WIA State Plans

Summary of State Plan Status

• 20 States have begun WIA Implementation
  
  
• 2 States fully approved: Vermont and Utah
  
  
• 3 Transition States: Florida, Kentucky, and Texas with expected full implementation on January 1, 2000
  
  
• 2 States approved for boards only: Illinois and Wisconsin
  
  
• 8 Transition Plans: Minnesota, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Puerto Rico
  
  
• 5 Unified Transition Plans: Indiana, Louisiana, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee

Noteworthy Activities

• OGCM staff met with the OIG to arrange for a four site "field test" of revised WIA admin cost definition in preparation for inclusion in WIA final regulations. The anticipated sites are Fort Wayne, Charlotte, Lowell, MA, and Montana.
  
  
• There will be an Internal ETA State Planning Guidance training session held in Chicago on Monday, December 13th - 15th. The training will cover several issues related to the review and approval of WIA Strategic Five Year State Plans as well as Unified Plans. A demonstration of the emerging Electronic Plan Review Guide will be conducted for Regional Plan review staff.
  
  
• Performance Accountability Team presented proposed policies for WIA in four product areas to participants of the National Governors Association Policy Forum. The four areas are, Performance and Core Measurements, Incentives and Sanctions, Negotiating Performance Levels, and Record Keeping and Reporting on WIA.
  
  
• Other workshops at the NGA Policy Forum were conducted by ETA staff on the One Stop Operating System, Unified Planning, and Eligible Training Provider systems.
  
  
• Summary Papers were developed for the NGA Policy Forum on Performance Accountability (above), Proposed Changes to the Planning Guidance, a preview summary of the proposed changes to the IFR, and finally on the newly revised Administrative Cost policy. The papers are also being disseminated to the Regional Offices, to the other Intergovernmental Organizations, and are posted on the website.
  
  
• A new page was added to the website for the benefit of State and Local Board members, to facilitate the State Planning process.
  
  
• The WIA Implementation Team and the WIA Policy Team discussed the upcoming report to the Deputy Secretary as well as an issue that is rising on Summer employment in 2000. A number of local areas have expressed concern that they are not fully prepared to implement new WIA requirements for Youth programming beginning on July 1st, and that the projected size of their year 2000 summer programs will be greatly reduced. The Office of Youth Programs and the Youth Policy Team will be working on this issue in the upcoming weeks.

Technical Assistance Activities

• The Great Lakes Employment and Training Association (GLETA) will hold a Leadership Conference on December 6th through 7th in Chicago, IL. The Leadership Conference will focus on the broader role of the Boards and Executive staff in terms of a Community Planning Process.
  
  
• The New York Association of Training and employment Professionals (NYATEP) have compiled a sampling of Memorandums of Understanding and resource agreements. State and local area postings of MOU's or a WIA resource can be e-mailed to ICESA at: [email protected]. The ICESA website is also linked to our< us.workforce.org> site.
  
  
• A new WIA Implementation support publication entitled, "Marketing the Employment Revolution" is available for reading online at: http://www.cobel.com/EmploymentRevolution
  
  
• A new WIA Implementation support publication entitled, "Marketing the Employment Revolution" is available for reading online at: http://www.cobel.com/EmploymentRevolution

Calendar of Significant Activities Expected During Coming Weeks