Accelerating Individuals into the Workforce Act

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2842 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2842

   To provide for the conduct of demonstration projects to test the
      effectiveness of subsidized employment for TANF recipients.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 8, 2017

Mr. Curbelo of Florida (for himself and Mr. Danny K. Davis of Illinois)
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
                             Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

   To provide for the conduct of demonstration projects to test the
      effectiveness of subsidized employment for TANF recipients.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Accelerating Individuals into the
Workforce Act''.

SEC. 2. DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS TO SUPPORT SUBSIDIZED EMPLOYMENT FOR
              TANF RECIPIENTS.

    Section 403 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 603) is amended
by adding at the end the following:
    ``(c) Subsidized Employment Demonstration Projects.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall make grants to
        States to conduct demonstration projects designed to implement
        and evaluate strategies that provide wage subsidies to enable
        low-income individuals to enter into and retain employment.
            ``(2) Application requirements.--The Secretary shall
        require each State that applies for a grant under this
        subsection to do the following:
                    ``(A) Describe how wage subsidies will be provided
                (such as whether paid directly to the employer or the
                individual), the duration of the subsidies, the amount
                of the subsidies, the structure of the subsidies, and
                how employers will be recruited to participate in the
                subsidized employment program.
                    ``(B) Describe how the State expects those
                participating in subsidized employment to be able to
                retain employment after the subsidy ends.
                    ``(C) Describe how the State will coordinate
                subsidized employment funded under this subsection with
                other efforts to help low-income individuals enter work
                as conducted by the State.
            ``(3) Use of funds.--
                    ``(A) In general.--A State to which a grant is made
                under this subsection may use the grant to subsidize
                the wages of an eligible recipient for a period not
                exceeding 12 months, and only to the extent that the
                total of the funds paid under this project and any
                other Federal funds so used with respect to the
                recipient does not exceed 50 percent of the amount of
                the wages received by the recipient during the period.
                    ``(B) Eligible recipient.--For purposes of
                subparagraph (A), an eligible recipient is--
                            ``(i)(I) a recipient of assistance under
                        the State program funded under this part or any
                        other State program funded with qualified State
                        expenditures (as defined in section
                        409(a)(7)(B)(i)); or
                            ``(II) a noncustodial parent of a minor
                        child who is receiving assistance referred to
                        in subclause (I);
                            ``(ii) who, at the time the subsidy begins,
                        is unemployed; and
                            ``(iii) whose income, at that time, is less
                        than 200 percent of the poverty line (as
                        defined by the Office of Management and Budget,
                        and revised annually in accordance with section
                        673(2) of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act
                        of 1981 (42 U.S.C. 9902(2))).
            ``(4) Limitations.--
                    ``(A) Nondisplacement.--A State to which a grant is
                made under this subsection shall ensure that no
                participant in a subsidized job program funded in whole
                or in part under this subsection is employed or
                assigned to a job under the program--
                            ``(i) when any other individual is on
                        layoff from the same or any substantially
                        equivalent job; or
                            ``(ii) if the employer has terminated the
                        employment of any regular employee or otherwise
                        caused an involuntary reduction of its
                        workforce in order to fill the vacancy so
                        created with an adult described in paragraph
                        (1).
                    ``(B) Grievance procedure.--A State with a program
                funded under this subsection shall establish and
                maintain a grievance procedure for resolving complaints
                of alleged violations of subparagraph (A).
                    ``(C) No preemption.--Nothing in this paragraph
                shall preempt or supersede any provision of State or
                local law that provides greater protection for
                employees from displacement.
            ``(5) Reports.--As a condition of receiving funds under
        this subsection for a fiscal year, a State shall submit to the
        Secretary, within 6 months after the end of the fiscal year, a
        report that--
                    ``(A) specifies, for each month of the fiscal year,
                the number of individuals whose employment is
                subsidized with these funds;
                    ``(B) describes the structure of the State
                activities to use the funds to subsidize employment,
                including the amount and duration of the subsidies
                provided;
                    ``(C) specifies the percentage of eligible
                recipients who received a subsidy who are in
                unsubsidized employment during the second quarter after
                the subsidy ended;
                    ``(D) specifies the percentage of eligible
                recipients who received a subsidy who are in
                unsubsidized employment during the fourth quarter after
                the subsidy ended; and
                    ``(E) specifies the median earnings of eligible
                recipients who received a subsidy who are in
                unsubsidized employment during the second quarter after
                the subsidy ended.
            ``(6) Evaluation.--The Secretary, in consultation with each
        State conducting a demonstration project, shall conduct a high-
        quality evaluation of the demonstration project, and may
        reserve funds made available under this subsection to conduct
        the evaluation in accordance with the following:
                    ``(A) Evaluator qualifications.--The Secretary may
                not enter into a contract with an evaluator unless the
                evaluator has demonstrated experience in conducting
                rigorous evaluations of program effectiveness
                including, where available and appropriate, well-
                implemented randomized controlled trials.
                    ``(B) Methodologies to be used.--The evaluation of
                a demonstration project shall use experimental designs
                using random assignment or other reliable, evidence-
                based research methodologies that allow for the
                strongest possible causal inferences when random
                assignment is not feasible.
                    ``(C) Public disclosure.--The Secretary shall
                publish the results of the evaluation on the website of
                the Department of Health and Human Services in a
                location easily accessible by the public.
            ``(7) Recommendations to congress.--The Secretary shall
        submit recommendations to the Congress on how to increase the
        employment, retention, and advancement of individuals currently
        or formerly receiving assistance under a State program funded
        under this part or any other State program funded with
        qualified State expenditures (as defined in section
        409(a)(7)(B)(i)).
            ``(8) Funding.--Of the amounts made available to carry out
        subsection (b) for fiscal year 2018, the Secretary shall
        reserve $100,000,000 to carry out this subsection.
            ``(9) Use of certain funds for career pathways programs.--
        The Secretary shall use 15 percent of the amounts reserved to
        carry out this subsection, to fund programs that offer career
        pathway (as defined in section 3(7) of the Workforce Innovation
        and Opportunity Act) services.
            ``(10) Availability of funds.--Funds provided to a State
        under this subsection in a fiscal year shall be expended by the
        State in the fiscal year or in the succeeding fiscal year.''.

SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    The amendment made by this Act shall take effect on October 1,
2017.
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