[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5805 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5805

To direct the Secretary of Labor to establish alternate guidelines for 
       measuring the progress of State and local performance for 
entrepreneurial training services under the Workforce Investment Act of 
                                 1998.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 17, 2012

  Mrs. Capps introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                Committee on Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To direct the Secretary of Labor to establish alternate guidelines for 
       measuring the progress of State and local performance for 
entrepreneurial training services under the Workforce Investment Act of 
                                 1998.

    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 ``Entrepreneurial Training Improvement 
Act of 2012''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Entrepreneurship represents an important part of the 
        economic recovery. According to the 2012 Kauffman Index of 
        Entrepreneurial Activity, adults in the United States created 
        an average of 543,000 new businesses each month in 2011, among 
        the highest levels of entrepreneurship in the last 16 years.
            (2) Of the estimated 27.5 million small businesses in the 
        United States, 21.4 million had no employees in 2008 according 
        to Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy.
            (3) According to a January 2010 report entitled ``Think 
        Entrepreneurs: A Call to Action'' prepared by the Consortium 
        for Entrepreneurship Education for the Department of Labor, 
        Employment and Training Administration, ``Entrepreneurship is 
        not well established in Federal and statewide policy and 
        execution strategies.'' The report continues to state that 
        Workforce Investment Board staff ``lacks information and 
        training about self-employment as a career option, including 
        accessibility to resources, technical assistance, outreach 
        efforts, available partnerships, assessment processes, and 
        coordination of available funding options'' and that Boards 
        report that ``self-employment outcomes are hard to document for 
        [Department of Labor] regulations; self-employment does not fit 
        into current methods for measuring performance''.
            (4) In Training and Employment Guidance Letter No. 12-10, 
        issued November 15, 2010, the Employment and Training 
        Administration noted that ``Certain types of employment, 
        particularly self-employment, are generally not covered by 
        State [unemployment insurance] wage records, and the system has 
        noted this as a challenge in providing entrepreneurship 
        training. However, supplemental data options for some 
        performance measures, combined with performance target 
        negotiations, offer flexibility to accommodate entrepreneurship 
        training within the workforce system''.
            (5) There are many existing supplemental data sources and 
        authorities that can be used to better measure the success of 
        an entrepreneurial training program.
            (6) All reasonable effort should be made by the Secretary 
        of Labor to reduce regulatory barriers and disincentives that 
        discourage local Workforce Investment Boards from offering 
        entrepreneurial training programs.

SEC. 3. RULEMAKING.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 9 months after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Labor shall establish alternate 
guidelines for measuring the progress of State and local performance 
for entrepreneurial training services, as authorized in section 134 
subsection (d)(4)(D)(vi) of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (29 
U.S.C. 2864(d)(4)(D)(vi)), and provide the State and local Workforce 
Investment Boards with specific guidance on successful approaches to 
collecting performance information on entrepreneurial self employment.
    (b) Considerations.--In determining the alternate guidelines, the 
Secretary shall consider utilizing existing authorities granted under 
the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, including a State's waiver 
authority, as authorized in section 189(i)(4) of such Act (29 U.S.C. 
2939(i)(4)).
    (c) Report.--Not later than 12 months after publication of the 
final rule, the Secretary shall issue a report on the progress of 
Workforce Investment Boards in implementing new entrepreneurial 
training programs and any ongoing challenges to offering 
entrepreneurial training programs, with recommendations to Congress on 
how best to address those challenges.
                                 <all>