I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1446
To amend the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act to identify or
develop assessments to measure the prior knowledge, skills, competencies,
and experiences of an individual, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY21, 2025
Mr. A
LLENintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Education and Workforce
A BILL
To amend the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act
to identify or develop assessments to measure the prior
knowledge, skills, competencies, and experiences of an
individual, and for other purposes.
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 ‘‘Validate Prior Learn-4
ing to Accelerate Employment Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. ASSESSMENTS TO MEASURE THE PRIOR KNOWL-1
EDGE, SKILLS, COMPETENCIES, AND EXPERI-2
ENCES OF AN INDIVIDUAL. 3
(a) S
TATEWIDEEMPLOYMENT AND TRAININGAC-4
TIVITIES.—Section 134(a)(2)(B) of the Workforce Innova-5
tion and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3174(a)(2)(B)) is 6
amended— 7
(1) in clause (v)(VI), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 8
end; 9
(2) in clause (vi), by striking the period at the 10
end and inserting a semicolon; and 11
(3) by adding at the end the following: 12
‘‘(vii) coordinating with industry orga-13
nizations, employers (including small and 14
mid-sized employers), training providers, 15
local boards, and institutions of higher 16
education to identify or develop com-17
petency-based assessments that are a valid 18
and reliable method of measuring and col-19
lecting information on the knowledge, 20
skills, and abilities of individuals who are 21
adults or dislocated workers for the pur-22
pose of— 23
‘‘(I) awarding, based on the 24
knowledge, skills, and abilities of such 25
an individual— 26
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‘‘(aa) a recognized postsec-1
ondary credential that is used by 2
employers in the State for re-3
cruitment, hiring, retention, or 4
advancement purposes; or 5
‘‘(bb) credit toward a recog-6
nized postsecondary credential 7
aligned with an in-demand indus-8
try sector or occupation in the 9
State; 10
‘‘(II) developing individual em-11
ployment plans under subsection 12
(c)(2)(A)(xii)(II) that identify— 13
‘‘(aa) in-demand industry 14
sectors or occupations that re-15
quire knowledge, skills, and abili-16
ties that are similar to the knowl-17
edge, skills, and abilities of such 18
an individual to secure employ-19
ment in such sectors or occupa-20
tions; and 21
‘‘(bb) any upskilling needed 22
to secure such employment; or 23
‘‘(III) helping such an individual 24
communicate the knowledge, skills, 25
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and abilities of the individual to pro-1
spective employers through skills- 2
based resumes, profiles, or portfolios; 3
and 4
‘‘(viii) disseminating to local areas 5
and employers information relating to the 6
assessments described in clause (vii), in-7
cluding— 8
‘‘(I) any credential or credit 9
awarded pursuant to items (aa) and 10
(bb) of clause (vii)(I); 11
‘‘(II) the industry organizations, 12
employers, training providers, and in-13
stitutions of higher education located 14
within the State that recognize the 15
knowledge, skills, and abilities of such 16
an individual that are validated by 17
such assessments; 18
‘‘(III) how such assessments may 19
be provided to, and accessed by, such 20
an individual through the one-stop de-21
livery system; and 22
‘‘(IV) information on how the de-23
velopment of the individual employ-24
ment plans under subsection 25
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(c)(2)(A)(xii)(II) can include an iden-1
tification of the information described 2
in items (aa) and (bb) of clause 3
(vii)(III).’’. 4
(b) A
LLOWABLE STATEWIDEEMPLOYMENT AND 5
T
RAININGACTIVITIES.—Section 134(a)(3)(A) of the 6
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 7
3174(a)(3)(A)) is amended— 8
(1) in clause (xiii), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 9
end; 10
(2) in clause (xiv), by striking the period at the 11
end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 12
(3) by adding at the end the following: 13
‘‘(xv) supporting employers in the 14
State seeking to implement skills-based 15
hiring practices to evaluate individuals 16
based on the demonstrated knowledge, 17
skills, and abilities of such individuals, as 18
an alternative to relying on postsecondary 19
degree requirements in the hiring process, 20
which may include— 21
‘‘(I) technical assistance on the 22
use and validation of employment as-23
sessments, such as the competency- 24
based assessments identified or devel-25
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oped by the State pursuant to para-1
graph (2)(B)(vii); and 2
‘‘(II) support in the creation of 3
skills-based job descriptions.’’. 4
(c) A
UTHORIZEDLOCALEMPLOYMENT AND TRAIN-5
INGACTIVITIES.—Section 134(c)(2)(A) of the Workforce 6
Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 7
3174(c)(2)(A)) is amended— 8
(1) in clause (iii), by inserting before the semi-9
colon the following: ‘‘, including a determination 10
(which shall consider factors including prior work 11
experience, military service, education, and in-de-12
mand industry sectors and occupations in the local 13
area) of whether such an individual would benefit 14
from a competency-based assessment identified or 15
developed by the State pursuant to subsection 16
(a)(2)(B)(vii) to accelerate the time to obtaining em-17
ployment that leads to economic self-sufficiency or 18
career advancement’’; and 19
(2) in clause (xii)(I)(aa), by inserting before the 20
semicolon the following: ‘‘, including a competency- 21
based assessment identified or developed pursuant to 22
subsection (a)(2)(B)(vii)’’. 23
(d) P
ERMISSIBLELOCALEMPLOYMENT AND TRAIN-24
INGACTIVITIES.—Section 134(d)(1)(A) of the Workforce 25
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Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 1
3174(d)(1)(A)) is amended— 2
(1) in clause (ix)(II)— 3
(A) in item (cc), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 4
end; 5
(B) in item (dd), by inserting ‘‘and’’ at the 6
end; and 7
(C) by adding at the end the following: 8
‘‘(ee) technical assistance or 9
other support to employers seek-10
ing to implement skills-based hir-11
ing practices, which may include 12
technical assistance on the use 13
and validation of employment as-14
sessments, including competency- 15
based assessments developed or 16
identified by the State pursuant 17
to subsection (a)(2)(B)(vii), and 18
support in the creation of skills- 19
based job descriptions.’’; 20
(2) in clause (xi), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 21
(3) in clause (xii), by striking the period at the 22
end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 23
(4) by adding at the end the following: 24
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‘‘(xiii) competency-based assessments 1
for individuals upon the initial assessment 2
of skill levels pursuant to subsection 3
(c)(2)(A)(iii), or upon completion of train-4
ing services or other learning experi-5
ences.’’. 6
Æ
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