21st Century SKILLS Act

(1) In 1962, Congress authorized the first substantial Federal job training programs in the postwar period, to retrain workers displaced because of technological change.

(2) For nearly 60 years, Federal workforce development programs have emphasized targeted education and job training and reemployment activities, service coordination and delivery, and a demand-driven approach that is responsive to consumer choice for participants and to the labor needs of local employers.

(3) Now the 21st century economy demands systems that equip workers to be able to think critically and creatively, solve complex problems, make evidence-based decisions, adapt to evolving technologies, and work collaboratively.

(4) Increasing 21st century skills development is linked to improving employment prospects and work success. Removal of structural barriers to employment prospects and work success, such as implicit bias, hiring discrimination, transportation gaps, and housing insecurity, requires raising employer responsibility and job standards and improving connections for individuals with barriers to employment.

(5) Building on the functions of entities in the workforce development system, including aggregating data and acting as catalysts to promote careers with good pay, will contribute to fostering inclusive economic growth.

(6) This Act, and the amendments made by this Act, will remove barriers to inclusive economic growth by allowing workers to access training opportunities through eligible providers of training services, including community colleges and registered apprenticeship programs, and by providing supportive services, including child care and transportation.

Section 132 of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3172) is amended by adding at the end the following:

Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, none of the funds appropriated under subsection (a), (b), or (c) of section 136, and allotted or otherwise provided under this section, may be used to provide training services, except under the provisions described in paragraph (2).

Funds appropriated under section 136(d) shall be used to provide training services and supportive services under section 134(c)(3), and additional sums described in section 134(c)(3)(C)(ii) for career services under section 134(c)(2).

The provisions described in this paragraph are section 129(b), paragraph (2) or (3) of section 134(a), or section 134(d), 169(c) or 170.

Section 133(b)(1) of such Act (29 U.S.C. 3173(b)(1)) is amended by striking The and inserting Subject to section 132(d), the.

Section 134 of such Act (29 U.S.C. 3174) is amended—

(1) by striking subsection (b) and inserting the following:

Funds appropriated under section 136(d) shall be used to pay or reimburse local boards for the cost of providing training services, supportive services, and career services as described in section 136(d).

Funds allocated to a local area for adults under paragraph (2)(A) or (3), as appropriate, of section 133(b), and funds allocated to a local area for dislocated workers under section 133(b)(2)(B)—

(A) shall be used to carry out employment and training activities described in subsection (c) (other than paragraph (3) of such subsection) for adults or dislocated workers, respectively; and

(B) may be used to carry out employment and training activities described in subsection (d) for adults or dislocated workers, respectively.

Section 134(c) of such Act (29 U.S.C. 3174(c)) is amended—

(1) in paragraph (1)—

(A) in subparagraph (A)—

(i) by striking clause (iii); and

(ii) by redesignating clauses (iv) and (v) as clauses (iii) and (iv), respectively;

(B) by redesignating subparagraph (B) as subparagraph (C); and

(C) by inserting after subparagraph (A) the following:

Funds appropriated under section 136(d) shall be used to provide training services, supportive services, and career services as described in section 136(d) to adults and dislocated workers who are eligible for the services involved.

(2) in paragraph (2)—

(A) in subparagraph (A), by striking Funds described in paragraph (1) and inserting Subject to subparagraph (D), funds described in paragraph (1) or made available under paragraph (3)(C)(ii); and

(B) by adding at the end the following:; and

With respect to funds allocated to a local area for adult employment and training activities under paragraph (2)(A) or (3) of section 133(b), priority shall be given to recipients of public assistance, other low-income individuals, and individuals who are basic skills deficient for receipt of career services described in subparagraph (A)(xii). The appropriate local board and the Governor shall direct the one-stop operators in the local area with regard to making determinations related to such priority.

(3) in paragraph (3)—

(A) in subparagraph (A)(i)—

(i) in the matter preceding subclause (I)—

(I) by striking funds allocated to a local area for adults under paragraph (2)(A) or (3), as appropriate, of section 133(b), and funds allocated to the local area for dislocated workers under section 133(b)(2)(B), and inserting funds appropriated under section 136(d) and made available under subparagraph (C)(i); and

(II) by striking, respectively; and

(ii) in subclause (IV), by striking who are and all that follows and inserting who meet the requirements of subparagraph (E).;

(B) by amending subparagraph (C) to read as follows:

The Secretary shall establish arrangements by which a local board shall obtain payment in advance for the cost of providing training services and supportive services through skills training grants or contracts to individuals who have been determined to meet the requirements of subparagraph (A) and are therefore eligible for the services involved.

When the Secretary provides payment under clause (i) to a local board for an amount under such clause, the Secretary shall also provide an additional sum equal to 10 percent of the amount to the local board. The local board shall use the additional sum to pay for—

(I) career services described in paragraph (2), including—

(aa) making the services described in clauses (v), (vii), (ix), (x), (xi), and (xii) of paragraph (2)(A) available to any skills training grant recipient outside of traditional working hours, as defined by the Secretary; and

(bb) the provision of information, in formats that are usable by and understandable to individuals eligible to receive services through the one-stop delivery system, about—

(AA) the local availability of pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs, and the costs of these programs to the skills training grant recipient as compared to the costs of training programs provided by other eligible providers of training services; and

(BB) apprenticeship programs in industries in which apprenticeship programs have not been traditionally used, including information for populations traditionally underrepresented in apprenticeship programs; and

(II) activities to build relationships between local boards and local eligible providers of training services, such as—

(aa) working with such local eligible providers to improve data reporting to local boards on the primary indicators of performance described in subclauses (I) through (IV) of section 116(b)(2)(A)(i) and, if the local boards and local eligible providers agree, any primary indicator of performance described in subclause (V) or (VI) of such section;

(bb) negotiating with such local eligible providers of training services regarding any adjusted levels of performance required by the local board under section 122(b)(3); and

(cc) coordinating with local providers of training services and the State to update the list of eligible providers of training services described in section 122(d).

(C) in subparagraph (D), by adding at the end the following: Notwithstanding any other provision of this subparagraph and solely for purposes of this paragraph, training services shall not include instruction, at an institution of higher education that provides a 4-year program of instruction, towards a baccalaureate or post-baccalaureate degree.

(D) by striking subparagraph (E) and inserting the following:

To be eligible to receive training services and supportive services under this paragraph, an individual shall—

(I) be a dislocated worker;

(II) be eligible for and receiving unemployment compensation under any Federal unemployment compensation law;

(III) be unemployed and have exhausted all unemployment compensation benefits available to the individual; or

(IV) be employed for at least 6 of the preceding 12 months and have an income that is not more than 100 percent of the State median income in the State in which the individual resides; and

(ii) be a member of a household with an adjusted gross income of not more than $150,000.

(E) in subparagraph (F)—

(i) in clause (ii), by inserting before Each the following: Training services shall be provided through providers identified in accordance with section 122.;

(ii) by striking clause (iii) and inserting the following:; and

An individual who seeks training services and who is eligible pursuant to this paragraph, may, in consultation with a career counselor, select an eligible provider of training services from the list of providers described in clause (ii). If the individual is seeking a high school equivalency program that is not aligned with a career pathway, the provider shall demonstrate that the program meets relevant requirements of the State educational agency involved for a high school education. Upon such selection, the local board involved shall establish a skills training grant for the individual, which shall allow the individual to pay for such services and any supportive services (including provision of payments for child care, transportation, required books, equipment, or examination fees) that are necessary to enable the individual to participate in the training services provided by the selected provider.

The local board shall hold and administer the skills training grant funds for the participating individuals served by the local board, and shall use such funds to reimburse all providers of training services and supportive service providers for the individual. The Secretary shall determine the appropriate costs for which such skills training grant may be used, and shall develop methods of verifying whether such grant was used for those costs.

A local board may enter into a contract or other agreement with a local entity, including an institution of higher education, labor organization, or community-based organization, to enable the entity to provide skills training grant enrollment assistance or career services (as described in subparagraph (C)(ii)(I)) at a location, or in a manner, that is convenient for eligible individuals.

(iii) in clause (iv), by striking individual training accounts and inserting skills training grants;

(F) in subparagraph (G)—

(i) in the subparagraph heading, by striking individual training accounts and inserting skills training grants;

(ii) by redesignating clauses (ii) through (iv) as clauses (vii) through (ix), respectively;

(iii) by striking clause (i) and inserting the following:

Except as provided in clause (iv), training services and supportive services provided under this paragraph shall be provided through the use of skills training grants in accordance with this paragraph, and shall be provided to eligible individuals through the one-stop delivery system.

Each individual who seeks training services (except services provided under clause (vii)) and who is eligible for training services pursuant to this paragraph shall receive a skills training grant that—

(I) if the individual is a dislocated worker or is a low-income individual, is in an amount of $10,000, increased in accordance with clause (iii);

(II) if the individual has a household income that is more than 100 percent of the poverty line but not more than 150 percent of the poverty line, is in an amount of $8,000, increased in accordance with clause (iii); and

(III) if the individual has a household income that is more than 150 percent but not more than 200 percent of the poverty line, is in an amount of $6,000, increased in accordance with clause (iii).

Beginning in fiscal year 2025, the Secretary shall annually adjust each amount described in subclauses (I) through (III) of clause (ii) by the estimated percentage increase, if any, in the Consumer Price Index for the most recent full calendar year.

Subject to subclause (II), the tuition and fees of a program of training services provided through the use of a skills training grant shall not exceed 110 percent of the amount equal to average tuition and fees (calculated for the most recent 3-year period preceding the participant’s enrollment in the program for which the tuition and fees are being determined under this clause) of a comparable program at a community college in the local area in which the participant resides.

Subclause (I) shall not apply to a program of training services if a local board determines that an employer will pay any costs of such program that exceed 110 percent of the average tuition and fees described in subclause (I).

An individual who receives a skills training grant under this paragraph shall enroll in a program of training services not later than 3 months after receiving the grants. Any remaining funds in the skills training grant not used upon the exit of the program by the participant will no longer be available for such participant. No individual may receive more than one skills training grant in any 5-year period.

During the first year for which skills training grants are available to eligible individuals, the Secretary shall carry out a national information campaign to raise awareness about skills training grants and their availability and use, which may include running public awareness campaigns at the State or local level informing eligible individuals and employers about the skills training grants.

(iv) in clause (vii), as redesignated by clause (ii) of this subparagraph—

(I) in the matter preceding subclause (I), by striking individual training account and inserting skills training grant; and

(II) in subclause (III), by striking individual training accounts and inserting skills training grants; and

(v) in clause (ix), as redesignated by clause (ii) of this subparagraph—

(I) by striking individual training accounts each place it appears and inserting skills training grants; and

(II) by striking clause (ii) and inserting clause (vii); and

(G) in subparagraph (H), by adding at the end the following:

The on-the-job training under this paragraph shall be provided through providers identified in accordance with section 122(h).

Section 122(c)(2) of such Act (29 U.S.C. 3152(c)(2)) is amended by adding at the end the following: The Governor shall establish levels of performance on the indicators of performance described in subclauses (I) through (IV) of section 116(b)(2)(A)(i) that a provider of training services shall be required to meet or exceed, based on the performance of all individuals receiving the training services, in order to renew eligibility under this paragraph and remain on the list of providers under subsection (d)..

Section 136 of such Act (29 U.S.C. 3181) is amended by adding at the end the following:

There are authorized to be appropriated and there are appropriated such sums as may be necessary for each fiscal year to provide training services and supportive services under section 134(c)(3), and the additional sums described in section 134(c)(3)(C)(ii) for career services under section 134(c)(2).

(1) Section 108(b)(19) of such Act (29 U.S.C. 3123(b)(19)) is amended by striking individual training accounts and inserting skills training grants.

(2) Section 122(g) of such Act (29 U.S.C. 3152(g)) is amended by striking individual training accounts and inserting skills training grants.

Subtitle E of title I of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3241 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

The Secretary shall maintain a website that includes the information and features described in this section (referred to in this section as the CareerOneStop website).

The CareerOneStop website shall contain a portal, for the use of individuals who are eligible for skills training grants under section 134(c)(3), to request such grants. Skills training grants shall be distributed by local boards, in accordance with that section.

The CareerOneStop website shall contain the lists of eligible providers of training services prepared by Governors under section 122(d)(1) and information identifying eligible providers as determined by one-stop operators under section 122(h)(1).

The CareerOneStop website shall contain, for each program of training services provided under section 134(c)(3), information on—

(1) the demographics, such as the sex, race, ethnicity, median age, and education level, of participants in the program;

(2) performance, as measured on the indicators described in subclauses (I) through (IV) of section 116(b)(2)(A)(i); and

(3) the cost of attendance, including costs of tuition and fees, for participants in the program.

The CareerOneStop website shall contain tools to enable individuals who are eligible to receive such training services to compare performance data across programs of training services, providers of such services, and States.

The CareerOneStop website shall contain resources for providers of training services, including guidance on each State that specifies—

(1) the criteria, requirements, and procedures that a provider shall meet to be listed as an eligible provider under section 122(d)(1) or identified as an eligible provider under section 122(h)(1) in the State; and

(2) the minimum levels for the State described in section 122(b)(1)(A)(i).

There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section such sums as may be necessary.

The table of contents in section 1(b) of such Act (29 U.S.C. 3101 note) is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 195 the following: