By Josie Hathway
April 25, 2005

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee plans to mark up legislation to reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) at the end of April, possibly on April 27. Under the leadership of HELP Committee Chair Senator Michael B. Enzi (WY) and Ranking Member Senator Edward M. Kennedy (MA), the Committee and staff are moving ahead with WIA reauthorization in a bipartisan manner. The reauthorization is strongly supported by the Conference of Mayors. The legislation, the Lifelong Education Opportunities Act of 2005, S. 9, was introduced on January 25 and is similar to the bipartisan bill passed by unanimous consent in the Senate in the 108th Congress. S. 9 maintains the current governance structure of WIA. This includes the authority of local elected officials and their workforce investment boards over the local workforce system and does not provide additional waiver authority for states.

In preparation for the mark-up of S. 9, the HELP Committee held a hearing on Life Long Learning on April 14. Testifying before the Committee were Department of Labor Secretary Elaine Chao and Department of Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius and Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher.

The House of Representatives passed March 2 WIA reauthorization legislation, the Job Training Improvement Act, H.R. 27 offered by Representative Buck McKeon (CA), Chairman of the 21st Century Competitiveness Subcommittee. If the Senate moves forward as planned, a conference on WIA reauthorization could be held in the summer.