I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1633
To amend the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act to codify a grant
program to promote and assist in the reentry of ex-offenders into the
workforce.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY26, 2025
Mr. S
MUCKER(for himself and Mr. OWENS) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Education and Workforce
A BILL
To amend the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act
to codify a grant program to promote and assist in
the reentry of ex-offenders into the workforce.
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 ‘‘Workforce Reentry 4
Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. EX-OFFENDERS REENTRY PROGRAM START-UP 6
GRANTS. 7
Subtitle D of title I of the Workforce Innovation and 8
Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3221 et seq.) is amended— 9
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(1) by redesignating section 172 as section 173; 1
and 2
(2) by inserting after section 171 the following 3
new section: 4
‘‘SEC. 172. EX-OFFENDERS REENTRY PROGRAM START-UP 5
GRANTS. 6
‘‘(a) P
URPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to— 7
‘‘(1) prompt innovation and improvement in the 8
reentry of ex-offenders into the workforce so that 9
successful initiatives can be continued and rep-10
licated; and 11
‘‘(2) allow for the dissemination of information 12
regarding best practices in preparing ex-offenders 13
for sustained participation in the workforce. 14
‘‘(b) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 15
‘‘(1) E
LIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en-16
tity’ means— 17
‘‘(A) a private nonprofit organization 18
under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue 19
Code of 1986, including a faith-based organiza-20
tion; 21
‘‘(B) a local board; 22
‘‘(C) a State or local government; 23
‘‘(D) an Indian or Native American entity 24
eligible for grants under section 166; 25
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‘‘(E) an employer or group of employers; 1
‘‘(F) an institution of higher education; 2
‘‘(G) an industry or sector partnership; or 3
‘‘(H) a trade or professional association. 4
‘‘(2) E
LIGIBLE PARTICIPANT.— 5
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘eligible par-6
ticipant’ means an individual— 7
‘‘(i) who has been convicted as a juve-8
nile or an adult and imprisoned under 9
Federal or State law; and 10
‘‘(ii) who has not been released from 11
prison or jail for more than 2 years before 12
the date on which the individual begins 13
participation in an activity funded under 14
this section. 15
‘‘(B) E
XCEPTION.—Up to 10 percent of all 16
participants may be individuals who do not 17
meet the requirements of clause (ii) of subpara-18
graph (A). 19
‘‘(3) E
VIDENCE-BASED.—The term ‘evidence- 20
based’ means a program or practice that— 21
‘‘(A) is demonstrated effective when imple-22
mented with fidelity; 23
‘‘(B) is based on a clearly articulated and 24
empirically supported theory; 25
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‘‘(C) has measurable outcomes relevant to 1
workforce outcomes for reentering ex-offenders; 2
and 3
‘‘(D) has been scientifically tested and 4
proven effective through randomized control 5
studies or comparison group studies. 6
‘‘(4) P
ROMISING.—The term ‘promising’ refers 7
to a program or practice that— 8
‘‘(A) is demonstrated to be effective based 9
on positive outcomes relevant to workforce en-10
gagement for reentering ex-offenders from one 11
or more objective, independent, and scientif-12
ically valid evaluation; and 13
‘‘(B) includes ongoing efforts to examine 14
the effects of such program or practice. 15
‘‘(c) P
ROGRAMAUTHORIZED.— 16
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—In carrying out the activi-17
ties under this section, the Secretary shall— 18
‘‘(A) use not less than 30 percent of the 19
funds made available to carry out this section 20
under section 173(d), to implement pay-for-per-21
formance contracts for a contract period of not 22
more than 4 years with eligible entities to carry 23
out projects to facilitate the reentry of ex-of-24
fenders into the workforce (which may include 25
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the activities described in subsection (f)(1)), 1
and which— 2
‘‘(i) specify a fixed amount that the 3
Secretary will pay to the entity based on 4
the achievement of specified levels of per-5
formance on each indicator of performance 6
described in subsection (g)(1) within a de-7
fined timetable; and 8
‘‘(ii) may provide for bonus payments 9
from the Secretary to such entity to ex-10
pand capacity to provide effective services; 11
and 12
‘‘(B) using any funds remaining to carry 13
out this section under section 173(d), award 14
grants, on a competitive basis, award grants for 15
a period of not more than 4 years to eligible en-16
tities to enable such entities to provide skills de-17
velopment opportunities, job placement services, 18
and mentoring to eligible participants. 19
‘‘(2) P
RIORITY.—In awarding contracts or 20
grants under this section, the Secretary shall give 21
priority to eligible entities that— 22
‘‘(A) establish partnerships with business, 23
educational institutions, or eligible providers 24
identified by the State under section 122 to 25
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provide a program of study leading to postsec-1
ondary credentials in in-demand occupations; or 2
‘‘(B) provide on-the-job training or cus-3
tomized training that is designed to meet the 4
specific requirements of an employer (including 5
a group of employers) and is conducted with a 6
commitment by the employer to employ an indi-7
vidual upon successful completion of the pro-8
gram. 9
‘‘(3) A
DDITIONAL CONTRACTS OR GRANTS .— 10
The Secretary may award, for not longer than a pe-11
riod of 4 years, one or more additional grants to an 12
eligible entity that received a grant or contract 13
under this section if the eligible entity achieved the 14
expected performance levels identified by the eligible 15
entity under subsection (d)(4) during the preceding 16
grant or contract period. 17
‘‘(d) A
PPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a con-18
tract or grant under this section, an eligible entity shall 19
submit an application to the Secretary, which shall include 20
each of the following: 21
‘‘(1) A detailed description of the program in-22
cluding the core services they will provide, how the 23
eligible entity will recruit and select eligible partici-24
pants for the program, how many participants they 25
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plan on serving each year, and the length of partici-1
pation in the program. 2
‘‘(2) A description of evidence-based or prom-3
ising practices the eligible entity will use in the ad-4
ministration of the program. 5
‘‘(3) A description of partnerships with local 6
businesses to provide apprenticeship opportunities, 7
work-based learning, and job placement and recruit-8
ment (if applicable). 9
‘‘(4) The expected levels of performance the eli-10
gible entity will achieve on the indicators of perform-11
ance described in subsection (g)(1). 12
‘‘(5) An assurance that the eligible entity will 13
coordinate activities with workforce development pro-14
grams and other services provided under this title, 15
including utilizing the one-stop delivery system of 16
the local workforce development areas to provide ap-17
propriate services and recruit eligible individuals to 18
ensure the maximum number of eligible individuals 19
will have the opportunity to participate in the pro-20
gram. 21
‘‘(6) In the case of a grant, an assurance that 22
the eligible entity will meet the matching require-23
ment described in subsection (e). 24
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‘‘(7) A plan to coordinate with other programs 1
and entities, including those that may be provided 2
by such other programs and entities, to provide sub-3
stance abuse treatment services, mental health treat-4
ment services, housing services, and transportation 5
services. 6
‘‘(8) An assurance that the eligible entity will 7
provide the data necessary for the indicators of per-8
formance in subsection (g). 9
‘‘(9) A plan to continue the program with non- 10
Federal funds after the grant or contract period. 11
‘‘(e) M
ATCHINGREQUIREMENT FOR GRANTS.—In 12
order to receive a grant from the Secretary under this sec-13
tion, each eligible entity shall provide a non-Federal con-14
tribution, including cash and in-kind donations, in the fol-15
lowing amounts: 16
‘‘(1) With respect to the award period of the 17
first grant awarded to such eligible entity under this 18
section, in an amount that is not less than 25 per-19
cent of the total grant amount awarded to the eligi-20
ble entity during such period. 21
‘‘(2) With respect to any additional award peri-22
ods, in an amount not less than 50 percent of the 23
total grant amount awarded to the eligible entity 24
during such additional period. 25
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‘‘(f) USE OFFUNDS FORGRANTS.— 1
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—A grant awarded under 2
this section may be used to— 3
‘‘(A) provide workforce development and 4
job placement services to eligible participants, 5
including occupational skills education, on-the- 6
job training, apprenticeship opportunities, work 7
experience, job referrals, basic skills remedi-8
ation, educational services, work readiness ac-9
tivities, and post-placement support, in coordi-10
nation with the one-stop partners and one-stop 11
operators that provide services at any center 12
operated under a one-stop deliver system estab-13
lished under section 121; 14
‘‘(B) mentor eligible participants, including 15
the provision of support, guidance, and assist-16
ance in the community and the workplace to 17
address the challenges faced by ex-offenders; 18
‘‘(C) provide outreach to State or Federal 19
correctional facilities to increase awareness, 20
identify and recruit eligible participants, provide 21
screening and assessment of eligible partici-22
pants and align educational offerings with exist-23
ing services available to individuals who are 24
presently incarcerated; 25
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‘‘(D) coordinate with employers to develop 1
on-the-job training or customized training pro-2
grams and agreements around the hiring of eli-3
gible participants; or 4
‘‘(E) carrying out the activities described 5
in subparagraph (A), (B), (C), or (D) with re-6
spect to eligible participants who will be re-7
leased from prison or jail within 90 days. 8
‘‘(2) L
IMITATIONS.— 9
‘‘(A) C
ERTAIN SERVICES EXCLUDED .— 10
Grants provided under this section may not be 11
used to provide substance abuse treatment serv-12
ices, mental health treatment services, or hous-13
ing services, except that such a grant may be 14
used to coordinate with other programs and en-15
tities to provide substance abuse treatment 16
services, mental health treatment services, or 17
housing services to eligible participants. 18
‘‘(B) A
DMINISTRATIVE COST LIMIT .—A 19
grantee may not use more than 5 percent of the 20
funds received under a grant for administrative 21
costs, including for the purpose of collecting in-22
formation for purposes of subsection (g)(1). 23
‘‘(C) L
IMIT ON AMOUNT PAID AS STIPENDS 24
TO PARTICIPANTS.—A grantee may not use 25
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more than 15 percent of the funds received 1
under such grant to provide stipends to pro-2
gram participants while completing an edu-3
cational or skill development program. 4
‘‘(D) L
IMIT ON FUNDS FOR EMERGENCY 5
SITUATIONS.—A grantee may not use more 6
than 5 percent of the funds to assist eligible 7
participants in an emergency situation. 8
‘‘(g) P
ERFORMANCE OUTCOMES AND ACCOUNT-9
ABILITY.— 10
‘‘(1) I
NDICATORS OF PERFORMANCE .—Each eli-11
gible entity receiving a grant or contract under this 12
section shall report each year to the Secretary on 13
the primary indicators of performance described in 14
section 116(b)(2)(A)(ii) and an indicator established 15
by the Secretary with respect to participant recidi-16
vism. 17
‘‘(2) I
NDEPENDENT EVALUATION .—Not later 18
than 5 years after the date of enactment of this sec-19
tion and from amounts made available under section 20
173(d) for this section, the Secretary shall submit to 21
Congress a report on an independent evaluation of 22
each grant and contract entered into under this sec-23
tion, including an assessment of the effectiveness of 24
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each such grant and contract in reducing recidivism 1
and assisting eligible participants in— 2
‘‘(A) earning credentials; 3
‘‘(B) finding and maintaining employment; 4
and 5
‘‘(C) increasing their earnings. 6
‘‘(3) R
EPORT.—The Secretary shall, on an an-7
nual basis— 8
‘‘(A) submit to the Committee on Edu-9
cation and Workforce of the House of Rep-10
resentatives, and the Committee on Health, 11
Employment, Labor, and Pensions of the Sen-12
ate, a report, with respect to the preceding fis-13
cal year, on— 14
‘‘(i) the number of individuals who 15
participated in programs assisted under 16
this section; 17
‘‘(ii) the percentage of individuals par-18
ticipating in a program assisted under this 19
section that successfully completed the pro-20
gram; and 21
‘‘(iii) the performance of eligible enti-22
ties as measured by the performance indi-23
cators set forth in paragraph (1); and 24
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‘‘(B) publish such report on a publicly 1
available website of the Department of Labor. 2
‘‘(4) D
ISSEMINATING BEST PRACTICES .—Using 3
the findings of the independent evaluation under 4
paragraph (2) the Secretary shall disseminate infor-5
mation to State and local government, local boards, 6
and relevant stakeholders regarding best practices in 7
providing workforce development opportunities for 8
ex-offenders and reducing recidivism. 9
‘‘(h) A
DMINISTRATIVEACTIVITIES.—The Secretary 10
may use up to 2 percent of the funds annually appro-11
priated to carry out the activities of this section, including 12
disseminating best practices and providing technical as-13
sistance to eligible entities receiving grants or contracts 14
under this section and partnering businesses regarding the 15
availability of the work opportunity credit determined 16
under section 51(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 17
‘‘(i) R
ULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-18
tion shall be construed to authorize any new appropria-19
tions to carry out the purpose of this section.’’. 20
SEC. 3. AUTHORIZED FUNDS. 21
Section 173(d) of the Workforce Innovation and Op-22
portunity Act (as redesignated by section 2(1)) is amended 23
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by striking ‘‘section 169’’ and inserting ‘‘sections 169 and 1
172’’. 2
Æ
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