29 U.S.C. § 3225a — Addressing economic and workforce impacts of the opioid crisis

(a) Definitions. Unless this section expressly says otherwise, “core program,” “individual with a barrier to employment,” “local area,” “local board,” “one-stop operator,” “outlying area,” “State,” “State board,” and “supportive services” have the meanings given those terms in section 3 of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). This section does not define those terms. (2) “Education provider” means either: (A) an institution of higher education as defined in title 20, section 1001; or (B) a postsecondary vocational institution as defined in title 20, section 1002(c). (3) “Eligible entity” means: (A) a State workforce agency; (B) an outlying area; or (C) a Tribal entity. (4) “Participating partnership” means a partnership that: (A) is shown by a written contract or agreement; and (B) includes a local board receiving a subgrant under subsection (d) and at least one of the following members: (i) the eligible entity; (ii) a treatment provider; (iii) an employer or industry organization; (iv) an education provider; (v) a legal-service or law-enforcement organization; (vi) a faith-based or community-based organization; (vii) another State or local agency, including a county or local government; (viii) another organization that the local board decides is necessary; or (ix) an Indian Tribe or tribal organization. (5) “Program participant” means an individual who: (A) belongs to one of the worker populations described in subsection (e)(2) and served by a participating partnership through this pilot program; and (B) enrolls with the applicable participating partnership to receive any service described in subsection (e)(3). (6) A “provider of peer recovery support services” is a provider that delivers peer recovery support services through an organization described in title 42, section 290ee-2(a). (7) “Secretary” means the Secretary of Labor. (8) “State workforce agency” means the lead State agency responsible for administering a program under chapter 2 or 3 of subtitle B of title I of WIOA. (9) “Substance use disorder” has the meaning given that term by the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use. This section does not otherwise define the term. (10) “Treatment provider”: (A) means a health-care provider that (i) offers services for treating substance use disorders and is licensed under applicable State law to provide those services; and (ii) accepts health insurance for those services, including coverage under title XIX of the Social Security Act; and (B) may include (i) a nonprofit provider of peer recovery support services; (ii) a community health-care provider; (iii) a federally qualified health center as defined in title 42, section 1395x; (iv) an Indian health program as defined in section 3 of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, including one that serves an urban center as defined in that section; or (v) a Native Hawaiian health center as defined in title 42, section 11711. (11) “Tribal entity” includes an Indian Tribe, tribal organization, Indian-controlled organization serving Indians, Native Hawaiian organization, or Alaska Native entity, as those terms are defined or used in section 166 of WIOA. (b) Pilot program and grants authorized. (1) The Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, must carry out a pilot program addressing economic and workforce impacts associated with a high rate of a substance use disorder. To carry out the pilot program, the Secretary must competitively award grants to eligible entities so they can make subgrants to local boards addressing those economic and workforce impacts. (2) Each grant must be at least $500,000 and no more than $5,000,000 for a fiscal year. (c) Grant applications. (1) An eligible entity applying for a grant must submit an application to the Secretary at the time, in the form, and in the manner the Secretary reasonably requires. The application must include the information in this subsection. (2)(A) The application must include information showing that opioid-abuse or other substance-use-disorder problems have significantly affected the community. It must (i) identify the counties, communities, regions, or local areas that were significantly affected and will be served by the grant. Each is called a “service area” in this section; (ii) for each service area, show an increase in those problems equal to or greater than the national increase between (I) 1999 and (II) 2016 or the latest year for which data are available; and (iii) describe how the eligible entity will prioritize support for significantly affected service areas. (B) To show the required increase, the eligible entity may use data about (i) the incidence or prevalence of opioid abuse and other substance use disorders; (ii) the age-adjusted rate of drug-overdose deaths determined by the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; (iii) nonfatal hospitalizations related to opioid abuse or other substance use disorders; (iv) arrests, convictions, or another relevant law-enforcement statistic that reasonably shows an increase in opioid abuse or another substance use disorder; or (v) for a Tribal entity, other alternative relevant data the Secretary considers appropriate. (C) The application may describe how the proposed services and activities align with the applicable State, outlying-area, or Tribal strategy for addressing the problems in specific service areas or across the State, outlying area, or Tribal land. (3)(A) The application must include information showing that a high rate of a substance use disorder has caused, or is coincident to, (i) an economic or employment downturn in the service area, or (ii) persistent economically depressed conditions in the service area. (B) To meet that requirement, the eligible entity may use: (i) documentation of any layoff, announced future layoff, legacy-industry decline, decrease in an employment or labor-market participation rate, or economic impact, whether or not the result described here is overtly related to a high rate of a substance use disorder; (ii) documentation showing decreased economic activity related to, caused by, or contributing to a high rate of a substance use disorder, including how the service area has been or will be affected; (iii) economic indicators, labor-market analyses, public announcements, and demographic and industry data; (iv) information about rapid-response activities as defined in WIOA section 3, including demographic data gathered through employer or worker surveys or other methods; (v) data or documentation, beyond anecdotal evidence, showing that employers have difficulty filling job vacancies because skilled workers cannot pass a drug test; or (vi) any additional relevant data or information about the service area’s economy, workforce, or another aspect of the service area. (d) Subgrant authorization and application process. (1)(A) An eligible entity receiving a grant under subsection (b): (i) may use no more than 5 percent of the grant funds for the grant’s administrative costs; (ii) if it is an eligible entity described in subsection (a)(3)(A) or (B), must use the remaining grant funds to make subgrants to local entities in the service area to carry out the services and activities in subsection (e); and (iii) if it is an eligible entity described in subsection (a)(3)(C), must use the remaining grant funds to carry out those services and activities itself. (B) When making subgrants, the eligible entity must ensure, to the extent practicable, that subgrants are distributed equitably based on (i) geography, such as urban and rural distribution; and (ii) significantly impacted service areas described in subsection (c)(2). (C) An eligible entity making subgrants must distribute the subgrant funds to a local board receiving a subgrant by the later of (i) 90 days after the Secretary makes the funds available to the eligible entity, or (ii) 15 days after the eligible entity makes the subgrant under subparagraph (A)(ii). (2)(A) A local board seeking a subgrant must submit an application at the time and in the manner the eligible entity reasonably requires. It must include the information in this paragraph. (B)(i) The application must analyze the local board’s estimated performance in carrying out the proposed services and activities. (I) The analysis must be based on (aa) the primary indicators of performance described in WIOA section 116(c)(1)(A)(i), to assess the estimated effectiveness of the proposed services and activities, including the estimated number of individuals with a substance use disorder who may be served by those services and activities; (bb) the local board’s record of serving individuals with a barrier to employment; and (cc) the local board’s ability to establish a participating partnership. (II) The analysis may include or use (aa) data from the National Center for Health Statistics of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; (bb) data from the Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration; (cc) State vital statistics; (dd) municipal police-department records; (ee) reports from local coroners; or (ff) other relevant data. (ii) If the local board proposes to serve the population described in subsection (e)(2)(B), the application must demonstrate the workforce shortage in the professional area the subgrant will address. That area may include substance-use-disorder treatment and related services, non-addictive pain therapy and pain management, mental-health-care treatment, emergency response, or mental health care. The application must include information that can show the shortage, such as (I) the distance between (aa) communities affected by opioid abuse or another substance use disorder and (bb) facilities or professionals offering services in the professional area; or (II) the maximum capacity of facilities or professionals to serve individuals in an affected community, or increases in arrests related to opioid abuse or another substance use disorder, overdose deaths, or nonfatal overdose emergencies in the community. (e) Subgrant services and activities. (1) Each local board receiving a subgrant must carry out the services and activities in this subsection through a participating partnership. (2) The participating partnership must choose to provide services and activities to one or both of these worker populations: (A) workers, including dislocated workers, individuals with barriers to employment, new workforce entrants, and employed or underemployed incumbent workers, each of whom (i) is directly or indirectly affected by a high rate of a substance use disorder; and (ii) voluntarily confirms that the worker, or a friend or family member of the worker, has a history of opioid abuse or another substance use disorder; or (B) workers, including those same categories, who (i) seek to move into professions that support individuals with a substance use disorder or at risk of developing one, such as professions providing (I) substance-use-disorder treatment and related services; (II) services provided through peer-recovery-support-service providers; (III) non-addictive pain therapy and pain management; (IV) emergency response; or (V) mental health care; and (ii) need new or upgraded skills to better serve struggling or at-risk individuals. (3) Each participating partnership must use subgrant funds for one or more of the following: (A) Engaging employers to (i) learn employers’ skill and hiring requirements; (ii) learn what support employers need to hire and retain program participants and other individuals with a substance use disorder, and to commit to testing creative employment solutions for them; (iii) connect employers and workers to on-the-job or customized training before or after a layoff to help reemployment; (iv) connect employers with an education provider to develop classroom instruction complementing on-the-job learning; (v) help employers develop the curriculum for a work-based-learning program; (vi) help employers employ program participants or those other individuals in a work-based-learning program for a transitional period before hiring them full time for at least 30 hours a week; or (vii) connect employers to program participants receiving outpatient treatment and job training at the same time. (B) Screening services, which may include (i) using an evidence-based screening method to screen each individual seeking participation in the pilot program to determine whether that individual has a substance use disorder; (ii) assessing each such individual to determine the services needed to obtain or retain employment, including strengths and general work readiness; or (iii) accepting walk-ins or referrals from employers, labor organizations, or other entities recommending individuals for the program. (C) Developing an individual treatment and employment plan for each program participant, coordinated as appropriate with other programs serving the participant, such as WIOA core programs. The plan must include a case manager who works with the participant to develop the plan. The plan may include (i) identifying employment and career goals; (ii) exploring career pathways leading to in-demand industries and sectors, as determined by the State board and the head of the State workforce agency or, when applicable, the Tribal entity; (iii) setting achievement objectives for those goals; or (iv) developing the combination of services needed to achieve those goals. (D) For a partnership serving subsection (e)(2)(A) participants with a substance use disorder, providing individualized and group outpatient treatment and recovery services during the day and evening and on weekends. The services (i) must be based on a model using combined behavioral interventions and other evidence-based or evidence-informed interventions; and (ii) may include (I) health, mental-health, addiction, or other outpatient treatment that may affect a substance use disorder and co-occurring conditions; (II) drug testing for a current substance use disorder before enrollment in career or training services or before employment; (III) links to community services, including services from partner organizations designed to support participants; or (IV) health-care referrals, including referrals to substance-use-disorder treatment and mental-health services. (E) Supportive services, including (i) coordinated wraparound services providing maximum support to help participants maintain employment and recovery for at least 12 months, as appropriate; (ii) help establishing eligibility for Federal, State, Tribal, and local programs providing health, mental-health, vocational, housing, transportation, or social services, or services through early-childhood-education programs as defined in title 20, section 1003; (iii) services from peer-recovery-support-service providers; (iv) networking and mentoring opportunities; or (v) other supportive services the local board finds necessary. (F) Career, training, and related services, provided at the same time as or in sequence with services under subparagraphs (B) through (E). These include: (i) services for participants before employment, which may include (I) initial education and skills assessments; (II) traditional classroom training funded through individual training accounts under WIOA chapter 3 of subtitle B of title I; (III) services promoting employability skills such as punctuality, personal-maintenance skills, and professional conduct; (IV) in-depth interviews and evaluations to identify employment barriers and develop individual employment plans; (V) career planning that includes (aa) career pathways leading to in-demand, high-wage jobs; and (bb) job coaching, job matching, and job-placement services; (VI) payments and fees for employment- and training-related applications, tests, and certifications; or (VII) another appropriate career or training service described in WIOA section 134(c); (ii) services during participants’ first 6 months of employment to ensure job retention, which may include (I) case management and support services, including continuing clause (i) services; (II) continuing the clause (i) skills training and career and technical education in collaboration with employers; (III) mentoring and job-retention support; or (IV) targeted training for managers, workers working with participants such as mentors, and human-resources representatives in the business employing them; and (iii) services helping participants maintain employment for at least 12 months, as appropriate. (G) Leading efforts in the service area to identify and promote proven and promising strategies and initiatives for meeting employers’ and program participants’ needs. (4) A participating partnership may not use more than 10 percent of subgrant funds for (A) its administrative costs; (B) treatment and recovery services described in paragraph (3)(D); or (C) supportive services described in paragraph (3)(E) for program participants. (f) Performance accountability. (1) The Secretary must establish quarterly reporting requirements for grant and subgrant recipients. To the extent practicable, the requirements must be based on WIOA’s performance-accountability system and, for a grant to a Tribal entity described in subsection (a)(3)(C), WIOA section 166(h). They must include the indicators described in WIOA section 116(c)(1)(A)(i) and the requirements for local-area performance reports under section 116(d). (2)(A) The Secretary must ensure an independent evaluation of the pilot to determine its effect on employment of individuals with substance use disorders. The Secretary must enter into an agreement with eligible grant recipients requiring them to pay all or part of the evaluation. (B) The evaluation must use experimental designs with random assignment or, when random assignment is not feasible, other reliable, evidence-based research methods allowing the strongest possible causal conclusions. (g) Funding. (1) “Covered fiscal year” means any fiscal year from 2019 through 2030. (2) Subject to paragraph (4), and despite WIOA section 132(a)(2)(A) and subtitle D, the Secretary may use the following funds to carry out this pilot for a covered fiscal year: (A) funds made available for WIOA section 170 for that fiscal year; (B) funds made available for section 170 that remain available for that fiscal year; and (C) funds remaining available under WIOA section 172(f). (3) Funds appropriated under WIOA section 136(c) and made available for section 170 for a fiscal year remain available for use under paragraph (2) in a later fiscal year until spent. (4) The Secretary may not use more than $100,000,000 of the funds described in paragraph (2) for any covered fiscal year under this section.