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On June 30, the Departments of Labor, Education, Health and Human Services, Agriculture, House and Urban Development released the final regulations for the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). The regulations are divided into four separate documents – final regulations covering Titles I, III and the Joint Rule for Unified and Combined State Plans, Performance Accountability and the One-Stop System will be published in the Federal Register in the next few weeks and will be effective 60 days after this publication. Regulations covering the State Vocational Rehabilitation Services Program, State Supported Employment Services Program and Limitations on the Use of Subminimum Wages, those on WIOA Miscellaneous Program Changes and the Programs and Activities Authorized by the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (Title II) will be published in the Federal Register in July and be effective 30 days after published.
National Skills Coalition submitted comments on the Notices of Proposed Rulemaking in May of 2015. Specifically, NSC focused on proposed rules relating to state unified and combined plans, the development and implementation of industry or sector partnerships, the development and implementation of career pathways, provisions implementing youth services, the priority of service requirements under WIOA, updated requirements for the Eligible Training Provider List, and those rules relating to the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act, with a focus on provisions relating to local workforce development board review of Title II applications, integrated education and training programs, and the definition of career pathways as part of English language acquisition programs.
The final regulations reflect input from stakeholders over the past year and include updates to the language in the NPRM that strengthen language about the delivery of work experience for Title I youth programming and priorities of service, and integrated education and training under Title II.
The final rules also include commitments from the Departments to issue additional guidance and technical assistance to help states with a number of aspects of the new law including implementing career pathways and industry and sector partnerships, developing parameters for measuring effectiveness of engaging with employers, mechanisms to incorporate co-enrollment between youth and adult services in Titles I and II.
DOL has released a series of factsheets on the final regulations. National Skills Coalition will host a webinar with a deeper analysis of the final regulations at 2pm EST on July 12th. We will also release more detailed analyses of the final regulations over the next few weeks.
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