SKILLS Act
Latest action · Jan 9, 2014 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedJan 9, 2014
- Passed SenateNot reached
- Passed HouseNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
SKILLS Act or Supporting Knowledge and Investing in Lifelong Skills Act - Amends the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) to revise requirements and reauthorize appropriations for: (1) WIA title I, workforce investment systems for job training and employment services; and (2) WIA title II, adult education and family literacy education programs.
Revises requirements to: (1) eliminate representatives of labor organizations from state workforce investment boards, and (2) specify that representatives of business on a board represent large and small businesses each of which has immediate and long-term employment opportunities in an in-demand industry or other occupation important to the state economy.
Requires a state board to assist the state governor by developing: (1) policies and programs that support a comprehensive statewide workforce development system, and (2) a statewide workforce and labor market information system.
Revises requirements for: (1) a state workforce development plan; (2) local workforce investment areas, boards, and plans; (3) one-stop delivery systems; and (4) the allotment of federal funds among states for employment and training activities.
Eliminates specific funding for adult and dislocated worker employment and training. Specifies state use of federal funds to set up a Workforce Investment Fund.
Revises requirements for: (1) within state allocations of funds; and (2) the use of funds for state and local employment and training activities, including statewide rapid response, individuals with barriers to employment grants, and adults with barriers to employment grants.
Converts the national emergency grants program into a national dislocated worker grants program. Authorizes the Secretary of Labor to award national dislocated worker grants to spouses of active duty members of the Armed Forces or full-time duty members of the National Guard (or members who recently separated from such duties) and are in need of employment and training assistance to obtain or retain employment.
Requires the Employment and Training Administration of the Department of Labor to be the principal agency to administer WIA title I workforce investment systems for job training and employment services.
Prohibits the use of funds for lobbying (with specified exceptions) and political activities (including voter registration activities).
Adult Education and Family Literacy Education Act - Revises requirements for the state unified plan for adult education and literacy programs.
Amends the Wagner-Peyser Act to eliminate the U.S. Employment Service. Replaces the nationwide employment statistics system, which the Secretary is required to oversee, with a nationwide workforce and labor market information system.
Repeals the Youth Conservation Corps Act of 1970 and specified other laws.
Amends the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to require employment and training services to eligible members of households participating in the supplemental nutrition assistance program be provided through the statewide workforce development system, including the one-stop delivery system.
Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) with respect to employment and training services for refugees, and the Second Chance Act of 2007 as well as the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 with respect to such services through the statewide workforce investment system for federal, state, and local prisoner reentry programs.
Amends the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (RA73) to: (1) redesignate the Commissioner of the Rehabilitation Services Administration the Director; and (2) require an eligible state to use a certain percentage of the federal share of the cost of vocational rehabilitation services to award grants to pay for the federal share of the cost of carrying out collaborative programs, create practical job and career readiness and training programs, and provide job placements and career advancement.
Repeals the authority of the Commissioner of the Rehabilitation Services Administration in the Department of Education to make grants and contracts for: (1) vocational rehabilitation services to individuals with disabilities who are migrant or seasonal farmworkers, (2) recreational programs for such individuals, and (3) in-service training of vocational rehabilitation personnel.
Repeals title VI (Employment Opportunities for Individuals with Disabilities) of the RA73.
Revises requirements and reauthorizes appropriations for vocational rehabilitation services under the RA73.
Directs the Comptroller General (GAO) to report to Congress regarding: (1) whether, before receiving workforce investment system training services, adults and dislocated workers have first exhausted funds received through the Federal Pell Grant program under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965; and (2) a determination of the amount of administrative costs savings at the federal and state levels as a result of workforce investment system programs repealed or consolidated under this Act.
Cosponsors 5
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Jan 9, 2014 to Apr 29, 2014; 2 are original cosponsors, there from the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-NC | Richard Burr | Original | Jan 9, 2014 |
| R-OK | Tom Coburn | Original | Jan 9, 2014 |
| R-TX | John Cornyn | Jan 16, 2014 | |
| R-ID | James E. Risch | Feb 11, 2014 | |
| R-SD | John Thune | Apr 29, 2014 |
Committees 1
Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.
| Chamber | Committee | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| Senate | Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee | Referred Jan 9, 2014 |
Actions 2
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Jan 9, 2014Introduced in Senate
- Jan 9, 2014Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Related bills 2
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| HR 803 | Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act | Related bill | Jul 22, 2014 |
| S 2038 | Solutions to Long-Term Unemployment Act | Related bill | Feb 25, 2014 |
Titles 3
Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.
- Official Title as Introduced
- A bill to reform and strengthen the workforce investment system of the Nation to put Americans back to work and make the United States more competitive in the 21st century, and for other purposes.
- Short Titles as Introduced
- Supporting Knowledge and Investing in Lifelong Skills Act
- SKILLS Act
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Labor and Employment.
- Adult education and literacy
- Appropriations
- Assault and harassment offenses
- Census and government statistics
- Congressional oversight
- Correctional facilities and imprisonment
- Crimes against children
- Criminal justice information and records
- Department of Education
- Department of Labor
- Disability and paralysis
- Disability assistance
- Drug, alcohol, tobacco use
- Education programs funding
- Elementary and secondary education
- Employment and training programs
- Executive agency funding and structure
- Food assistance and relief
- Foreign labor
- Fraud offenses and financial crimes
- Government employee pay, benefits, personnel management
- Government information and archives
- Government studies and investigations
- Hazardous wastes and toxic substances
- Higher education
- Labor and Employment
- Labor-management relations
- Land use and conservation
- Long-term, rehabilitative, and terminal care
- Manufacturing
- Migrant, seasonal, agricultural labor
- Military personnel and dependents
- National Guard and reserves
- Oceania
- Palau
- Performance measurement
- Poverty and welfare assistance
- Public participation and lobbying
- Public-private cooperation
- Refugees, asylum, displaced persons
- Sex offenses
- Special education
- State and local government operations
- Student aid and college costs
- Temporary and part-time employment
- Unemployment
- User charges and fees
- Veterans' education, employment, rehabilitation
- Veterans' loans, housing, homeless programs
- Violent crime
- Vocational and technical education
- Youth employment and child labor
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Jan 9, 2014Introduced in Senate
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.
