II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 189
To amend the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act to expand the
capacity of junior or community colleges and area career and technical
education schools to conduct training services, education, and outreach
activities for careers in the residential construction industry.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY22, 2025
Ms. R
OSEN(for herself and Mrs. BLACKBURN) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Edu-
cation, Labor, and Pensions
A BILL
To amend the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act
to expand the capacity of junior or community colleges
and area career and technical education schools to con-
duct training services, education, and outreach activities
for careers in the residential construction industry.
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 ‘‘Creating Opportunities 4
for New Skills Training at Rural or Underserved Colleges 5
and Trade Schools Act of 2025’’ and ‘‘CONSTRUCTS 6
Act of 2025’’. 7
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SEC. 2. EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOR CAREERS IN RESI-1
DENTIAL CONSTRUCTION. 2
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Subtitle D of title I of the Work-3
force Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3221 et 4
seq.) is amended— 5
(1) by redesignating section 172 as section 173; 6
and 7
(2) by inserting after section 171 the following: 8
‘‘SEC. 172. EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOR CAREERS IN 9
RESIDENTIAL CONSTRUCTION. 10
‘‘(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 11
‘‘(1) I
NCUMBENT WORKER .—The term ‘incum-12
bent worker’ has the meaning given the term in sec-13
tion 680.780 of title 20, Code of Federal Regula-14
tions, or a successor regulation. 15
‘‘(2) J
UNIOR OR COMMUNITY COLLEGE .—The 16
term ‘junior or community college’ has the meaning 17
given the term in section 312 of the Higher Edu-18
cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1058). 19
‘‘(3) R
URAL AREA.—The term ‘rural area’ 20
means any— 21
‘‘(A) nonmetropolitan area; or 22
‘‘(B) rural area, as defined under section 23
520 of the Housing Act of 1949 (42 U.S.C. 24
1490). 25
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‘‘(4) UNDERSERVED POPULATION .—The term 1
‘underserved population’ means a group of individ-2
uals with a common demographic trait (such as indi-3
viduals from the same gender, race, or ethnicity), 4
the members of which— 5
‘‘(A) based on the most recent satisfactory 6
demographic and employment data from the 7
Bureau of the Census, comprise a percentage of 8
individuals employed in the construction sector 9
that is lower than the percentage of the total 10
population of the United States comprised by 11
such members; 12
‘‘(B) are low-income individuals; 13
‘‘(C) are individuals with barriers to em-14
ployment; or 15
‘‘(D) are veterans. 16
‘‘(b) E
STABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.— 17
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary of Labor, in 18
consultation with the Secretary of Education, shall 19
establish a program, through which the Secretary of 20
Labor shall award, on a competitive basis, grants to 21
eligible entities to expand their capacity to provide 22
training services, education, and outreach activities 23
for careers in the residential construction industry. 24
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‘‘(2) GRANT PERIOD.—A grant awarded under 1
this section shall be for a period of not more than 2
4 years. 3
‘‘(c) E
LIGIBLEENTITIES.—To be eligible to receive 4
a grant under this section, an entity shall be— 5
‘‘(1) a junior or community college; 6
‘‘(2) an area career and technical education 7
school; or 8
‘‘(3) a provider of training services, as de-9
scribed in section 122(a)(2). 10
‘‘(d) A
PPLICATIONS.—An eligible entity that desires 11
to receive a grant under this section shall submit an appli-12
cation to the Secretary of Labor at such time, in such 13
manner, and containing such information as the Secretary 14
may require, including the following information: 15
‘‘(1) A description of the new or expanded 16
training services, education, or outreach activities 17
supported by the grant, including a description of 18
how the new training services, education, or out-19
reach activities will align with existing programming 20
related to careers in the residential construction in-21
dustry at the eligible entity, and the relevant faculty 22
or technical instructors employed by the eligible enti-23
ty on the date of the submission of the application 24
or who may be employed by the eligible entity to 25
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carry out the training services, education, or out-1
reach activities supported by the grant. 2
‘‘(2) A description of the populations that will 3
be served through the training services, education, 4
or outreach activities supported by the grant, includ-5
ing whether the participants in such training serv-6
ices, education, or outreach activities are— 7
‘‘(A) incumbent workers; 8
‘‘(B) individuals in rural areas; 9
‘‘(C) in-school youth; 10
‘‘(D) opportunity youth; or 11
‘‘(E) part of an underserved population. 12
‘‘(3) A description of the partnerships the eligi-13
ble entity will facilitate through the grant, including 14
the process by which the eligible entity will ensure 15
that a partner provides fair wages and benefits that 16
are commensurate with local pay and benefit pack-17
ages, and a plan for sustaining activities and part-18
nerships supported by the grant after the completion 19
of the grant period. 20
‘‘(4) A description of the anticipated outcomes 21
of the training services, education, or outreach ac-22
tivities supported by the grant, including, at a min-23
imum, the recognized postsecondary credential, post-24
secondary credit, or degree to be earned by partici-25
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pants, and a timetable showing how the eligible enti-1
ty will meet the primary indicators of performance 2
described in section 116(b)(2)(A). 3
‘‘(5) A description of the intended impact of the 4
training services, education, or outreach activities on 5
the local housing market, including a description of 6
how the new training services, education, or out-7
reach activities will increase the supply of affordable 8
housing. 9
‘‘(6) Such other information as the Secretary 10
may require. 11
‘‘(e) P
RIORITY.—In awarding grants under this sec-12
tion, the Secretary of Labor shall give priority to eligible 13
entities that serve rural areas or underserved populations. 14
‘‘(f) U
SE OFFUNDS.— 15
‘‘(1) R
EQUIRED USES.—An eligible entity that 16
receives a grant under this section shall use the 17
grant funds— 18
‘‘(A) to create or expand an evidence-based 19
education or training program to provide skills 20
needed in the residential construction industry, 21
including skills related to— 22
‘‘(i) carpentry; 23
‘‘(ii) framing; 24
‘‘(iii) masonry; 25
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‘‘(iv) welding; 1
‘‘(v) plumbing; 2
‘‘(vi) electrical work; 3
‘‘(vii) construction management; 4
‘‘(viii) architecture; 5
‘‘(ix) HVAC; 6
‘‘(x) land surveying and geomatics; 7
‘‘(xi) construction mathematics; 8
‘‘(xii) heavy equipment operation; and 9
‘‘(xiii) such other trades as identified 10
by the Department of Labor; 11
‘‘(B) to create or expand an education or 12
training program focused on increasing the 13
skills of incumbent workers who are residential 14
construction workers; 15
‘‘(C) to create a partnership with a local 16
residential construction business or developer, 17
either alone or in conjunction with a nonprofit 18
organization, labor organization, entity in the 19
State or local workforce development system, 20
sponsor of a pre-apprenticeship or apprentice-21
ship program, YouthBuild program, or another 22
community partner, with a focus on engaging 23
with organizations that recruit employees or 24
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program participants from underserved popu-1
lations; and 2
‘‘(D) to facilitate outreach to secondary 3
school and elementary school students about the 4
residential construction industry and education 5
and training programs available under this sec-6
tion, which may include developing dual or con-7
current enrollment programs (as defined under 8
section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary 9
Education Act of 1965) for secondary students 10
to participate in such education and training 11
programs or integrating such programs in a rel-12
evant career and technical education program 13
administered by an elementary school or sec-14
ondary school. 15
‘‘(2) P
ERMISSIVE USES.—An eligible entity that 16
receives a grant under this section may use the 17
grant funds— 18
‘‘(A) to hire technical instructors or other 19
faculty with demonstrated experience and ex-20
pertise in residential construction to lead edu-21
cation or training programs related to skills and 22
recognized postsecondary credentials needed for 23
a career in the residential construction indus-24
try; 25
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‘‘(B) to operate an education and training 1
clinic in a rural area or area not otherwise 2
served by an entity described in subsection (c), 3
to the extent necessary and practicable; 4
‘‘(C) to develop promotion materials for 5
the purpose of increasing awareness of the 6
training services, education, or outreach activi-7
ties; or 8
‘‘(D) to provide supportive services 9
through merit-based and needs-based scholar-10
ships, to promote retention in, and completion 11
of— 12
‘‘(i) an education or training program 13
supported under this section; or 14
‘‘(ii) tests or coursework related to 15
certification. 16
‘‘(g) A
SSISTANCE; FLEXIBLESCHEDULES.—An eligi-17
ble entity that receives a grant under this section shall— 18
‘‘(1) use flexible schedules in carrying out the 19
education or training program, including night class-20
es, part-time schedules, and online curricula, to ac-21
commodate individuals who work during the day or 22
live in rural areas; and 23
‘‘(2) provide an individual, upon completion of 24
the education or training program, supportive serv-25
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ices for job search and placement to ensure the suc-1
cess of such individuals in achieving the education 2
and career goals. 3
‘‘(h) C
OMPLIANCEWITHAPPLICABLELAWS.— 4
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Each recipient of funds 5
under this section, and any entity that enters into 6
a partnership with such recipient for the purpose of 7
this Act, shall attest to the Secretary of Labor that 8
the recipient or entity— 9
‘‘(A) is in compliance with each Federal, 10
State, and local labor law; 11
‘‘(B) will remain in compliance with each 12
Federal, State, and local labor law; and 13
‘‘(C) is not subject to a pending action or 14
case relating to a violation of any law enforced 15
by the Department of Labor, Federal Labor 16
Relations Authority, Equal Employment Oppor-17
tunity Commission, or National Labor Relations 18
Board. 19
‘‘(2) F
EDERAL, STATE, AND LOCAL LABOR 20
LAW.—In this subsection, the term ‘Federal, State, 21
and local labor law’ means any Federal, State, or 22
local labor law that would be applicable to the recipi-23
ent or entity described in paragraph (1), as deter-24
mined by the Secretary of Labor. 25
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‘‘(i) PERFORMANCEACCOUNTABILITY.— 1
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—An eligible entity that re-2
ceives a grant under this section shall, not later than 3
18 months after receiving such grant and annually 4
thereafter for the duration of the grant period, sub-5
mit to the Secretary of Labor a report containing 6
the eligible entity’s outcomes with respect to the pri-7
mary indicators of performance described in section 8
116(b)(2)(A). 9
‘‘(2) R
EPORT TO CONGRESS .—Not later than 6 10
months after receiving initial reports from each eligi-11
ble entity receiving a grant under this section, the 12
Secretary shall prepare and submit to the Com-13
mittee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 14
of the Senate and the Committee on Education and 15
Workforce of the House of Representatives a report 16
containing, at a minimum, the information described 17
in paragraph (1) for each such eligible entity. 18
‘‘(j) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 19
are authorized to be appropriated $20,000,000 to carry 20
out this section for each of fiscal years 2025 through 21
2029.’’. 22
(b) T
ABLE OFCONTENTS.—The table of contents in 23
section 1(b) of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity 24
Act is amended— 25
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(1) by striking the item relating to section 172; 1
and 2
(2) by inserting after the item relating to sec-3
tion 171 the following: 4
‘‘Sec. 172. Education and training for careers in residential construction.
‘‘Sec. 173. Authorization of appropriations.’’.
Æ
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