“To amend the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act to train individuals in construction trades and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section amends Job Corps provisions (29 U.S.C. 3198) under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA)—which provides intensive education, career and technical training, and related services to at-risk youth ages 16-24—to (1) require the Secretary of Labor to prioritize expanding training programs in residential construction trades (e.g., carpentry, plumbing, electrical, masonry, HVAC); and (2) establish a grant program, to be implemented not later than one year after enactment in consultation with the Treasury Secretary, under which residential construction firms receive $5,000 grants for hiring a Job Corps residential construction graduate within six months of program completion and employing the graduate for 12 consecutive months, with eligibility verified by documentation such as W-2 forms or payroll tax filings. This section further amends WIOA Subtitle C (29 U.S.C. 3191 et seq.) to (1) insert a new section 162 requiring the Secretary to facilitate agreements with large residential construction trade associations for accepting Job Corps graduates into related registered apprenticeship programs and, not later than 24 months after enactment and every 24 months thereafter, to ensure workforce councils review and update residential construction curricula to incorporate new technologies (redesignating former section 162 as 163); and (2) authorize $200 million for FY2026 to carry out the new grant program, training prioritization, and industry partnership activities.