42 U.S.C. § 290ee–8 — Career Act; treatment, recovery, and workforce support grants

(a) In general: The Secretary of Health and Human Services, working with the Secretary of Labor, must run a program. The program helps people in substance use disorder treatment and recovery live on their own and join the workforce. (b) Grants authorized: The Secretary picks winners through competition. Each grant lasts up to 5 years. Groups getting grants must run evidence-based programs that help people in recovery live independently and work. These groups must team up, as it fits, with Indian Tribes or tribal organizations, state and local workforce boards, the lead state workforce agency, and state substance use disorder agencies. (c) Priority: The Secretary decides which states get priority first, using a formula based on data from 2018 through 2022. Here's how the formula works. Step 1: look at three rates for each state — (A) the state's average age-adjusted rate of drug overdose deaths (using CDC data, including 2022 provisional data if needed); (B) the state's average unemployment rate (from the Bureau of Labor Statistics); and (C) the state's average labor force participation rate, where a lower rate counts against the state. Step 2: weight each rate — the overdose death rate counts for 70 percent of the score, the unemployment rate counts for 15 percent, and the labor force participation rate counts for 15 percent. States with the worst combined score get priority. (d) Preference: Within a state, the Secretary favors areas with the highest death rate linked to substance use disorder. (e) Definitions: (1) "Eligible entity" means a group that offers treatment or recovery services for substance use disorders and partners with local or state stakeholders — such as employers, community groups, the local workforce board, governments, or Indian Tribes or tribal organizations — to support recovery, independent living, and work. (2) "Indian Tribe" and "tribal organization" mean what those terms mean under section 5304 of title 25. (3) "State" means only the 50 states and the District of Columbia. (f) Applications: An eligible entity applies the way the Secretary requires, and must show it can partner with local stakeholders to: (1) find gaps in the workforce caused by substance use disorders; (2) coordinate with statewide job-training activities to help people in recovery move into jobs, including career services and training services; and (3) help employers tell their own employees about available resources. (g) Use of funds: (1) A grantee must use the money for at least one of these: (A) hiring case managers, care coordinators, peer recovery specialists, or similar staff to support treatment, recovery, and rehabilitation, and to prevent relapse, repeat offenses, and overdose — including by building daily living skills and offering counseling and care coordination; (B) using new technology, including telemedicine; or (C) working with the state workforce agency or local board to provide short-term job-readiness training and training tied directly to local jobs. (2) Transportation: a grantee may spend up to 5 percent of its grant on transportation to work, job training, or substance use disorder services. (3) Limitation: the Secretary cannot require, or favor, spending on anything outside this list. (h) Support for state strategy: An applicant must explain how its plan fits the state's, territory's, or Tribe's overall strategy for these issues, and how it will work with existing systems. (i) Data reporting and program oversight: Grantees must report to the Secretary, covering: (1) the programs and activities the grant funded; (2) outcomes for the people served, including employment and earnings results tracked under a specific workforce law; and (3) anything else the Secretary needs to check compliance. (j) Reports to Congress: (1) Preliminary report — within 2 years after the first year of grants awarded before December 1, 2025, the Secretary must send Congress a preliminary report analyzing grantee reports. (2) Final report — by September 30, 2030, the Secretary must send Congress a final report describing how the money was used, including how many people got the job-training services described in subsection (g)(1)(C), evaluating how well the grantees' activities worked, and recommending best practices for helping people in recovery live independently and work. (k) Authorization of appropriations: Congress may spend $12,000,000 each year from fiscal year 2026 through 2030 on this program.