On Tuesday, the House, in a 378-26 vote, overwhelmingly passed H.R. 6655, A Stronger Workforce for America Act. This bill would reauthorize the Workforce, Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA).
Specifically, this bill requires that 50% of the adult and dislocated worker funding go toward upskilling workers through individual training accounts (ITAs), streamlines the eligible training provider list requirements to focus on outcomes and ensure eligible programs are aligned with the skill and hiring demands of employers, establishes a demonstration authority to provide several states and local workforce boards the flexibility to reimagine their workforce system, and facilitates skills-based hiring by validating workers’ competencies gained through prior experience and authorizing state and local boards to provide technical assistance to employers on implementing skills-based hiring practices. However, ACTE did have some concerns with the bill, notably the lack of mandatory inclusion of CTE leaders on workforce boards and lack of specific dedicated funding for the one-stop system.
The ball is now in the Senate’s court, and lawmakers there are currently working on their own bipartisan legislation with the stated goal of a bill passing out of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee by Memorial Day.
The Senate is expected to craft its own legislation, though there may be many similarities between the two bills. Final enactment of a WIOA reauthorization bill this year will depend on the Senate acting, and the degree to which the Senate and House bills differ. It will be challenging for the chambers and parties to come to an agreement in an election year.
ACTE recently participated in a briefing for Senate staff on the links between WIOA and CTE programs where we answered questions and outlined our WIOA priories. ACTE will continue to work with Senators on a WIOA proposal that builds more meaningful connections between CTE and workforce systems.
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