A bill to amend the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 to provide for a job training grant pilot program.

Amends the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 to establish a job training grant pilot program.

Directs the Secretary of Labor to make such grants to qualified training programs in the following forms: (1) placement grants, upon placement of a qualified graduate in qualifying employment; and (2) retention grants, in an additional amount, upon retention of a qualified graduate in qualifying employment for one year.

Requires the Secretary, in determining the amount of such grants, to consider the economic benefit received by the Government from the employment of the qualified graduate, including increased tax revenue and decreased unemployment benefits or other support obligations. Sets forth criteria for qualified job training programs, qualified graduates, and qualifying employment.

[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 694 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 694

  To amend the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 to provide for a job 
                     training grant pilot program.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 4, 2005

  Mr. Coleman introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
  referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 to provide for a job 
                     training grant pilot program.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. JOB TRAINING GRANT PILOT PROGRAM.

    Section 171 of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. 
2916) is amended by striking subsection (d) and inserting the 
following:
    ``(d) Job Training Grant Pilot Program.--
            ``(1) In general.--
                    ``(A) Grants.--The Secretary shall provide grants 
                to qualified job training programs as follows:
                            ``(i) Placement grants.--Grants in an 
                        amount to be determined by the Secretary shall 
                        be provided to qualified job training programs 
                        upon placement of a qualified graduate in 
                        qualifying employment.
                            ``(ii) Retention grants.--An additional 
                        grant in an amount to be determined by the 
                        Secretary shall be provided to qualified job 
                        training programs upon retention of a qualified 
                        graduate in qualifying employment for a period 
                        of 1 year.
                    ``(B) Determination.--In determining the amount of 
                the grants to be provided under subparagraph (A), the 
                Secretary shall consider the economic benefit received 
                by the Government from the employment of the qualified 
                graduate, including increased tax revenue and decreased 
                unemployment benefits or other support obligations.
            ``(2) Qualified job training program.--For purposes of this 
        subsection, a qualified job training program is one that--
                    ``(A) is operated by a nonprofit or for-profit 
                entity, partnership, or joint venture formed under the 
                laws of--
                            ``(i) the United States or a territory of 
                        the United States;
                            ``(ii) any State; or
                            ``(iii) any county or locality;
                    ``(B) offers education and training in--
                            ``(i) basic skills, such as reading, 
                        writing, mathematics, information processing, 
                        and communications;
                            ``(ii) technical skills, such as 
                        accounting, computers, printing, and machining;
                            ``(iii) thinking skills, such as reasoning, 
                        creative thinking, decision making, and problem 
                        solving; and
                            ``(iv) personal qualities, such as 
                        responsibility, self-esteem, self-management, 
                        honesty, and integrity;
                    ``(C) provides income supplements when needed to 
                eligible participants (defined for purposes of this 
                paragraph as an individual who meets the criteria 
                described in subparagraphs (A) through (C) of paragraph 
                (3)) for housing, counseling, tuition, and other basic 
                needs;
                    ``(D) provides eligible participants with not less 
                than 160 hours of instruction, assessment, or 
                professional coaching; and
                    ``(E) invests an average of $10,000 in training per 
                graduate of such program.
            ``(3) Qualified graduate.--For purposes of this subsection, 
        a qualified graduate is an individual who is a graduate of a 
        qualified job training program and who--
                    ``(A) is 18 years of age or older;
                    ``(B) had in either of the two preceding taxable 
                years Federal adjusted gross income not exceeding the 
                maximum income of a very low-income family (as defined 
                in section 3(b)(2) of the United States Housing Act of 
                1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)(2))) for a single individual; 
                and
                    ``(C) has assets of not more than $10,000, 
                exclusive of the value of an owned homestead, indexed 
                for inflation.
            ``(4) Qualifying employment.--For purposes of this 
        subsection, qualifying employment shall include any permanent 
        job or employment paying annual wages of not less than $18,000, 
        and not less than $10,000 more than the qualified graduate 
        earned before receiving training from the qualified job 
        training program.''.
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