IAWP LEGISLATIVE INFORMATION September 2006 Archives Home Page ***Weekly Update*** From Legislative Committee Chair: Todd Kolden, Aberdeen Central Office Week of September 25, 2006 SENATORS SPECTER AND HARKIN SEEK MORE FUNDING FOR LABOR, HEALTH AND EDUCATION PROGRAMS • An effort is underway in the Senate to restore to the fiscal year 2005 level the amount budgeted for the appropriations bill that funds the workforce system. The bipartisan effort to increase funding is led by Senators Specter (R-PA) and Harkin (D-IA), the Chair and Ranking Member of the Senate Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS) and Education Appropriations Subcommittee. Senators Specter and Harkin are circulating a "dear-colleague" letter in the Senate to encourage their peers to support more funding overall for Labor, HHS and Education programs. Final decisions on fiscal year 2007 program spending are likely to occur the week of November 13 when Congress returns from its election recess. In advance of the November 13 session period, Congress is working to establish the parameters on spending it will use during negotiations. Determining parameters in advance of the post-election session will help streamline the decision-making process by establishing for conferees the total amount they may spend across domestic programs. • Though a restoration of funding to fiscal year 2005 levels does not guarantee additional revenue for the workforce system because Congress must determine how to spend the funds among Labor, HHS and Education programs - it could be helpful in preventing deep cuts approved by the House and Senate to Workforce Investment Act (WIA), Employment Service (ES) and One-Stop/Labor Market Information (LMI) and other workforce programs. • According to some on Capitol Hill, Congress will recess on September 29 after approving a continuing resolution (CR) to fund federal government operations through November 17. A CR is necessary because Congress will not approve all of its spending bills in advance of the new fiscal year beginning on October 1. The Congress will convene following the November 7 election on November 13 to wrap-up spending bills. Leaders of the Senate Majority have said they do not want a lengthy lame-duck session. Some Capitol Hill observers believe the 109th Congress will adjourn before Thanksgiving, leaving less than two weeks (November 13 through November 20) to resolve unfinished business this year. NASWA BOARD TERMINATES WRIS DATA SHARING AGREEMENT • NASWA President Roosevelt "Ted" Halley this week sent a letter to Employment and Training Administration (ETA) Assistant Secretary Emily DeRocco to inform her of the recent decision by the NASWA Board of Directors to terminate NASWA's involvement as a party to the Wage Record Interchange System (WRIS) Consolidated Data Sharing Agreement. The decision of the NASWA Board terminates effective September 30, 2006, NASWA's involvement in the agreement signed by NASWA and all contiguous states. The soon to be terminated agreement establishes and implements the operating conditions and procedures that govern the participation of the State Unemployment Insurance Agencies (SUIA), NASWA, and the state Performance Accountability and Customer Information Agencies (PACIA) in the WRIS and establishes conditions and procedures intended to protect the confidentiality of information disclosed among those participating in the WRIS. • The unanimous decision of the NASWA Board during its September 5, 2006 meeting in Boise, Idaho to terminate its involvement as a party to the agreement was made because the Board believes a lack of federal funding renders NASWA's fulfillment of governance responsibilities impracticable and could expose the Association to substantial risks for a failure to fulfill its obligations under the agreement. NASWA was fulfilling its responsibilities under a Statement of Work with ETA until July 3, 2006, when it notified the ETA that grant funds were exhausted and NASWA/CESER was forced to cease work. • Concern over ETA's decision to eliminate WRIS funding for governance and administration by NASWA was expressed previously in a letter dated August 4, 2006, from then NASWA President JoAnn Hammill to Assistant Secretary DeRocco. The letter included an attachment detailing why ETA should continue to fund NASWA to govern the WRIS and detailed as reasons the difficulties inherent in federal governance of a program of state data and NASWA's expertise on the WRIS. Assistant Secretary DeRocco responded to NASWA's August 4, 2006, letter in a letter dated August 31, 2006. It stated of the revised operation of WRIS "...the system will continue to be one that allows states to easily and securely exchange wage record information for performance reporting purposes." • WRIS is a clearinghouse through which states may obtain Unemployment Insurance wage records for individuals who have been employed in another state. WRIS data is confidential information consisting of eight consecutive quarters of employee wages and is used in aggregate form to measure performance of workforce system programs. Under the Statement of Work with ETA, NASWA is responsible for the governance of WRIS with the responsibility to monitor participants' compliance with its provisions for confidentiality.