119-hr291

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 291 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 291

 To amend the Rural Innovation Stronger Economy Grant Program of the 
 Department of Agriculture.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 January 9, 2025

 Mr. Langworthy (for himself and Ms. Tokuda) introduced the following 
 bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To amend the Rural Innovation Stronger Economy Grant Program of the 
 Department of Agriculture.

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

 This Act may be cited as the ``Creating Access to Rural Employment 
and Education for Resilience and Success Act'' or the ``CAREERS Act''.

SEC. 2. WORKFORCE TRAINING PROGRAMS.

    (a) In General.--

Section 379I of the Consolidated Farm and Rural 
Development Act (7 U.S.C. 2008w) is amended--

    (1) in subsection

    (a) --
        (A) in paragraph

    (1)
        (A) --
            (i) in clause
            (iii) --
            (I) by striking subclause
            (I) and 
 inserting the following:
 ``
            (I) an institution of higher 
 education (as defined in 

section 101, 
 and subparagraphs
        (A) and
        (B) of 
 

section 102

    (a)

    (1) , of the Higher 
 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001, 
 1002

    (a)

    (1) ));'';
            (II) by redesignating subclauses
            (II) and
            (III) as subclauses
            (III) and
            (IV) , respectively, and inserting after 
 subclause
            (I) the following:
 ``
            (II) an area career and technical 
 education school (as defined in 

section 3 of the Carl D. Perkins Career and 
 Technical Education Act of 2006 (20 
 U.S.C. 2302);''; and
            (III) in subclause
            (IV) (as so 
 redesignated by subclause
            (II) of this 
 clause), by striking ``and'';
            (ii) in clause
            (iv) --
            (I) by striking subclause
            (IV) and 
 inserting the following:
 ``
            (IV) an institution of higher 
 education (as defined in 

section 101, 
 and subparagraphs
        (A) and
        (B) of 
 

section 102

    (a)

    (1) , of the Higher 
 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001, 
 1002

    (a)

    (1) ));''; and
            (II) by redesignating subclause
            (V) as subclause
            (VI) and inserting after 
 subclause
            (IV) the following:
 ``
            (V) an area career and technical 
 education school (as defined in 

section 3 of the Carl D. Perkins Career and 
 Technical Education Act of 2006 (20 
 U.S.C. 2302); or''; and
            (iii) by adding at the end the following:
 ``
            (v) in the case of a career pathway 
 program, includes 1 or more member of the local 
 workforce development board established under 
 

section 107 of the Workforce Innovation and 
 Opportunity Act and serving the region to 
 ensure such program is integrated with the 
 activities carried out by the local workforce 
 development board; and''; and
        (B) by adding at the end the following:
 ``

    (6) Career pathway.--The term `career pathway' has the 
 meaning given the term in 

section 3 of the Workforce Innovation 
 and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3102).
 ``

    (7) Industry or sector partnership.--The term `industry 
 or sector partnership' has the meaning given the term in 
 

section 3 of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 
 U.S.C. 3102).'';

    (2) in subsection

    (b) --
        (A) in paragraph

    (1) --
            (i) in the matter preceding subparagraph
        (A) , by inserting ``carry out career pathway 
 programs or industry or sector partnerships 
 aligned with industry sectors in rural 
 communities'' before the 3rd comma;
            (ii) in subparagraph
        (A) , by striking 
 ``and'' at the end;
            (iii) in subparagraph
        (B) , by striking the 
 period and inserting a semicolon; and
            (iv) by adding at the end the following:
 ``
            (C) address workforce challenges faced by 
 specific industry sectors in rural communities; and
 ``
            (D) promote targeted skills development 
 initiatives to stimulate innovation and enhance 
 economic development in rural regions.'';
        (B) in paragraph

    (3) --
            (i) in subparagraph
        (A) --
            (I) in clause
            (i) , by inserting 
 ``career pathway program, or industry 
 or sector partnerships'' before the 
 semicolon; and
            (II) in clause
            (ii) --

    (aa) by inserting ``career 
 pathway program, or industry or 
 sector partnerships'' before 
 ``to provide''; and

    (bb) by inserting 
 ``leadership development,'' 
 before ``customized'';
            (ii) in subparagraph
        (E) , by striking 
 ``and'' at the end;
            (iii) in subparagraph
        (F) , by striking the 
 period and inserting ``; and''; and
            (iv) by adding at the end the following:
 ``
        (G) the ability of the eligible entity to carry 
 out activities to address the issues of worker 
 displacement, an aging workforce, and youth 
 migration.''; and
            (C) by striking paragraph

    (5) and inserting the 
 following;
 ``

    (5) Geographic distribution.--The Secretary shall ensure 
 regional diversity of recipients of grants or participants in 
 providing grants under paragraph

    (1) for jobs accelerators, 
 career pathway programs, industry or sector partnerships, and 
 related programming.'';

    (3) in subsection
            (d) (1) --
        (A) in subparagraph
        (B) , by striking the period and 
 inserting ``; or''; and
        (B) by adding at the end the following:
 ``
            (C) to support career pathway programs or 
 industry or sector partnerships to be carried out in 
 industries in rural communities, including--
 ``
            (i) telecommunications or broadband 
 services;
 ``
            (ii) water, waste water, and disposal 
 services;
 ``
            (iii) electric supply services;
 ``
            (iv) conservation practices and 
 management;
 ``
            (v) health care;
 ``
            (vi) child care;
 ``
            (vii) manufacturing;
 ``
            (viii) agribusiness related to 
 production, processing, and distribution; and
 ``
            (ix) any other sectors that are 
 identified by the local workforce development 
 board serving the region to be an in-demand 
 industry sector or occupation, as defined in 
 

section 3 of the Workforce Innovation and 
 Opportunity Act.'';

    (4) in subsection

    (e) --
        (A) in paragraph

    (1) , by striking ``and'' at the 
 end;
        (B) in paragraph

    (2)
        (B) --
            (i) in clause
            (xvii) , by striking ``or'' at 
 the end; and
            (ii) by redesignating clause
            (xviii) as 
 clause
            (xix) and inserting after clause
            (xvii) the following:
 ``
            (xviii) the number of individuals who 
 have completed skills development, recognized 
 postsecondary credentials, or gained 
 specialized education through career pathways 
 programs or industry or sector partnership; 
 or''; and
            (iii) in clause
            (xix) (as so redesignated 
 by clause
            (ii) of this subparagraph), by 
 striking the period and inserting ``; and''; 
 and
            (C) by adding at the end the following:
 ``

    (3) in the case of a career pathway program or industry 
 or sector partnership, report to the Secretary the employment 
 and earnings outcomes for individuals who participate in the 
 program on the indicators described in subclauses
            (I) through
            (III) of 

section 116

    (b)

    (2)
        (A)
            (i) of the Workforce Innovation 
 and Opportunity Act.''; and

    (5) in subsection

    (f) , by striking ``2019 through 2023'' 
 and inserting ``2025 through 2030''.

    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection

    (a) shall 
take effect on such date as the Secretary of Agriculture shall 
determine, which shall be not later than 1 year after the date of the 
enactment of this Act.
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