I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 714
To amend the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act to create a pilot
program to award grants to units of general local government and
community-based organizations to create jobs, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY23, 2025
Ms. W
ILSONof Florida 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 create a pilot program to award grants to units of
general local government and community-based organiza-
tions to create jobs, 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 ‘‘Jobs Now Act of 4
2025’’. 5
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SEC. 2. GRANTS TO UNITS OF GENERAL LOCAL GOVERN-1
MENT. 2
(a) P
ILOTPROGRAM.—Subtitle D of title I of the 3
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 4
3221 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol-5
lowing: 6
‘‘SEC. 173. PILOT PROGRAM. 7
‘‘(a) P
ROGRAMAUTHORIZED.—Notwithstanding sec-8
tion 181(e), from the amounts appropriated under sub-9
section (h), the Secretary shall carry out a 2-year pilot 10
program to award grants, on a competitive basis, to units 11
of general local government or community-based organiza-12
tions to retain, employ, or train employees providing a 13
public service for a unit of general local government. 14
‘‘(b) U
NIT OFGENERALLOCALGOVERNMENTDE-15
FINED.—For purposes of this section, the term ‘unit of 16
general local government’ means any general purpose po-17
litical subdivision of a State, or the United States Virgin 18
Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of 19
the Northern Mariana Islands, the freely associated states 20
of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated 21
States of Micronesia, or the Republic of Palau, that has 22
the power to levy taxes and spend funds, as well as general 23
corporate and police powers. 24
‘‘(c) U
SES OFFUNDS.— 25
‘‘(1) R
EQUIRED USES.— 26
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‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara-1
graph (B), a unit of general local government 2
or community-based organization shall use not 3
less than 50 percent of the grant funds received 4
under this section to— 5
‘‘(i) in the case of a unit, retain em-6
ployees of such unit who are providing a 7
public service for the unit and who would 8
otherwise be laid off as a consequence of 9
budget cuts; and 10
‘‘(ii) in the case of an organization, 11
retain employees of the organization who 12
are providing a public service for the unit 13
in which the organization is located and 14
who would otherwise be laid off as a con-15
sequence of budget cuts. 16
‘‘(B) E
XCEPTION.—In a case in which 50 17
percent of a grant amount received under this 18
section would exceed the amount needed for a 19
unit or organization to retain the employees de-20
scribed in subparagraph (A), the unit or organi-21
zation may use only the amount needed to re-22
tain such employees for such purpose. 23
‘‘(2) A
UTHORIZED USES .—After using grant 24
funds received under this section in accordance with 25
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paragraph (1), a unit of general local government or 1
community-based organization may use any remain-2
ing grant funds provided under this section to— 3
‘‘(A) in the case of a unit of general local 4
government— 5
‘‘(i) employ individuals in new posi-6
tions providing a public service for the 7
unit; or 8
‘‘(ii) train individuals for new public 9
service positions for the unit; and 10
‘‘(B) in the case of a community-based or-11
ganization— 12
‘‘(i) employ individuals in new posi-13
tions that would provide a public service 14
for the unit in which the organization is lo-15
cated or services in the private sector; or 16
‘‘(ii) train individuals for any such po-17
sitions. 18
‘‘(d) P
RIORITY FORCERTAININDIVIDUALS.—The 19
Secretary shall encourage each unit of general local gov-20
ernment and each community-based organization receiving 21
a grant under this section to use such grant funds to re-22
tain, employ, or train— 23
‘‘(1) veterans; 24
‘‘(2) individuals with disabilities; 25
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‘‘(3) individuals who are receiving unemploy-1
ment benefits; or 2
‘‘(4) dislocated workers. 3
‘‘(e) P
RIORITY FORCERTAINUNITS ANDORGANIZA-4
TIONS.— 5
‘‘(1) U
NITS.—In awarding grants to units of 6
general local government under this section, the Sec-7
retary shall give priority to units of general local 8
government with high unemployment, foreclosure, 9
and poverty rates as compared to other units of gen-10
eral local government applying to receive a grant 11
under this section. 12
‘‘(2) O
RGANIZATIONS.—In awarding grants to 13
units of general local government under this section, 14
the Secretary shall give priority to community-based 15
organizations located in units of general local gov-16
ernment with high unemployment, foreclosure, and 17
poverty rates as compared to other units of general 18
local government applying to receive a grant under 19
this section. 20
‘‘(f) A
PPLICATION.—Each unit of general local gov-21
ernment or community-based organization desiring to re-22
ceive a grant under this section shall submit an application 23
to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and con-24
taining such information as the Secretary may require. 25
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‘‘(g) REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the first 1
appropriation of funds under subsection (h), the Secretary 2
shall submit to Congress, a report on— 3
‘‘(1) the number and percentage of individuals 4
hired or trained, and the number and percentage of 5
employees of units retained, as a result of a grant 6
under this section; and 7
‘‘(2) best practices in carrying out a grant pro-8
gram to hire, train, or retain employees of units of 9
general local government. 10
‘‘(h) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 11
are authorized to be appropriated $1,000,000,000 to carry 12
out this section for fiscal years 2026 and 2027.’’. 13
(b) C
ONFORMINGAMENDMENT.—The table of con-14
tents in section 1(b) of the Workforce Innovation and Op-15
portunity Act is amended by inserting after the item relat-16
ing to section 172 the following: 17
‘‘Sec. 173. Pilot program.’’.
Æ
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