[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4942 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4942

  To amend subtitle A of title XX of the Social Security Act to fund 
    additional projects that focus on competency-based training for 
          personal or home care aides, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            December 1, 2020

   Mr. King introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
                  referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend subtitle A of title XX of the Social Security Act to fund 
    additional projects that focus on competency-based training for 
          personal or home care aides, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Mollie Baldwin Upskilling of 
Personal and Home Care Aides Act''.

SEC. 2. EXPANSION OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES PROFESSIONS WORKFORCE 
              PROJECTS.

    Section 2008 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1397g) is 
amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(e) Expansion of Health and Human Services Professions Workforce 
Projects.--
            ``(1) Authority to award grants.--The Secretary, in 
        consultation with the Secretary of Labor, shall award grants to 
        eligible entities to conduct projects--
                    ``(A) that employ upskilling training models that 
                focus on competency-based training for--
                            ``(i) personal or home care aides (as 
                        defined in subsection (b));
                            ``(ii) direct support professionals;
                            ``(iii) home health aides; and
                            ``(iv) nursing assistants; and
                    ``(B) that are designed to provide eligible 
                individuals with the opportunity to obtain education 
                and training for positions as personal or home care 
                aides (as so defined), direct support professionals, 
                home health aides, or nursing assistants that pay a 
                living wage and are expected to either experience labor 
                shortages or be in high demand; and
                    ``(C) for which grants were awarded under 
                subsection (a).
            ``(2) Selection of projects.--
                    ``(A) Requirements for eligible entities.--An 
                eligible entity seeking to receive a grant under this 
                subsection to conduct a project shall demonstrate--
                            ``(i) that the eligible entity has 
                        successfully conducted the project in the past; 
                        and
                            ``(ii) that the project implements the core 
                        training competencies for personal or home care 
                        aides described in subsection (b)(3)(A).
                    ``(B) Priority for rural areas and underserved 
                urban areas.--
                            ``(i) In general.--In awarding grants under 
                        this subsection, the Secretary shall give 
                        priority to projects that support--
                                    ``(I) rural areas (as defined in 
                                section 2007(f)); or
                                    ``(II) underserved urban areas 
                                (including urban health professional 
                                shortage areas (as defined in section 
                                332 of the Public Health Service Act)).
                            ``(ii) Threshold for prioritized 
                        projects.--In awarding grants under this 
                        subsection, the Secretary shall ensure that not 
                        less than 50 percent of the grants awarded 
                        under this subsection shall be for projects 
                        described in clause (i).
            ``(3) Reports and evaluation.--
                    ``(A) Eligible entities.--An eligible entity 
                awarded a grant to expand a project under this 
                subsection shall submit interim reports to the 
                Secretary on the activities carried out under the 
                project and a final report on such activities upon the 
                conclusion of the entities' participation in the 
                project.
                    ``(B) Evaluation.--The Secretary shall, by grant, 
                contract, or interagency agreement, evaluate the 
                projects conducted under this subsection. Such 
                evaluation shall include identification of successful 
                activities for creating opportunities for developing 
                and sustaining, particularly with respect to low-income 
                individuals and other entry-level workers, a health and 
                human services professions workforce that has 
                accessible entry points, that meets high standards for 
                education, training, certification, and professional 
                development, that provides increased wages and 
                affordable benefits, including health care coverage, 
                that are responsive to the workforce's needs, and that 
                is responsive to the needs of diverse racial and ethnic 
                communities.
                    ``(C) Report to congress.--The Secretary shall 
                submit interim reports and, based on the evaluation 
                conducted under subparagraph (B), a final report to 
                Congress on the projects conducted under this 
                subsection.
            ``(4) Definitions.--Any term used in this subsection that 
        is also used in subsection (a) shall have the same meaning for 
        purposes of this subsection as such term has in such subsection 
        (a).
            ``(5) Funding.--Out of any funds in the Treasury not 
        otherwise appropriated, there are appropriated to the Secretary 
        to carry out this subsection $5,000,000 for each of fiscal 
        years 2021 through 2031.''.
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