[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2870 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2870

  To amend certain provisions of the Social Security Act relating to 
demonstration projects designed to provide unemployed workers with the 
   information, skills, and relationships they need for reemployment.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 18, 2014

 Mr. Portman (for himself and Mr. King) introduced the following bill; 
     which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend certain provisions of the Social Security Act relating to 
demonstration projects designed to provide unemployed workers with the 
   information, skills, and relationships they need for reemployment.

    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 ``On the Job Training Act''.

SEC. 2. REMOVAL OF BARRIERS TO PROMOTE REEMPLOYMENT THROUGH 
              DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS.

    (a) Modification of Numerical Limitation.--Subsection (a) of 
section 305 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 505) is amended by 
inserting ``per year'' after ``10 States''.
    (b) Clarification of Application Requirements.--Subsection (b) of 
such section 305 is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``or his or her designee'' after ``The 
        Governor of any State''; and
            (2) by striking paragraph (2) and inserting the following:
            ``(2) for any waiver requested under subsection (c), a 
        statement describing--
                    ``(A) the specific provision or provisions of law 
                for which such waiver is requested; and
                    ``(B) the specific aspects of the project to which 
                such waiver would apply and the reasons why it is 
                needed;''.
    (c) Extension of Eligible Time Period.--Subsection (d) of such 
section 305 is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ``may'' and all that 
        follows through the semicolon and inserting ``must be commenced 
        not later than December 31, 2017; and'';
            (2) in paragraph (2)--
                    (A) by striking ``may not be approved'' and 
                inserting ``may not be conducted''; and
                    (B) by striking ``; and'' and inserting a period; 
                and
            (3) by striking paragraph (3).
    (d) Clarification of Demonstration Activities.--Subsection (e) of 
such section 305 is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ``for employer-provided 
        training, such as'' and inserting ``to employers or claimants 
        for employer-provided training or''; and
            (2) in paragraph (2), by striking ``, not to exceed the 
        weekly benefit amount for each such individual, to pay part of 
        the cost of wages that exceed the unemployed individual's prior 
        benefit level'' and inserting ``that include disbursements 
        promoting retention''.
    (e) Selection of Qualifying Applications on a First-Come, First-
Served Basis and Review of Cost Neutrality.--Subsection (f) of such 
section 305 is amended to read as follows:
    ``(f) The Secretary of Labor shall, in the case of any State for 
which an application is submitted under subsection (b)--
            ``(1) approve completed applications in the order of 
        receipt;
            ``(2) before approving an application, determine whether 
        the assurances that the demonstration project would not result 
        in any increased costs to the State's account in the 
        Unemployment Trust Fund required under subsection (b)(4) are 
        credible and disapprove any application that includes 
        assurances that are determined to not be credible;
            ``(3) notify the State as to whether such application has 
        been approved or denied within 30 days after receipt of a 
        complete application; and
            ``(4) provide public notice of the decision within 10 days 
        after providing notification to the State in accordance with 
        paragraph (3).
Public notice under paragraph (3) may be provided through the Internet 
or other appropriate means. Any application under this section that has 
not been denied within the 30-day period described in paragraph (3) 
shall be deemed approved, and public notice of any approval under this 
sentence shall be provided within 10 days thereafter.''.
    (f) Termination of Demonstration Projects.--Subsection (g) of such 
section 305 is amended to read as follows:
    ``(g) The Secretary of Labor may terminate a demonstration project 
under this section if the Secretary--
            ``(1) determines that the State has violated the 
        substantive terms or conditions of the project;
            ``(2) notifies the State in writing with sufficient detail 
        describing the violation; and
            ``(3) determines that the State has not taken action to 
        correct the violation within 90 days after the notification.''.
    (g) Funding for Administrative Costs.--Such section 305 is amended 
by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(i) In addition to the amounts described in subsection (h), 
during the period of fiscal years 2015 through 2020 there is authorized 
to be appropriated $6,000,000 to the Secretary of Labor for purposes of 
making payments to States that have entered into agreements with the 
Secretary to conduct demonstration projects under this section. A 
payment to a State under this subsection--
            ``(1) shall be used by the State to administer a 
        demonstration project approved under this section;
            ``(2) shall remain available until expended; and
            ``(3) shall not exceed $200,000 for any fiscal year.''.
    (h) Effective Date; Transition Rule.--
            (1) Effective date.--The amendments made by this section 
        shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act.
            (2) Transition rule.--
                    (A) In general.--Nothing in this Act shall be 
                considered to terminate or otherwise affect any 
                demonstration project approved under section 305 of the 
                Social Security Act before the date of the enactment of 
                this Act.
                    (B) Original conditions continue to apply.--A 
                demonstration project described in subparagraph (A) 
                shall be conducted in the same manner as if subsections 
                (a) through (f) had not been enacted.

SEC. 3. EVALUATION OF DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS.

    (a) In General.--Section 305 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
505) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(i) The Secretary of Labor shall conduct an impact evaluation of 
each demonstration project conducted under this section, using existing 
data sources to the extent possible and methodology appropriate to 
determine the effects of the demonstration project, including on 
individual skill levels, earnings, and employment retention.''.
    (b) Cooperation by State.--Section 305(b) of the Social Security 
Act (42 U.S.C. 505(b)) (as amended by section 2(b) of this Act) is 
further amended by striking paragraphs (5) and (6) and inserting the 
following:
            ``(5) a description of the manner in which the State will 
        determine the extent to which the goals and outcomes described 
        in paragraph (3) were achieved;
            ``(6) assurances that the State will cooperate, in a timely 
        manner, with the Secretary of Labor with respect to the impact 
        evaluation conducted under subsection (i); and''.
    (c) Reporting.--Not later than 90 days after the end of fiscal year 
2014 and each fiscal year thereafter, until the completion of the last 
evaluation under section 305(i) of the Social Security Act, the 
Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Ways and Means of the House 
of Representatives and the Committee on Finance of the Senate, a report 
that includes a description of--
            (1) the status of each demonstration project being carried 
        out under this section;
            (2) the results of the evaluation completed during the 
        previous fiscal year; and
            (3) the Secretary's plan for--
                    (A) disseminating the findings of the report to 
                appropriate State agencies; and
                    (B) incorporating the components of successful 
                demonstration projects that reduced benefit duration 
                and increased employment into Federal unemployment law.
    (d) Public Dissemination.--In addition to the reporting 
requirements under subparagraph (c), evaluation results shall be shared 
broadly to inform policymakers, service providers, other partners, and 
the public in order to promote wide use of successful strategies, 
including by posting evaluation results on the Internet website of the 
Department of Labor.
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