TRANSMITTAL #6
MEMORANDUM
October 1, 2013
TO:Workforce Development Council
FROM:Roger B. Madsen, Director
SUBJECT:WIA Statewide Activities Waiver Request
ACTION REQUESTED:Approve waiver requests for WIA Statewide Activities
BACKGROUND:
The Workforce Investment Act provides states the flexibility to request waivers to statutory regulations that may impede the provision of services to its customers. After much research and discussion, the state has chosen to pursue this option in the implementation of the Governor’s Reserve for Statewide Activities.
WIA Sections 128(a) and 133(a) allow a Governor to reserve up to 15 percent of WIA Youth, Adult, and Dislocated Worker allotments for required and allowable statewide activities and for administration.
However, the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Fiscal Year 13 appropriation provides that only a maximum of five percent of a state’s PY 2013 allotment may be reserved from these funding streams for those purposes. For many states, the two-thirds reduction of this allocation does not leave an adequate amount to conduct required statewide activities.
Based on USDOL’s Program Year 2013 five percent appropriation allowance for the Governor’s Reserve -the funding available for the state’s required WIA activities, including staffing - is $555,338. If WIA’s original appropriation allowance of 15 percent was still in effect, approximately $1.6 million would be available for all required WIA activities. Because these are discretionary funds, in years past, any funds available after addressing WIA required activities were distributed among the regions throughout the state to assist in the service delivery to WIA participants or for other innovative projects designed for targeted groups.
Due to this drastic reduction in the Governor’s Reserve funds, the Employment and Training Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor realized that some states may be unable to conduct all required activities. Because of this, in order to help states prioritize the activities that are more essential to the functioning of their workforce systems, states may request waivers to exempt them from the requirements to carry out some of the required statewide activities that would have been possible without the reduction in PY 2013 funds.
With this waiver authority and flexibility, the department proposes to submit waiver requests for the following required statewide activities as listed under 20 CFR 665.200:
- Conducting evaluationsof workforce investment activities that must includecustomer feedback, outcome and process measures in the workforce investment system.
- Providing incentive grants.
- Providing additional assistance to local areas that have high concentrations of youth.
The funds saved through this waiver will be utilized and applied to the remaining prioritized required statewide activities including:
- Required rapid response activities;
- Disseminating a state list of eligible training providers and making it available;
- Providing technical assistance to local areas that fail to meet local performance measures;
- Assisting in the establishment and operation of One-Stop delivery systems;
- Operating a fiscal and management accountability information system;
- Administration activities, including monitoring, data validation, reporting, performance, oversight, fiscal, etc.
Staff Recommendation:
Staff recommend that the council approve the prioritization of the required WIA state activities as noted above and torequest a waiver from including the evaluations, incentive grants and high concentration of youth assistance (Youth-In-Need) activities.
Contact:PrimaryRico Barrera (208) 332-3570, ext. 3316
SecondaryMarsha Wright (208) 332-3570, ext. 3696