WIA markup postponed, no new date set.

UPDATE 7/27/2011 – The Senate HELP Committee has "renoticed" their August 3rd executive session, removing the WIA reauthorization bill from the agenda. No new date has been set for markup of the bill. With WIA reauthorization now apparently stalled, and further funding cuts to workforce programs likely in Fiscal Year (FY) 2012, this raises difficult questions about the future of the nation's workforce investment system.

UPDATE 7/15/2011 – The Senate HELP Committee has rescheduled the the July 20 WIA markup; it is now set for August 3rd. We will provide additional updates as new information becomes available.

July 11, 2011

The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) has rescheduled a markup of a proposed Workforce Investment Act (WIA) reauthorization bill to Wednesday, July 20. The markup was originally scheduled for June 29. 
 
National Skills Coalition has posted the current staff discussion drafts for Titles I-V of the proposed legislation—released by the committee in June—as well as analysis of the draft bill. NSC has also provided recommendations to the HELP Committee to help ensure that the reauthorized WIA better addresses the skill requirements of workers and businesses in today's economy, with a focus on five key areas—sector partnerships, career pathways, credential measurement, system-wide measures, and the workforce innovation fund—along with detailed legislative language for implementing these recommendations. On June 28, NSC joined with more than forty other national organizations to commend the committee for bipartisan efforts to reauthorize WIA and to encourage swift committee consideration of the draft measure.

NSC will continue to monitor developments relating to the committee markup, and will provide analysis of the draft bill as new information becomes available. For the latest news, subscribe to NSC’s RSS feed or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.