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References: The Department of Labor Appropriations Act of 1997 (Public Law 104-208 sections 101(e) and 105); Training and Employment Information Notice No. 11-96, Statutory and Regulatory Waiver Authority of the JTPA and the Wagner-Peyser Act. Background: The Department of Labor Appropriations Act of 1997, (Public Law 104-208) contains three provisions relating to waivers: a. general Statutory/Regulatory Waiver Authority for JTPA & Wagner-Peyser; b. the Work-Flex Partnership Demonstration Program; and c. continuation of the existing waiver authority for the State of Oregon. These guidelines do not address the continuation of the Oregon waiver provision or the Work-Flex Partnership Demonstration Program. A separate TEGL will be issued on Work-Flex. The Statutory/Regulatory Waiver provision gives the Secretary authority to grant both statutory and regulatory waivers of JTPA (Titles I-III) and Wagner-Peyser Act (Sections 8-10) and contains "exclusions," i.e., provisions that may not be waived. The general waiver authority is for a period of one program year beginning July 1, 1997 and provides: increased flexibility to States and local areas in implementing reforms to the workforce development system in exchange for State and local accountability for results including improved performance. an important opportunity for States and localities to begin or continue to organize services into a workforce development system through One-Stop Career Centers and School-to-Work systems which enhance the training and employment opportunities available to adults and youth. Principles for Further Reforms of the Job Training System: The Department of Labor's (DOL) guiding principles for providing flexibility through statutory/regulatory waivers to the State job training systems include: Individual Opportunity and Customer Choice. Empowering participants who need employment and training services with the resources and information needed to make good choices. Leaner Government. Replacing separate programs with streamlined systems for youth and adults, organized within the School-to-Work and One-Stop systems. Greater Accountability. Ensuring a clear focus on results, not process, through mutually agreed upon improved performance outcomes. State and Local Flexibility.

Background: The 1997 Department of Labor's Appropriations Act (Public Law 104-208) authorizes the Workforce Flexibility (Work-Flex) Partnership Demonstration Program. This directive transmits the Federal Register Notice describing the process for submittal of applications. The appropriations legislation provides that the Secretary of Labor may authorize a Work-Flex demonstration program for provision of workforce employment and training activities in "...not more than six States, of which at least three States shall each have populations not in excess of 3,500,000...". The Work-Flex waiver may be for a period of up to five years. Under this provision, the Secretary would authorize a State "to waive any statutory or regulatory requirement applicable to service delivery areas or substate areas within the State under Titles I-III of the Job Training Partnership Act", with certain exceptions and "any of the statutory or regulatory requirements of sections 8-10 of the Wagner-Peyser Act". The legislation authorizes the granting of the Work-Flex waiver to a State pursuant to a plan submitted by the State and approved by the Secretary. Preference is to be given to States that have been designated as Ed-Flex Partnership States under section 311(e) of Public Law 103-227. The list of current Ed-Flex Partnership States is attached. The Federal Register Notice which announces this application process is also attached. Unlike the legislative provisions for Ed-Flex, the legislation for Work-Flex does not permit a State to waive statutory requirements that apply to the State. However, such authority is provided under the general waiver provisions. The general waiver authority is for a period of one program year beginning July 1, 1997 and provides: - increased flexibility to States and local areas in implementing reforms to the workforce development system in exchange for State and local accountability for results, including improved performance; - an important opportunity for States and localities to begin or continue to organize services into a workforce development system through the concepts of One-Stop Career Centers and School-to-Work systems which enhance the training and employment opportunities available to adults and youth. Process for Submitting Applications: Work-Flex applications will be accepted by the Department until May 30, 1997. After that date, proposals will be accepted only if: (1) fewer than six States apply; (2) fewer than three States with a population under 3,500,000 apply; or (3) fewer than six applications received by that date are approved by the Secretary. Please note that a total of six States will be designated under Work-Flex. Additional designations, up to a total of six States, may be made in FY 1998, only if fewer than six applications are approved in FY 1997, and if proposed language in the 1998 appropriation request is enacted. States may submit both a Work-Flex application and a general waiver request at the same time. While there are differences in time coverage and exceptions for the two sets of waiver authorities, a combined request would permit a State to obtain waivers for both the State level and the service delivery area for a minimum of one year. We are entertaining joint submissions to permit streamlined submission and to facilitate the objectives of the overall waiver authority. If the general waiver authority is continued, then subsequent approvals of the State waiver requests could be continued. OMB Reporting Burden: Persons are not required to respond to this collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. Public reporting of information is estimated to average 80 hours per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information.

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Background and Information: The Significant Local Offices and Bilingual Offices, PY 1997 list (Enclosure B, Section VI, Table 4) provides data which indicates the local offices where Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers comprise 10 percent or more of the total new or renewal applications. Action Required: State Liaisons are requested to replace the Table 4 attached to TEGL 4-95, Ch. 3 with the attached updated Table 4.

References: The Wagner-Peyser Act, as amended (P.L. 97-300); 20 CFR 652; TEGL No. 4-95 and TEGL No. 4-95 Changes 1 - 4. Background: The Secretary of Labor is issuing final planning allotments for each State's share of PY 1997 funds for basic labor exchange activities. These allotments (Attachment I) are based on the FY 1997 appropriation of $761,735,000 and are distributed by the statutory formula described in Section 6 of the Act. The allotments will be published in the Federal Register. The data used are Calendar Year 1996 averages of civilian labor force (CLF) and number of unemployed individuals. Section 6(b)(4) of the Act authorizes the Secretary of Labor to reserve up to 3 percent of the total fund availability to assure that each State will have sufficient resources to maintain statewide employment service (ES) activities. The setaside for distribution through an administrative formula for this program year is $22,312,050. The 3 percent distribution is included in the total final allotment. The setaside was distributed in two steps to States whose relative share of resources declined from the previous year. In Step 1, those States with a CLF below one million and that are also below the median CLF density were held harmless at 100 percent of their prior year relative share of resources. The remainder was distributed in Step 2 in pro rata shares to all other States that lost in relative share from the prior year but did not meet the size criteria for Step 1. Ten percent of the total sums allotted to each State shall be reserved for use by the Governor to provide performance incentives for public ES offices; services for groups with special needs; and for the extra costs of exemplary models for delivering job services. Differences between preliminary and final planning estimates are caused by the use of Calendar Year data as opposed to the earlier data used for preliminary planning estimates. Postage Costs: Postage costs incurred by States during the conduct of ES activities are billed directly to the Department of Labor by the U.S. Postal Service. The total planning estimate does not include $18,000,000 of the total amount available, which is withheld for the payment of the States' ES penalty mail costs.