I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2099
To amend the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act to authorize a
study to review specific outcomes of entrepreneurial skills development
programs, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH14, 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 authorize a study to review specific outcomes of entre-
preneurial skills development programs, 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. STATE WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT BOARD. 3
Section 101(d)(3)(D) of the Workforce Innovation 4
and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3111(d)(3)(D)) is 5
amended— 6
(1) by striking ‘‘and jobseekers’’ and inserting 7
‘‘jobseekers, and entrepreneurs’’; and 8
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(2) by inserting ‘‘and entrepreneurial skills de-1
velopment and microenterprise services’’ after ‘‘occu-2
pations’’. 3
SEC. 2. IDENTIFICATION OF ELIGIBLE PROVIDERS OF 4
TRAINING SERVICES. 5
Section 122(a)(2)(C) of the Workforce Innovation 6
and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3152(a)(2)(C)) is amend-7
ed by inserting ‘‘and providers of entrepreneurial skills de-8
velopment programs’’ after ‘‘organizations’’. 9
SEC. 3. REQUIRED LOCAL EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING AC-10
TIVITIES. 11
Section 134(c)(2)(A) of the Workforce Innovation 12
and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3174(c)(2)(A)) is amend-13
ed— 14
(1) in clause (iv)— 15
(A) in subclause (I)— 16
(i) in item (aa), by striking ‘‘; and’’ 17
and inserting a semicolon; and 18
(ii) by adding at the end the fol-19
lowing: 20
‘‘(cc) provision of informa-21
tion on entrepreneurship, as ap-22
propriate; and’’; 23
(B) in subclause (II), by adding ‘‘and’’ 24
after the semicolon; and 25
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(C) by adding at the end the following: 1
‘‘(III) referral to microenterprise 2
services, as appropriate;’’; 3
(2) in clause (vi)— 4
(A) in subclause (I), by inserting ‘‘, which 5
may include resources to support entrepreneur-6
ship,’’ after ‘‘listings’’; and 7
(B) in subclause (III), by inserting ‘‘, 8
which may include entrepreneurship opportuni-9
ties,’’ after ‘‘demand’’; and 10
(3) in clause (xiii), by inserting ‘‘or entrepre-11
neurial opportunities’’ after ‘‘workplace’’. 12
SEC. 4. EVALUATIONS AND RESEARCH. 13
Section 169 of the Workforce Innovation and Oppor-14
tunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3224) is amended— 15
(1) in subsection (b)— 16
(A) in paragraph (4)— 17
(i) by redesignating subparagraph (K) 18
as subparagraph (L); and 19
(ii) by inserting after subparagraph 20
(J) the following: 21
‘‘(K) S
TUDY ON ENTREPRENEURIAL 22
SKILLS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS .—The Sec-23
retary shall, through a grant or contract, con-24
duct a three-year multistate study on entrepre-25
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neurial skills development programs, which 1
shall include the following: 2
‘‘(i) A review of— 3
‘‘(I) successful practices for de-4
veloping entrepreneurial skills of indi-5
viduals; 6
‘‘(II) evidence-based and other 7
best practices for mentoring potential 8
entrepreneurs; 9
‘‘(III) the qualifications needed 10
for skills development providers to 11
successfully develop the entrepre-12
neurial skills of individuals; 13
‘‘(IV) strategies for engaging em-14
ployers and other private sector part-15
ners; 16
‘‘(V) such program outcomes that 17
correlate with entrepreneurial success; 18
‘‘(VI) how such programs suc-19
cessfully measure the progress of par-20
ticipants in such programs; 21
‘‘(VII) the extent to which such 22
programs lead to industry recognized 23
credentials; 24
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‘‘(VIII) the impact, including the 1
economic impact, of such programs on 2
States and local communities; 3
‘‘(IX) the extent to which such 4
programs affect business development 5
and job creation in States and local 6
communities; 7
‘‘(X) how such programs identify 8
potential program participants’ readi-9
ness for the program; and 10
‘‘(XI) the average earnings of 11
participants who complete such a pro-12
gram three years after the date of 13
completion of such program. 14
‘‘(ii) Recommendations for States and 15
local communities to expand access to such 16
programs.’’; and 17
(B) in paragraph (5)(A), by inserting 18
‘‘which shall include individuals pursuing entre-19
preneurship,’’ after ‘‘particular service popu-20
lations,’’; and 21
(2) in subsection (c), by striking the third sen-22
tence and inserting the following: ‘‘Such projects 23
may include demonstration and pilot projects relat-24
ing to promoting self-employment, promoting entre-25
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preneurship, promoting job creation (especially for 1
in-demand industry sectors or occupations), averting 2
dislocations, assisting dislocated farmers, assisting 3
dislocated fishermen, developing career pathways 4
and encouraging advancements, and promoting pub-5
lic works.’’. 6
Æ
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