[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 88 (Monday, May 10, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24891-24895]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-09799]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration


Employment and Training Administration (ETA) Program Year (PY) 
2021 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Section 167, 
National Farmworker Jobs Program (NFJP) Proposed Modifications to 
Allotment Formula

AGENCY: Employment and Training Administration, Labor.

ACTION: Notice; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: This Notice announces proposed modifications to the allotment 
formula for the National Farmworker Jobs Program (NFJP), which is 
authorized under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), 
Section 167, and presents preliminary State planning estimates for 
Program Year (PY) 2021. These allotments are estimates based on the 
funds appropriated in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (from 
this point forward will be referred to as the ``the Act''). The U.S. 
Department of Labor (DOL), Employment and Training Administration (ETA) 
will accept comments related to the allotment methodology, including 
modifications and the hold-harmless provision.

DATES: The PY 2021 NFJP allotments become effective for the grant 
period that begins July 1, 2021. Written comments on this notice are 
invited and must be received on or before May 24, 2021.

ADDRESSES: Comments are accepted via email to [email protected]. Please 
enter ``PY21 National Farmworker Jobs

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Program Grantee Allotments Public Comment'' in the subject line of the 
email.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Questions on this notice can be 
submitted to the Employment and Training Administration, Office of 
Workforce Investment, Attention: Laura Iba[ntilde]ez, Unit Chief, (202) 
693-3645 or Steven Rietzke, Division Chief at (202) 693-3912, or at 
[email protected].
    Individuals with hearing or speech impairments may access the 
telephone numbers above via TTY by calling the toll-free Federal 
Information Relay Service at 1-877-889-5627 (TTY-TDD).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice is published according to 
Section 182(d) of the WIOA, Prompt Allotment of Funds. ETA developed 
the formula to distribute funds geographically by state service area, 
based on each state service area's relative share of persons eligible 
for the program. The formula's original methodology is described in the 
Federal Register notice 64 FR 27390, May 19, 1999. That information is 
accessible at https://www.federalregister.gov/. In PY 2018, ETA 
incorporated two modifications to the allotment formula to provide more 
accurate estimates of each state service area's relative share of 
persons eligible for the program. The formula also used updated data 
from each of the four data files serving as the basis of the formula 
since 1999. The revised formula methodology is described in the Federal 
Register notice 83 FR 32151, July 11, 2018.
    Beginning in PY 2021, ETA is making two modifications to the 
allotment formula. These modifications will improve the formula's 
accuracy in terms of estimating the true NFJP-eligible population in 
state service areas, and one of the modifications is necessitated by a 
recent statutory change to the NFJP eligibility criteria, which 
Congress enacted in the FY 2021 appropriation. Section II includes 
further explanation of these modifications. This Notice includes the 
following sections:
     Section II of this notice provides a discussion of the 
updated data that will be used to populate the formula and the proposed 
formula modifications.
     Section III describes the hold-harmless provision for the 
implementation year and the following years. The hold-harmless 
provision is designed to provide a staged transition from old to new 
shares of funding for State service areas.
     Section IV describes minimum funding provisions to address 
State service areas that would receive less than $60,000.
     Section V describes the application of the formula and the 
hold-harmless provision using preliminary planning estimates for PY 
2021.
    This notice represents the first of a two-stage process. Upon 
receipt of public comments regarding this notice related to the formula 
methodology and modifications, ETA will consider comments and finalize 
the formula methodology and results. In the second stage, ETA will 
publish the final formula and final allotment levels in the Federal 
Register.

I. Background

    The Department is announcing preliminary PY 2021 allotments for the 
National Farmworker Jobs Program (NFJP). This notice provides 
information on the amount of funds available during PY 2021 to state 
service areas awarded grants through Funding Opportunity Announcement 
FOA-ETA-20-08 for the NFJP Career Services and Training grants and 
Housing grants. Funds to implement NFJP are appropriated in the Act. In 
appropriating these funds, Congress provided $87,083,000 for formula 
grants (of which $86,946,000 was allotted after $137,000 was set aside 
for program integrity), $6,256,000 for migrant and seasonal farmworker 
housing (of which not less than 70 percent shall be for permanent 
housing), and another $557,000 was set aside for discretionary 
purposes. Included below is the table listing the preliminary PY 2021 
allotments for the NFJP Career Services and Training grants. Individual 
grants are awarded for Housing as a result of the grants competition 
and are further distributed according to language in the appropriations 
law requiring that of the total amount available, not less than 70 
percent shall be allocated to permanent housing activities, leaving not 
more than 30 percent to temporary housing activities.

II. Description of Data Files and Review of PY 2021 Modifications to 
the Allotment Formula

    As with all state planning estimates since 1999, the PY 2021 
estimates are based on four data sources: (1) State-level, 2017 hired 
farm labor expenditure data from the United States Department of 
Agriculture's (USDA) Census of Agriculture (COA); (2) regional-level, 
2017 average hourly earnings data from the USDA's Farm Labor Survey; 
(3) regional-level, 2010-2018 demographic data from the ETA's National 
Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS); and, (4) 2015-2019 (5-year file) 
data from the United States Census Bureau's American Community Survey 
(ACS). A detailed description of how each data source is used within 
the formula is in the Federal Register notice 64 FR 27390, May 19, 
1999). In addition to populating the formula with updated data, ETA is 
proposing two modifications that will improve the formula's accuracy in 
terms of estimating the true NFJP-eligible population in state service 
areas, and one of the modifications is necessitated by the change to 
the NFJP eligibility criteria applicable to the PY 2021 appropriation.
    (1) First, the Act expands program eligibility for grants funded by 
the PY 2021 appropriation to include farmworkers who are in families 
with total family incomes at or below 150 percent of the poverty line. 
Previously, the definition of a low income individual in WIOA section 
3(36)(A)(ii) was based on whether the individual was in a family with a 
total family income that did not exceed the higher of the poverty line 
or 70 percent of the lower living standard income level. As noted 
above, a provision to expand program eligibility is included in the 
appropriations language for PY 2021. It applies to grant activities 
funded under the PY 2021 awards. Therefore, the PY 2021 allocations 
will use special tabulations of data from the American Community Survey 
(ACS) that reflect farmworkers with total family incomes at or below 
150 percent of the poverty line. ETA will subsequently revise the PY 
2022 guidance regarding the definition of ``low-income individual,'' as 
needed if the same provision is not included in subsequent 
appropriations.
    (2) Second, and to more closely align the formula with the 
definition of eligible migrant and seasonal farmworker under WIOA 
Section 167(i) and 20 CFR 685.110 and clarified in the Training and 
Employment Guidance Letter 18-16, ETA proposes modifying how the 
formula accounts for crop workers who are primarily employed in 
agriculture. Previously, for the formula, a crop worker was considered 
to be primarily employed in agriculture if (1) at least 50 percent of 
their total individual income was from farm work, and (2) if they 
worked at least 25 days or earned at least $800 in crop farm work in 
the previous 24 months. ETA proposes the formula consider a crop worker 
to be primarily employed in agriculture if at least 50 percent of their 
total individual income is from farm work or at least 50 percent of 
their total employment time is in farm work.\1\ As

[[Page 24893]]

with all state planning estimates since 1999, ETA will use NAWS data to 
determine the share of crop labor hours in each state that was 
performed by crop workers who were primarily employed in agriculture, 
per this eligibility criterion. This modification only applies to 
estimates of NFJP-eligible labor hours performed by crop workers, 
because the data that would be needed to similarly estimate NFJP-
eligible labor hours performed by animal agricultural (livestock) 
workers are not available. As with previous allocations of NFJP grant 
funds, updating the data sources used in the formula and modifying the 
NFJP eligibility criteria will result in changes in each state's 
relative share of funding. Therefore, ETA mitigates large changes in 
state allotments by using the StopLoss/StopGain provisions discussed in 
Section III.
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    \1\ To determine ``primarily employed in agriculture'' criteria, 
which has two parts, ETA uses individual income from farm work.
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III. Description of the Hold-Harmless Provision

    ETA is proposing to continue the hold-harmless provision as 
instituted in PY 2018. The updated data resulted in significant changes 
for a few states and the hold-harmless provision provides for a stop 
loss/stop gain limit to transition to the use of the updated data. This 
approach is based on a state service area's previous year's allotment 
percentage, which is its relative share of the total formula 
allotments. ETA will implement the staged transition of the hold-
harmless provision as follows:
    (1) In PY 2021, each state service area will receive an amount 
equal to at least 95 percent of their PY 2020 allotment percentage, as 
applied to the PY 2021 formula funds available;
    (2) In PY 2022, each state service area will receive an amount 
equal to at least 90 percent of their PY 2021 allotment percentage, as 
applied to the PY 2022 formula funds available;
    (3) In PY 2023, each state service area will receive an amount 
equal to at least 85 percent of their PY 2022 allotment percentage, as 
applied to the PY 2023 formula funds available.
    In PY 2021, 2022, and 2023, the stop gain provision provides that 
no state service area will receive an amount that is more than 150 
percent of their previous year's allotment percentage.
    In PY 2024, since the Department has a responsibility to use the 
most current and reliable data available, amounts for the new awards 
will be based on updated data from the sources described in Section II, 
pending their availability. At that time, the Department will determine 
whether the changes to state allotments are significant enough to 
warrant another hold-harmless provision. Otherwise, allotments to each 
state service area will be for an amount resulting from a direct 
allotment of the proposed funding formula without adjustment.

IV. Minimum Funding Provisions

    A state area that would receive less than $60,000 by application of 
the formula will, at the option of the DOL, receive no allotment or, if 
practical, be combined with another adjacent state area. Funding below 
$60,000 is deemed insufficient for sustaining an independently 
administered program. However, if practical, a state jurisdiction that 
would receive less than $60,000 may be combined with another adjacent 
state area.

V. Program Year 2021 Preliminary State Allotments

    The state allotments set forth in the Table appended to this notice 
reflect the distribution resulting from the allotment formula described 
above. For PY 2020, $91,896,000 was appropriated for migrant and 
seasonal farmworker programs, of which $85,229,000 was appropriated for 
training grants and allotted based on the PY 2018 formula updates. The 
remaining $6,122,000 of the PY 2020 appropriation was retained to fund 
housing grants, and $545,000 was retained for Training and Technical 
Assistance. The figures in the first numerical column show the actual 
PY 2020 formula allotments to state service areas. The next column 
shows the percentage share of each allotment to the total available.
    For PY 2021, the funding level provided for in the Act for the 
migrant and seasonal farmworker program is $93,896,000 of which 
$87,083,000 was appropriated for training grants. After allowable funds 
are set aside for program integrity ($137,000), the Department will 
allot $86,946,000 for training grants based on the formula and data 
outlined in this notice. For purposes of illustrating the effects of 
the updates to the allotment formula, columns 3 and 4 show the state 
service area allotments with the application of the first-year (95 
percent) hold-harmless and minimum funding provisions, followed by the 
percentages. The difference between PY 2021 and PY 2020 allotments is 
shown in column 5. Column 6 of the Table shows the allotments based on 
the proposed formula without the application of the hold-harmless or 
minimum funding provisions. The percentages are reported in column 7.
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Suzan G. LeVine,
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Employment and Training, Labor.
[FR Doc. 2021-09799 Filed 5-7-21; 8:45 am]
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