)(2) (20 U.S.C. 12 3241(d)(2)), by striking ‘‘transitional employ- 13 ment,’’ and inserting ‘‘transitional employment, 14 employer-sponsored skills development’’; and 15 (D) in section 194(4) (20 U.S.C. 3254(4)), 16 by inserting ‘‘or employer-sponsored skills de- 17 velopment’’ after ‘‘On-the-job training’’. 18 (b) EXCEPTIONS FOR EMPLOYER-SPONSORED 19 SKILLS DEVELOPMENT.—Section 122(h) of the Work- 20 force Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 21 3152(h)) is amended— 22 (1) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘employer- 23 sponsored skills development,’’ after ‘‘incumbent 24 worker training,’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:11 Jul 22, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4186.IH H4186 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 4186 IH (2) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘employer- 1 sponsored skills development,’’ after ‘‘incumbent 2 worker training,’’. 3 (c) CAREER SERVICES.—Section 134(c)(2)(A) of the 4 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 5 3174(c)(2)(A)) is amended— 6 (1) in clause (xii), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 7 (2) in clause (xiii), by striking the period and 8 inserting a semicolon; and 9 (3) by adding at the end the following: 10 ‘‘(xiv) provision of information on em- 11 ployers in the local areas that are offering 12 employer-sponsored skills development or 13 on-the-job training programs that may be 14 reimbursed through an employer-directed 15 skills account established under section 16 134(c)(3)(I) and the performance informa- 17 tion available on such programs; and 18 ‘‘(xv) provision of assistance, in co- 19 ordination with employers in the local 20 areas that are offering employer-sponsored 21 skills development or on-the-job training, 22 in establishing employer-sponsored skills 23 development agreements or on-the-job 24 training agreements.’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:11 Jul 22, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4186.IH H4186 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 4186 IH (d) ELIGIBILITY FOR TRAINING SERVICES.—Section 1 134(c)(3) of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity 2 Act (29 U.S.C. 3174(c)(3)) is amended— 3 (1) in subparagraph (A)— 4 (A) in clause (i), by inserting ‘‘or (iii)’’ 5 after ‘‘clause (ii)’’; 6 (B) by redesignating clause (iii) as clause 7 (iv); and 8 (C) by inserting after clause (ii) the fol- 9 lowing: 10 ‘‘(iii) PARTICIPANTS SELECTED FOR 11 ON-THE-JOB TRAINING OR EMPLOYER- 12 SPONSORED SKILLS DEVELOPMENT.—A 13 one-stop operator or one-stop partner shall 14 not be required to conduct an interview, 15 evaluation, or assessment of a participant 16 under clause (i) if such participant is se- 17 lected by an employer under section 18 134(c)(3)(I)(i) to receive on-the-job train- 19 ing or employer-sponsored skills develop- 20 ment, and the applicable conditions under 21 such section are met for such individual to 22 receive such services.’’; and 23 (2) in subparagraph (D)— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:11 Jul 22, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4186.IH H4186 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 4186 IH (A) in clause (x), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 1 end; 2 (B) in clause (xi), by striking the period at 3 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 4 (C) by adding at the end the following: 5 ‘‘(xii) employer-sponsored skills devel- 6 opment programs conducted with a com- 7 mitment by an employer to employ an indi- 8 vidual upon successful completion of such 9 a program.’’. 10 (e) EMPLOYER-DIRECTED SKILLS ACCOUNTS.— 11 (1) LOCAL PLAN.—Section 108(b)(19) of the 12 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 13 U.S.C. 3123) is amended by inserting ‘‘or employer- 14 directed skills accounts’’ after ‘‘individual training 15 accounts’’. 16 (2) CONSUMER CHOICE REQUIREMENTS.—Sec- 17 tion 134(c)(3)(F) of the Workforce Innovation and 18 Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3174(c)(3)(F) is 19 amended— 20 (A) by redesignating clauses (iv) and (v) as 21 clauses (v) and (vi), respectively; 22 (B) by inserting after clause (iii), the fol- 23 lowing: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:11 Jul 22, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4186.IH H4186 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 4186 IH ‘‘(iv) EMPLOYER-DIRECTED SKILLS 1 ACCOUNTS.—In a case in which an indi- 2 vidual is selected by an employer under 3 section 134(c)(3)(I)(i) to receive on-the-job 4 training or employer-sponsored skills devel- 5 opment, and the applicable conditions 6 under such section are met for such indi- 7 vidual to receive such services, the local 8 board involved shall arrange for payment 9 for such services through an employer-di- 10 rected skills account in accordance with 11 section 134(c)(3)(I)(ii).’’; and 12 (C) in clause (v), as redesignated by sub- 13 paragraph (A), by inserting ‘‘or employer-di- 14 rected skills accounts’’ after ‘‘individual train- 15 ing accounts’’. 16 (3) ADDITIONAL EXCEPTION TO USE OF INDI- 17 VIDUAL TRAINING ACCOUNTS.—Section 134(c)(3)(G) 18 of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act 19 (29 U.S.C. 3174(c)(3)(G)) is amended— 20 (A) by redesignating clauses (iii) and (iv) 21 as clauses (iv) and (v), respectively; 22 (B) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘clause (ii)’’ 23 and inserting ‘‘clauses (ii) and (iii)’’; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:11 Jul 22, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4186.IH H4186 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 4186 IH (C) by inserting after clause (ii), the fol- 1 lowing: 2 ‘‘(iii) EMPLOYER-DIRECTED SKILLS 3 ACCOUNTS.—Services authorized under 4 this paragraph may be provided pursuant 5 to an employer-directed skills account in 6 lieu of an individual training account if 7 such services are employer-sponsored skills 8 development or on-the-job training and the 9 applicable conditions under section 10 134(c)(3)(I)(i) are met for an individual to 11 receive such services.’’; and 12 (D) in clause (v) (as redesignated by sub- 13 paragraph (A)), by inserting ‘‘, employer-di- 14 rected skills accounts,’’ after ‘‘individual train- 15 ing accounts’’. 16 (4) ESTABLISHMENT OF EMPLOYER-DIRECTED 17 SKILLS ACCOUNTS.—Section 134(c)(3) of the Work- 18 force Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 19 3174(c)(3)) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 20 lowing: 21 ‘‘(I) EMPLOYER-DIRECTED SKILLS AC- 22 COUNTS.— 23 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—An individual 24 shall receive on-the-job training or em- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:11 Jul 22, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4186.IH H4186 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 4186 IH ployer-sponsored skills development 1 through the use of an employer-directed 2 skills account, if each of the following con- 3 ditions are met: 4 ‘‘(I) An employer selects the indi- 5 vidual, who is not an employee of such 6 employer, for on-the-job training or 7 employer-sponsored skills develop- 8 ment. 9 ‘‘(II)(aa) In the case of an indi- 10 vidual selected under subclause (I) to 11 receive on-the-job training, an on-the- 12 job training agreement that meets the 13 requirements of clause (iii) is estab- 14 lished and signed by the individual 15 and the employer; or 16 ‘‘(bb) in the case of an individual 17 selected under subclause (I) to receive 18 employer-sponsored skills develop- 19 ment, an employer-sponsored skills de- 20 velopment agreement that meets the 21 requirements of clause (iv) is estab- 22 lished and signed by the individual 23 and the employer. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:11 Jul 22, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4186.IH H4186 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 4186 IH ‘‘(III) The employer submits to 1 the local board each of the following: 2 ‘‘(aa) A certification that 3 the individual requires an on-the- 4 job training or employer-spon- 5 sored skills development program 6 to obtain employment with the 7 employer, and has the skills and 8 qualifications to successfully par- 9 ticipate in such a program. 10 ‘‘(bb) A certification that 11 the employer will submit the nec- 12 essary performance information 13 to the local board in accordance 14 with section 122(h). 15 ‘‘(cc) The on-the-job train- 16 ing agreement or the employer- 17 sponsored skills development 18 agreement described in subclause 19 (II), as applicable. 20 ‘‘(IV) The local board involved 21 reviews and approves each certifi- 22 cation and agreement received under 23 subclause (III), by considering the fol- 24 lowing: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:11 Jul 22, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4186.IH H4186 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 4186 IH ‘‘(ii) APPROVAL OF AGREEMENTS.—In 1 determining whether to approve an em- 2 ployer-sponsored skills development agree- 3 ment or an on-the-job training agreement 4 under clause (i)(IV), the local board in- 5 volved shall consider the following: 6 ‘‘(I) The characteristics of the 7 participants of the on-the-job training 8 or employer-sponsored skills develop- 9 ment that is the subject of the agree- 10 ment. 11 ‘‘(II) The size of the employer 12 submitting such agreement, with a 13 priority on supporting agreements 14 submitted by small businesses. 15 ‘‘(III) The alignment of the 16 agreement with the workforce invest- 17 ment needs identified in the local plan 18 of the local area under section 108. 19 ‘‘(IV) In the case of an employer- 20 sponsored skills development agree- 21 ment, if the employer-sponsored skills 22 development offered— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:11 Jul 22, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4186.IH H4186 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 13 •HR 4186 IH ‘‘(aa) is for preparation to 1 work in an in-demand industry 2 sector or occupation; and 3 ‘‘(bb) leads to a recognized 4 postsecondary credential. 5 ‘‘(V) Any other factors the local 6 board determines appropriate. 7 ‘‘(iii) PAYMENT TO EMPLOYERS.—The 8 local board involved in on-the-job training 9 or employer-sponsored skills development 10 under clause (i) shall arrange for the ap- 11 propriate payment of such services through 12 an employer-directed skills account as fol- 13 lows: 14 ‘‘(I) ON-THE-JOB TRAINING.— 15 For on-the-job training, the local 16 board involved shall reimburse the 17 employer from funds in the employer- 18 directed skills account in accordance 19 to the reimbursement requirements of 20 section 3(45)(B) and after receipt of 21 documentation of the wages earned by 22 the individual during such training. 23 ‘‘(II) EMPLOYER-SPONSORED 24 SKILLS DEVELOPMENT.—For em- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:11 Jul 22, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4186.IH H4186 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 14 •HR 4186 IH ployer-sponsored skills development 1 services, the local board involved shall 2 reimburse the employer from funds in 3 the employer-directed skills acco [Text truncated for display. 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