Author Archives: win-admin

The short session of the North Carolina General Assembly has adjourned temporarily. They are scheduled to return later the week of August 11th to address any vetoes issued by the governor, then again in November to deal with Medicaid reform. However, Senator Berger has said the Senate has no plans to return later this week and is only scheduled to come back in November. So it remains to be seen whether the biggest bill vetoed—unemployment insurance reform—will be overridden.

The North Carolina budget was signed by Gov. McCrory earlier this month. However, there is little offered in the way of information or direction on Workforce Development. In fact, the only mention of Economic Development in the new budget pertains to transportation. $3,346,215 in nonrecurring funds and $4,036,171 in recurring funds has been allocated for the purpose of “prioritized transportation.” The funds are set aside for infrastructure improvement to expedite commercial growth and job crea more

On July 9th, the House passed the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), bipartisan, bicameral legislation reauthorizing the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) on a bipartisan basis, 415-6. The legislation, authored by Senators Harkin, Alexander, Murray, and Isakson and Representatives Kline, Miller, Foxx, and Hinojosa, was previously approved overwhelmingly by the Senate, 95-3. It now moves to the President’s desk for his signature.

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The Senate has passed the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), bipartisan, bicameral legislation to reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act (WIA). WIOA passed the Senate on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis, 95-3. The legislation authored by Senators Harkin, Alexander, Murray, and Isakson and Representatives Kline, Miller, Foxx, and Hinojosa will now move to the House.

There were 2 amendments that were debated prior to the vote on H.R. 803 (WIOA bill) and both were defeated. The bill will now go over to the House and could come up for a vote when the House returns from the Fourth of July Recess, although exact timing is unclear.

WIOA is the largest federal funding source for workforce development activities in all 50 states and reauthorizes the outdated Workforce Investment Act (WIA), a nearly $3 billion-a-year program that funds critical job training programs for displaced adults and youth.

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Senate leadership reached an agreement to move the Workforce Investment and Opportunity Act (WIOA) forward for Floor action,  expected this week. The agreement lays out terms for the consideration of the bill on the Senate Floor, to include a small handful of amendments that will be offered, which will significantly limit Floor debate.

The Senate will proceed to consideration of H.R. 803, at which point a Murray-Isakson-Harkin-Alexander amendment in the nature of a substitute will be considered, with the following amendments in order to the substitute:

• Flake amendment
• Lee amendment
• A managers’ technical amendment

There will be 10 minutes for debate equally divided and controlled between the two Leaders, or their designees, on each of the above amendments.  Upon the use or yielding back of debate time, the Senate will proceed to vote in relation to the amendments, in the order listed, with no second-degree amendments in order.  more

Leaders from the House and Senate introduced the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) that represents a compromise between the SKILLS Act (H.R. 803) and the Workforce Investment Act of 2013 (S. 1356) which both passed out of their respective chambers or committees in 2013.

The press release can be found here.

Leaders from both sides and parties (including NC’s Representative Virginia Foxx) are urging their colleagues and all parties to support this legislation.

The key areas for changes to the Workforce Development System include:

• Eliminates 15 programs; 14 within WIA and one higher education program.
• Applies one set of accountability metrics to every federal workforce program under the bill.
• Requires states to produce one strategic plan describing how they will provide training, employment services, adult education an more
  

The News & Observer posted this article on April 14th:

Gov. Pat McCrory and Commerce Secretary Sharon Decker announced the launch of a new workforce development initiative at a Caterpillar facility in Sanford Monday.

The initiative, NCWorks, is a portal designed to connect businesses in the state with the employees they are seeking. Will Collins will be executive director of NCWorks, a position that is designed to better coordinate the needs of employers with community colleges in the state.

The NCWorks plan is expected to be developed over the next 12 months. In a press release, the McCrory administration said the aim is to get a flow of timely data from industry to learn what workforce training programs are most effective.

A spokesman for the governor wasn’t able to immediately say how much is being spent on the initiative.

Also in attendance at Monday’s event in Sanford were Scott Ralls, president of the North Carolina Community College more