[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2774 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 2774
To provide for the conduct of demonstration projects to test the
effectiveness of subsidized employment for TANF recipients.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 20, 2023
Mrs. Miller of West Virginia (for herself and Mr. Estes) 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:
``(d) 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 an adult
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 a noncustodial parent of a minor
child who is receiving such assistance)--
``(i) who, at the time the subsidy begins,
is unemployed; or
``(ii) 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) Nondisplacement.--A State to which a grant is made
under this subsection shall ensure that no participant in a
subsidized employment program funded in whole or in part under
this subsection is employed or assigned to a job under the
program when any other individual is on layoff from the same or
any substantially equivalent job.
``(5) Reports.--As a condition of receiving funds under
this subsection for a fiscal year, a State shall submit to the
Secretary, within 12 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 2nd quarter after
the subsidy ended;
``(D) specifies the percentage of eligible
recipients who received a subsidy who are in
unsubsidized employment during the 4th 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 2nd quarter after
the subsidy ended.
``(6) Evaluation.--The Secretary, in consultation with each
State conducting a demonstration project, shall conduct a high-
quality impact evaluation to determine the effects of the
demonstration project, including on individual skill levels and
earnings and employment retention, 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) Recommendations.--The evaluation of a
demonstration project shall include recommendations
relating to updated goals for the advancement and
improvement of the program and a description of
specific challenges encountered in the program and
recommended solutions.
``(D) 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) Funding.--Of the amounts made available to carry out
subsection (b) for fiscal year 2023, the Secretary shall
reserve $100,000,000 to carry out this subsection.
``(8) 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 2 fiscal
years.''.
SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.
The amendment made by this Act shall take effect on October 1,
2023.
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