House Passes WIA Reauthorization

On March 15, 2013, the House passed the Supporting Knowledge and Investing in Lifelong Skills (SKILLS) Act (H.R. 803), which would reauthorize and restructure several federal workforce programs under the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA; P.L. 105-220). Specifically, the bill would consolidate several workforce and job training programs across federal agencies into a Workforce Investment Fund (WIF), which would operate as a block grant to states. H.R. 803 differs slightly from the reauthorization bill approved at the committee level last year. This Issue Brief examines those differences and provides updated estimates for fiscal year (FY) 2014 state allocations under the new WIF program.