[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2990 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2990

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


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              July 9, 2015

   Mr. Dold 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;
                            ``(II) an adult with children;
                            ``(III) a noncustodial parent; or
                            ``(IV) an individual who has attained 16 
                        years of age but not 26 years of age;
                            ``(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) 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) specifies, for each month of the fiscal year, 
                the number of the individuals who remained employed by 
                the same employer in an unsubsidized position in the 
                month immediately succeeding the month in which the 
                last subsidy payment was made with respect to the 
                employment; and
                    ``(C) describes the structure of the State 
                activities to use the funds to subsidize employment, 
                including the amount and duration of the subsidies 
                provided.
            ``(5) 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.
            ``(6) 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)).
            ``(7) Funding.--Of the amounts made available to carry out 
        subsection (b) for fiscal year 2016 and each succeeding fiscal 
        year, the Secretary shall reserve $100,000,000 to carry out 
        this subsection.
            ``(8) Availability of funds.--Funds provided to a State 
        under this subsection for 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, 
2015.
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