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2000 SESSION
006260480Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That § 63.1-133.49 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted, and that the Code of Virginia is amended by adding in Chapter 16 of Title 23 an article numbered 2.1, consisting of sections numbered 23-220.5, 23-220.6, and 23-220.7, as follows:
§ 23-220.5. Economic and Employment Improvement Program for Disadvantaged Persons created; program administered by the State Board for Community Colleges.
A. With such funds as may be appropriated for this purpose and from such gifts, donations, grants, bequests, and other funds as may be received on its behalf, there is hereby created the Economic and Employment Improvement Program for Disadvantaged Persons (the Program) to improve the employability of and provide assistance to disadvantaged persons through education and skills training.
B. The Program shall be administered by the State Board for Community Colleges. The Program shall comply with state and federal laws and regulations governing workforce training, welfare reform, adult literacy and education, and vocational and technical education programs and shall be consistent with existing state apprenticeship programs.
§ 23-220.6. Program awards administered by Board; promulgation of regulations.
The Board shall promulgate regulations for the implementation of the Program and, in accordance with the recommendations of the Grant Awards Committee, designate projects to receive grants awarded pursuant to § 23-220.7.
§ 23-220.7. Grant Awards Committee established; eligible projects; criteria for award of grants.
A. There is hereby established the Economic and Employment Improvement Program for Disadvantaged Persons Grant Awards Committee, which shall be composed of nine members appointed by the Governor, who shall have expertise in (i) grant writing and review; (ii) the administration and delivery of vocational and technical education programs and services; (iii) the administration of workforce training programs, the interpretation and analysis of economic trends, and the impact on the labor market, or the projection of labor market trends and needs; (iv) the coordination, monitoring, and evaluation of workforce training programs; (v) the delivery of adult literacy and education services and vocational and technical education programs administered by and through the public schools; (vi) apprenticeship and occupational programs, job training opportunities, and labor and employment law; (vii) the vocational education program, job skills training, and work requirements under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (P. L. 104-193), as amended, and the programs included in the From Welfare to Work: The Virginia Independence Program, as defined in Chapter 6.5 (§ 63.1-133.41 et seq.) of Title 63.1, and in assisting chronically unemployed and hard-to-employ persons; and (viii) transition and job placement programs for persons who are released from correctional facilities. The Governor shall also appoint to serve on the committee two representatives, one of whom shall represent the local workforce investment boards and one of whom shall represent the four-year institutions of higher education whose service areas and student populations are comprised of disproportionately high percentages of disadvantaged persons.
Upon the appropriation of funds for this purpose and from such gifts, donations, grants, bequests, and other funds as may be received by the Board on behalf of the Program, the Committee shall issue a request for proposals for grant projects designed to improve the employability of and provide assistance to disadvantaged persons through education and skills training. The Committee shall review each grant application, make grant awards in accordance with the eligibility criteria established in this section, and evaluate the effectiveness of the educational and skills training services delivered by the funded projects. The Committee shall report the results of its evaluation annually, beginning July 1, 2000, to the governing boards of agencies represented on the Committee, to the Governor, and to the General Assembly.
B. On and after July 1, 1998, the Program shall consist of no more than ten grant projects located in regions throughout the Commonwealth to provide equal geographical distribution of such projects. Priority for awarding such grants shall be given to projects designed to serve persons who are (i) historically underrepresented in Virginia institutions of higher education, and in management and at administrative levels in the business community; (ii) residing in counties, cities, and towns with high local stress indicators and in economically depressed regions of the Commonwealth; (iii) disproportionately represented in the workforce in minimum wage jobs and occupations requiring minimum education, training, and skills; (iv) ineligible to continue to receive welfare assistance under state and federal welfare reform laws (v) eligible to participate in the programs included in the From Welfare to Work: The Virginia Independence Program, as defined in Chapter 6.5 (§ 63.1-133.41 et seq.) of Title 63.1, and especially those eligible to participate in job skills training programs, pursuant to subsection E of § 63.1-133.49; (vi) returning to the community from state and federal correctional institutions; (vii) chronically unemployed or hard-to-employ; (viii) displaced by technological advances in industry; or (ix) subject to any combination thereof. Education and job training programs shall be designed to enable individuals to move from minimum wage jobs to higher salaried occupations and employment opportunities and to pursue careers and professions. Grants for all projects shall be awarded on a competitive basis to applicants responding to requests for proposals. The first grants shall be awarded by May 1, 1999.
C. Eligible projects shall (i) satisfy the criteria for receiving awards, pursuant to subsection B of this section; (ii) provide educational programs, job training opportunities, or other support services to improve the employability of persons ineligible to continue to receive welfare assistance or aid to dependent children, or who are eligible to participate in the programs included in the From Welfare to Work: The Virginia Independence Program, Chapter 6.5 (§ 63.1-133.41 et seq.) of Title 63.1, and especially those eligible to participate in job skills training programs, pursuant to subsection E of §63.1-133.49, or populations experiencing high rates of unemployment or underemployment; (iii) provide training and education reflective of current and projected workforce needs in the Commonwealth that will enable persons to move from minimum wage jobs to higher salaried occupations, careers, and professions; (iv) provide coordinated delivery of services, such as community-business partnerships and community outreach programs through the schools or departments of business at two-year and four-year public and private institutions of higher education; (v) include a component to evaluate the effectiveness of the delivery of educational and job skills training services; and (vi) encourage mentoring through partnerships between institutions of higher education, corporations, and small businesses. Grant recipients may work collaboratively, upon request, to provide approved service delivery.
§ 63.1-133.49. Virginia Initiative for Employment Not Welfare (VIEW).
A. The Department shall establish and administer the Virginia Initiative for Employment Not Welfare (VIEW) to reduce long-term dependence on welfare, to emphasize personal responsibility and to enhance opportunities for personal initiative and self-sufficiency by promoting the value of work. The Department shall endeavor to develop placements for VIEW participants that will enable participants to develop job skills that are likely to result in independent employment and that take into consideration the proficiency, experience, skills and prior training of a participant.
VIEW shall recognize clearly defined responsibilities and obligations on the part of public assistance recipients and shall include a written agreement of personal responsibility requiring parents to participate in work activities while receiving TANF, earned-income disregards to reduce disincentives to work, and a limit on TANF financial assistance.
VIEW shall require all able-bodied recipients of TANF who do not meet an exemption and who are not employed within ninety days of receipt of TANF benefits to participate in a work activity. VIEW shall require eligible TANF recipients to participate in unsubsidized, partially subsidized or fully subsidized employment and enter into an agreement of personal responsibility. If recipients cannot be placed in an unsubsidized or subsidized job, they shall be required to participate in a six-month community work experience placement. Upon completion of the initial six-month work requirement, participants may receive education and training in conjunction with continued work experience to make them more employable.
B. To the maximum extent permitted by federal law, and notwithstanding other provisions of Virginia law, the Department and local departments may, through applicable procurement laws and regulations, engage the services of public and private organizations to operate VIEW and to provide services incident to such operation.
C. All VIEW participants shall be under the direction and supervision of a case manager.
D. The Department shall ensure that participants are assigned to one of the following employment categories in priority order not less than ninety days after TANF eligibility determination:
1. Unsubsidized private-sector employment;
2. Subsidized employment, as follows:
(a) The Department shall conduct a program in accordance with this section and any applicable federal waivers that shall be known as the Full Employment Program (FEP). FEP replaces TANF and food stamp benefits with subsidized employment. Persons not able to find unsubsidized employment who are otherwise eligible for both TANF and food stamp benefits shall participate in FEP unless exempted by this chapter. FEP will assign participants to and subsidize wage-paying private-sector jobs designed to increase the participants' self-sufficiency and improve their competitive position in the work force.
(b) The Department shall administer a wage fund which shall be used exclusively to meet the necessary expenditures of FEP. Funds to operate FEP, drawn from funds appropriated for expenditure by or apportioned to Virginia for operation of the TANF and food stamp programs, shall be deposited in this pool. All payments by the Department to participating employers for FEP participants shall be made from the pool.
(c) Participants in FEP shall be placed in full-time employment when appropriate and shall be paid by the employer at an hourly rate not less than the federal or state minimum wage, whichever is higher. For each participant hour worked, the Department shall reimburse the employer the amount of the federal or state minimum wage and costs up to the available amount of the participant's combined value of TANF and food stamps. At no point shall a participant's spendable income received from wages and tax credits be less than the value of TANF and food stamps received prior to the work placement.
(d) Every employer subject to the Virginia unemployment insurance tax shall be eligible for assignment of FEP participants, but no employer shall be required to utilize such participants. Employers shall ensure that jobs made available to FEP participants are in conformity with § 3304 (a) (5) of the Federal Unemployment Tax Act. FEP participants cannot be used to displace regular workers.
(e) FEP employers shall:
(i) Endeavor to make FEP placements positive learning and training experiences;
(ii) Provide on-the-job training to the degree necessary for the participants to perform their duties;
(iii) Pay wages to participants at the same rate that they are paid to other employees performing the same type of work and having similar experience and employment tenure;
(iv) Provide sick leave, holiday and vacation benefits to participants to the same extent and on the same basis that they are provided to other employees performing the same type of work and having similar employment experience and tenure;
(v) Maintain health, safety and working conditions at or above levels generally acceptable in the industry and no less than those in which other employees perform the same type of work;
(vi) Provide workers' compensation coverage for participants;
(vii) Encourage volunteer mentors from among their other employees to assist participants in becoming oriented to work and the workplace; and
(viii) Sign an agreement with the local department outlining the employer requirements to participate in FEP. All agreements shall include notice of the employer's obligation to repay FEP reimbursements in the event the employer violates Program rules.
(f) As a condition of FEP participation, employers shall be prohibited from discriminating against any person, including program participants, on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, or disability;
3. Part-time or temporary employment; or
4. Community work experience, as follows:
(a) The Department and local departments shall expand the community work experience program authorized under the Job Opportunity and Basic Skills Training Program (JOBS) to include job placement in community work experience programs which serve a useful public purpose as provided in § 482 (f) of the Social Security Act.
(b) The Department and local departments shall work with other state, regional and local agencies and governments in developing job placements. Placements shall be selected to provide skills and serve a public function. Program participants shall not displace regular workers.
(c) The number of hours per week for participants shall be determined by combining the total dollar amount of TANF and food stamps and dividing by the minimum wage with a maximum of a work week of thirty-two hours, of which up to eight hours of employment-related education and training may substitute for work experience employment.
E. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections A and D, if a local department determines that a VIEW participant is in need of job skills and would benefit from immediate job skills training, it may, with the participant's consent, exempt the participant from job search requirements and place the participant in a vocational educational program targeted to skills required for particular employment opportunities in the locality if the participant meets two or more of the criteria specified in this subsection. Eligible participants include those with problems related to obtaining and retaining employment, such as participants (i) with less than a high school education, (ii) whose reading or math skills are at or below the eighth grade level, (iii) who have not retained a job for a period of at least six months during the prior two years, or (iv) who are in a treatment program for a substance abuse problem or are receiving services through a family violence treatment program. The vocational educational program shall be for a minimum of thirty hours per week. Prior to placing the VIEW participant in the vocational educational program, the local department shall have a memorandum of understanding with an employer that such participant will be placed, if qualified and the employer has an opening, in a job with the employer at the conclusion of the program. The VIEW participant shall be required to work an average of eight hours per week during the vocational educational program in part-time or temporary employment or community work experience. The VIEW participant may continue in the vocational educational program for as long as the local department determines he is progressing satisfactorily and to the extent permitted by the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-193), as amended.
F. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections A and D, persons eligible to participate in the programs included in the From Welfare to Work: The Virginia Independence Program, as defined in Chapter 6.5 (§ 63.1-133.41 et seq.) of this title, and those persons eligible to participate in job skills training programs, pursuant to subsection E of this section, shall also be eligible to participate in approved projects established through the Economic and Employment Improvement Program for Disadvantaged Persons of Article 2.1 (§ 23-220.5 et seq.) of Chapter 16 of Title 23.
F.G. Participants may be re-evaluated after a period determined by the local
department and re-assigned to another work component. In addition, the number of hours worked may be
reduced by the local department so that a participant may complete additional
training and/or education to further his employability.
G.H. Local departments shall be authorized to sanction participants up to the
full amount of the TANF grant and food stamps allotment for noncompliance.
H.I. VIEW participants shall not be assigned to projects which require that
they travel unreasonable distances from their homes or remain away from their homes overnight without
their consent.
Any injury to a VIEW participant by accident arising out of and in the course of community work experience shall be covered by the participant's existing Medicaid coverage. If a community work experience participant is unable to work due to such an accident, his status shall be reviewed to determine whether he is eligible for an exemption from the limitation on TANF financial assistance.
A community work experience participant who becomes incapacitated for thirty days or more shall be eligible for TANF financial assistance for the duration of the incapacity, if otherwise eligible.
The State Board shall promulgate regulations providing for the accrual of paid sick leave or other equivalent mechanism for community work experience participants.
2. That §§ 2.1-710.1, 2.1-710.2, and 2.1-710.3 of Chapter 42 of Title 2.1 of the Code of Virginia are repealed.