I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 6044
To promote registered apprenticeships and other work-based learning pro-
grams for small and medium-sized businesses within in-demand industry
sectors, through the establishment and support of industry or sector
partnerships.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OCTOBER25, 2023
Ms. B
ONAMICI(for herself, Mr. FERGUSON, Ms. STEVENS, and Mr. GUTHRIE)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the Committee on the
Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
tion of the committee concerned
A BILL
To promote registered apprenticeships and other work-based
learning programs for small and medium-sized businesses
within in-demand industry sectors, through the establish-
ment and support of industry or sector partnerships.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Promoting Apprentice-4
ships through Regional Training Networks for Employers 5
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Required Skills Act of 2023’’ or the ‘‘PARTNERS Act 1
of 2023’’. 2
SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 3
The purpose of this Act is to promote registered ap-4
prenticeships and other work-based learning programs for 5
small and medium-sized businesses within in-demand in-6
dustry sectors, through the establishment and support of 7
industry or sector partnerships. 8
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 9
In this Act: 10
(1) E
LIGIBLE PARTNERSHIP.—The term ‘‘eligi-11
ble partnership’’ means an industry or sector part-12
nership as defined in section 3 of the Workforce In-13
novation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3102) that 14
submits and obtains approval of an application con-15
sistent with section 5(c). 16
(2) I
N-DEMAND INDUSTRY SECTOR .—The term 17
‘‘in-demand industry sector’’ means a sector de-18
scribed in subparagraphs (A)(i) and (B) of section 19
3(23) of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity 20
Act (29 U.S.C. 3102(23)). 21
(3) L
OCAL OR REGIONAL.—The term ‘‘local or 22
regional’’, used with respect to an entity, means that 23
the entity provides services in, respectively, a local 24
area or region. 25
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(4) REGISTERED APPRENTICESHIP .—The term 1
‘‘registered apprenticeship’’ means an apprenticeship 2
registered under the Act of August 16, 1937 (com-3
monly known as the ‘‘National Apprenticeship Act’’; 4
50 Stat. 664, chapter 663; 29 U.S.C. 50 et seq.). 5
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘‘work-based 6
learning program’’ means a program that pro-7
vides workers with paid work experience and 8
corresponding classroom instruction, delivered 9
in an employment relationship that both the 10
business and worker intend to lead to con-11
tinuing employment after the program ends. 12
(B) W
ORK EXPERIENCE .—In subpara-13
graph (A), the term ‘‘paid work experience’’ in-14
cludes training by an employer that is provided 15
to a paid employee while engaged in productive 16
work in a job that provides knowledge or skills 17
essential to the full and adequate performance 18
of the job. 19
(5) W
ORKFORCE TERMS .—The terms ‘‘Gov-20
ernor’’, ‘‘individual with a barrier to employment’’, 21
‘‘industry or sector partnership’’, ‘‘local area’’, ‘‘local 22
board’’, ‘‘State board’’, ‘‘outlying area’’, ‘‘recognized 23
postsecondary credential’’, ‘‘region’’, ‘‘State’’, and 24
‘‘supportive services’’, used with respect to activities 25
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supported under this Act, have the meanings given 1
the terms in section 3 of the Workforce Innovation 2
and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3102). 3
(6) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 4
the Secretary of Labor. 5
SEC. 4. AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS. 6
From funds paid into the general fund of the Treas-7
ury and available under section 286(s)(2) of the Immigra-8
tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1356(s)(2)), the Sec-9
retary shall carry out this Act. 10
SEC. 5. ALLOTMENTS TO STATES. 11
(a) R
ESERVATION.—Of the amounts available for this 12
Act under section 4, the Secretary may reserve— 13
(1) not more than 5 percent of those amounts 14
for the costs of technical assistance and Federal ad-15
ministration of this Act; 16
(2) not more than 2 percent of those amounts 17
for the costs of evaluations conducted under section 18
8(b); and 19
(3) not more than
1
⁄4of 1 percent of such 20
amounts to provide assistance to the outlying areas. 21
(b) A
LLOTMENTS.— 22
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Of the amounts available for 23
this Act under section 4 that remain after the Sec-24
retary makes the reservations under subsection (a), 25
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the Secretary shall, for the purpose of supporting 1
(which may include assistance in establishing ex-2
panded) local or regional eligible partnerships to 3
support work-based learning programs under this 4
Act, make allotments to eligible States in accordance 5
with clauses (ii) through (v) of section 132(b)(1)(B) 6
of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act 7
(29 U.S.C. 3162(b)(1)(C)), subject to paragraph 8
(2). 9
(2) A
PPLICATION.—For purposes of applying 10
the clauses described in paragraph (1), under para-11
graph (1), the Secretary— 12
(A) shall not apply subclauses (I) and (III) 13
of clause (iv) with respect to the first fiscal year 14
after the date of enactment of this Act; 15
(B) shall apply clause (iv)(II) by sub-16
stituting ‘‘0.5 percent of the remaining amounts 17
described in paragraph (1)’’ for the total de-18
scribed in that clause; 19
(C) shall not apply clause (iv)(IV); 20
(D) shall apply clause (v)(II) by sub-21
stituting the term ‘‘allotment percentage’’, used 22
with respect to the second full fiscal year after 23
the date of enactment of this Act, or a subse-24
quent fiscal year, means a percentage of the re-25
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maining amounts described in paragraph (1) 1
that is received through an allotment made 2
under this subsection for the fiscal year for the 3
two sentences in that clause; and 4
(E) shall apply clause (v)(III) by sub-5
stituting ‘‘a work-based learning program car-6
ried out under this Act’’ for ‘‘a program of 7
workforce investment activities carried out 8
under this subtitle’’. 9
(3) U
SE OF UNALLOTTED FUNDS .—If a State 10
fails to meet the requirements for an allotment 11
under this subsection, the Secretary may allot funds 12
that are not allotted under paragraphs (1) and (2) 13
to eligible States under a formula based on the for-14
mula specified in section 132(c) of the Workforce In-15
novation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3173(c)). 16
(4) D
EFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 17
‘‘eligible State’’ means a State that meets the re-18
quirements of section 102 or 103 of the Workforce 19
Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3112, 20
3113) and subsection (c). 21
(c) S
TATEELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to receive an 22
allotment under subsection (b), a State, in consultation 23
with State boards and local boards, shall submit an appli-24
cation to the Secretary, at such time, in such manner, and 25
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containing a description of the activities to be carried out 1
with the grant funds. At a minimum, the application shall 2
include information on— 3
(1) the local or regional industry or sector part-4
nerships that will be supported, including the lead 5
partners for the partnerships, and how the partner-6
ships will work to engage small and medium-sized 7
businesses, as applicable, in the activities of the 8
partnerships; 9
(2) the in-demand industry sectors that will be 10
served, including how such industry sectors were 11
identified, and how the activities of the partnerships 12
will align with State, regional, and local plans as re-13
quired under title I of the Workforce Innovation and 14
Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3111 et seq.); 15
(3) the registered apprenticeship programs or 16
other work-based learning programs to be supported 17
though the partnerships; 18
(4) the populations that will receive services, in-19
cluding individuals with barriers to employment and 20
populations that were historically underrepresented 21
in the industry sectors to be served through the 22
partnerships; 23
(5) the services, including business engagement, 24
classroom instruction, and support services (includ-25
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ing at least 6 months of post-employment support 1
services), that will be supported through the grant 2
funds; 3
(6) the recognized postsecondary credentials 4
that workers will obtain through participation in the 5
program and the quality of the program that leads 6
to the credentials; 7
(7) levels of performance to be achieved on the 8
performance indicators described in section 8, to 9
measure progress towards expanding work-based 10
learning programs; 11
(8) how local or regional partnerships will lever-12
age additional resources, including funding provided 13
under title I of the Workforce Innovation and Op-14
portunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3111 et seq.) and non- 15
Federal resources, to support the activities carried 16
out under this Act; and 17
(9) such other subjects as the Secretary may 18
require. 19
(d) R
EVIEW OFAPPLICATIONS.—The Secretary shall 20
review applications submitted under subsection (c) in con-21
sultation with the Secretary of Education and the Sec-22
retary of Health and Human Services. 23
SEC. 6. GRANTS TO PARTNERSHIPS. 24
(a) G
RANTS.— 25
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(1) IN GENERAL.—The Governor of a State 1
that receives an allotment under section 5 shall use 2
the funds made available through the allotment and 3
not reserved under subsection (d) to award grants to 4
eligible partnerships. The Governor shall award the 5
grants for the purpose of assisting (which may in-6
clude establishing or expanding) local or regional in-7
dustry or sector partnerships that are identified in 8
the application submitted under section 5(c), to 9
carry out activities described in section 7. 10
(2) P
ERIOD AND AMOUNT OF GRANT .—A State 11
may make a grant under this section for a period of 12
3 years, and in an amount of not more than 13
$500,000. 14
(3) A
VAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—The Governor of 15
a State that receives an allotment under section 5 16
for a fiscal year may use the funds made available 17
through the allotment during that year or the 2 sub-18
sequent fiscal years. 19
(b) E
LIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to receive a grant 20
under this section, an industry or sector partnership de-21
scribed in subsection (a)(1) shall— 22
(1) submit an application to the State at such 23
time, in such manner, and containing such informa-24
tion as the State may require; and 25
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(2) designate a partner in the industry or sector 1
partnership, to serve as the fiscal agent for purposes 2
of the grant. 3
(c) A
WARDS OFGRANTS.— 4
(1) P
ARTICIPATION IN MULTIPLE ELIGIBLE 5
PARTNERSHIPS.—Subject to paragraph (2), a State 6
may award grants under this section in a way that 7
results in an entity being represented in more than 8
one partnership that receives such a grant. 9
(2) G
EOGRAPHIC DIVERSITY .—In making the 10
grants, a State shall ensure that there is geographic 11
diversity in the areas in which activities will be car-12
ried out under the grants. 13
(d) A
DMINISTRATION.—The State may reserve not 14
more than 5 percent of the amount of an allotment under 15
section 5 for the administration of the grants awarded 16
under this section. 17
SEC. 7. USE OF FUNDS. 18
(a) I
NGENERAL.—An eligible partnership that re-19
ceives a grant under section 6 shall use the grant funds 20
to support a registered apprenticeship or other work-based 21
learning program. The eligible partnership shall use the 22
grant funds to support the activities described in sub-23
sections (b) and (c) and such other strategies as may be 24
necessary to support the development and implementation 25
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of work-based learning programs, and participant reten-1
tion in and completion of those programs. The partnership 2
may use the grant funds to establish or expand eligible 3
partnerships. 4
(b) B
USINESSENGAGEMENT.—The eligible partner-5
ship shall use grant funds to provide services to engage 6
businesses in work-based learning programs, which may 7
include assisting a small or medium-sized business with— 8
(1) the navigation of the registration process 9
for a sponsor of a registered apprenticeship pro-10
gram; 11
(2) the connection of the business with an edu-12
cation provider to develop classroom instruction to 13
complement on-the-job learning; 14
(3) the development of a curriculum for a work- 15
based learning program; 16
(4) the employment of workers in a work-based 17
learning program for a transitional period before the 18
business hires an individual for continuing employ-19
ment; 20
(5) the provision of training to managers and 21
front-line workers to serve as trainers or mentors to 22
workers in the work-based learning program; 23
(6) the provision of career awareness activities; 24
and 25
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(7) the recruitment of individuals to participate 1
in a work-based learning program from individuals 2
receiving additional workforce and human services, 3
including— 4
(A) workers in programs under the Work-5
force Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 6
U.S.C. 3101 et seq.); 7
(B) recipients of assistance through the 8
supplemental nutrition assistance program es-9
tablished under the Food and Nutrition Act of 10
2008 (7 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.); and 11
(C) recipients of assistance through the 12
program of block grants to States for tem-13
porary assistance for needy families established 14
under part A of title IV of the Social Security 15
Act (42 U.S.C. 601 et seq.). 16
(c) S
UPPORTSERVICES FORWORKERS.— 17
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The eligible partnership 18
shall use grant funds to provide support services for 19
workers to assure their success in work-based learn-20
ing programs, which may include— 21
(A) connection of individuals with adult 22
basic education during pre-work-based learning 23
or training, and during the period of employ-24
ment; 25
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(B) connection of individuals with pre- 1
work-based learning or training, including 2
through a pre-apprenticeship program; 3
(C) provision of additional mentorship and 4
retention supports for individuals pre-work- 5
based learning or training, and during the pe-6
riod of employment; 7
(D) provision of tools, work attire, and 8
other required items necessary to start employ-9
ment pre-work-based learning or training, and 10
during the period of employment; and 11
(E) provision of transportation, child care 12
services, or other support services pre-work- 13
based learning or training, and during the pe-14
riod of employment, except that not more than 15
5 percent of grant funds received by an eligible 16
partnership may be used for the provision of 17
such services. 18
(2) L
ENGTH OF SERVICES.—Each eligible part-19
nership shall provide support services for workers for 20
not less than 12 months after the date of placement 21
of an individual in a work-based learning program. 22
That 12-month period shall include a period of pre- 23
work-based learning or training, a transitional pe-24
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riod of employment as described in subsection 1
(b)(4), and a period of continuing employment. 2
SEC. 8. PERFORMANCE AND ACCOUNTABILITY. 3
(a) L
OCALREPORTS.—Not later than 1 year after 4
receiving a grant under section 6, and annually thereafter, 5
each eligible partnership in a State shall conduct an eval-6
uation and submit to the State a local report containing 7
information on— 8
(1) levels of performance achieved by the eligi-9
ble partnership with respect to the performance indi-10
cators under section 116(b)(2)(A) of the Workforce 11
Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 12
3141(b)(2)(A))— 13
(A) for all workers in the work-based 14
learning program involved; and 15
(B) for all such workers, disaggregated by 16
each population specified in section 3(24) of the 17
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 18
U.S.C. 3102(24)) and by race, ethnicity, sex, 19
and age; and 20
(2) levels of performance achieved by the eligi-21
ble partnership with respect to the performance indi-22
cators under that section 116(b)(2)(A)— 23
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(A) for individuals with barriers to employ-1
ment in the work-based learning program in-2
volved; and 3
(B) for all such individuals, disaggregated 4
by each population specified in section 3(24) of 5
the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act 6
and by race, ethnicity, sex, and age. 7
(b) S
TATEREPORTS.—Not later than 24 months 8
after receiving initial local reports under subsection (a) 9
(but in no case less than 18 months after the cor-10
responding grants are awarded) and annually thereafter, 11
the State shall conduct an evaluation and submit a report 12
to the Secretary containing— 13
(1) the information provided by the eligible 14
partnerships through the local reports; and 15
(2) the State level of performance, aggregated 16
across all eligible partnerships, with respect to the 17
performance indicators described in subsection (a). 18
SEC. 9. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 19
(a) A
MERICANCOMPETITIVENESS AND WORKFORCE 20
I
MPROVEMENT ACT OF1998.—Section 414(c) of the 21
American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement 22
Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. 2916a) is repealed. 23
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(b) IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITYACT.—Section 1
286(s)(2) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 2
U.S.C. 1356(s)(2)) is amended to read as follows: 3
‘‘(2) U
SE OF FEES FOR WORK -BASED LEARNING 4
PROGRAMS.—50 percent of amounts deposited into 5
the H–1B Nonimmigrant Petitioner Account shall 6
remain available to the Secretary of Labor until ex-7
pended to carry out the PARTNERS Act.’’. 8
Æ
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