Thanks to Rep. Jim Moran of Virginia, ASTD and Employee Learning Week are recognized in the Congressional Record this week.

Part of the proclamation reads:

"...ASTD has declared December 5th through December 9th, 2011 as 'Employee Learning Week' and designated time for organizations to recognize teh strategic value of employee learning. I applaud ASTD and its members for their dedication to developing knowledgeable and skilled employees during Employee Learning Week. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting policies that commit to maintaining a highly skilled workforce."

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Categories: ASTD in the News | Public Policy

The House Education and Workforce Committee today introduced several bills to streamline and consolidate worker training programs.  Here is the press release from the Committee.

http://edworkforce.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=271815

ASTD’s policy team will continue to monitor and review these new bills and report back to our members on their impact to the public workforce system.

Stay tuned for more information shortly.

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Categories: News | The Economy | Public Policy

(From the Sun Sentinal) -- Unemployed Floridians who don't take free training to upgrade their skills could lose their benefits for any week they don't comply, in proposed legislation by Rep.  Doug Holder, R-Sarasota.

The bill passed the Florida House's Business and Consumer Affairs Subcommittee this week and moves on to the Economic Affairs Committee. Holder was the sponsor of the state's unemployment compensation overhaul in the last legislative session.

Read more.

Tags: training, Florida, legislation, skills gap

Categories: Learning & Development | News | Public Policy

On October 13th, as a pre-conference event to the Chapter Leaders Conference, 32 members of ASTD went to Capitol Hill to have a conversation with their member of Congress (and staff) about training.

Most of our discussions centered on reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) and some of the items ASTD would like to see addressed in the new bill. We also highlighted other legislation we supported over the past year, like Section 127 of the IRS code extension.

Some of our members were able to meet with their member of Congress directly, some met with staff and others met with lead committee staffs in the House and the Senate who are writing the new WIA bill.

This is our largest group to Capitol Hill and many good connections and future initiatives are already in the works.  Stay tuned as more success stories are shared here.  Here is a picture of our group before we head up to the Hill!

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Categories: Conferences | The Economy | Public Policy

(From The Washington Post) WASHINGTON — The Supreme Count on Tuesday seemed deeply divided on how far the government can intrude inside the employment practices of churches and religious groups, a decision being closely watched by religious institutions concerned about their independence and by civil rights groups looking out for their employees.

The issue in the dispute between the Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School of Redford, Mich., and former teacher Cheryl Perich is whether a government agency has the right to sue the school on her behalf for firing her after she complained of discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Read more.

Tags: policy, discrimination, US government, religion, workplace policy

Categories: Human Capital | Government | News | Public Policy

Led by ASTD’s Public Policy Council, ASTD will be heading back to Capitol Hill as part of the chapter leaders conference (ALC) this fall.  Congressional Conversations will be a pre-conference (registration required) event.
 
ASTD and chapter leaders will have the opportunity to meet with their members of Congress and their staffs to discuss training related legislation.  It’s also an opportunity for chapter leaders to build a working relationship with their member of Congress and staff about training related legislation now and in the future.

There will be an orientation call for chapter leaders who will be participating in Congressional Conversations (or considering) on September 22nd, 1:30 PM until 3 PM EST.
 
Here is a link to register: http://publicpolicyseptember.eventbrite.com

The Congressional Conversation event will be held on Thursday, October 13th from 12:00 PM until 5:30 PM.  Here is a flyer for more information:

http://www.astd.org/NR/rdonlyres/B7971E46-EC16-46BE-9323-23EBB47BCCCC/0/CCflyer.pdf

Any Questions?  Feel free to contact me, ferraro@trainingsolutions.com.

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Categories: The Economy | Public Policy

As I have mentioned many times in my blog posts, ASTD members who engage in the public workforce system have access and information to many opportunities for the organizations.  There are many ways to get engaged.  From serving on at local or state Workforce Board, involvement in the One Stop Career Center system or partnering on grant opportunities, these are great ways to engage.

This week, the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) put out a notice of partnerships and consortia to the public workforce system and highlighted successful group across the country.  When I served at Vice-Chair of our local board in Northern Virginia, we had industry cluster groups that also advised us on workforce and training needs in their industries.

It’s a great way to come together and help the system get many of the unemployed re-skilled with the skills needed by your organization.  Please contact your local or state directors for the workforce boards or workforce systems.  Also contact your community colleges for partnership opportunities.

Here is a link back to the notification from ETA for your review:
http://wdr.doleta.gov/directives/corr_doc.cfm?DOCN=3076

Feel free to contact me for more suggestions on engagement in the public workforce system.

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Categories: News | The Economy | Public Policy

As many of you who follow my blog know, ASTD has been advocating and stressing to members of Congress and their staffs the past few years of the importance of reauthorizing the Workforce Investment Act (WIA).  Originally passed in 1998 (pre-Google), it is in dire need of updating, revamping and refocusing the activities of the workforce system to ensure that people are trained in the skills needed by employers.

The last two Congressional sessions started with promising outlooks, but they ended in no reauthorized bill.  In January of this year, there was a renewed optimism and enthusiasm (especially in the Senate) for something significant to be achieved in this bill. 

Earlier this year, ASTD went up to the Hill with a group of ASTD’s Policy Council members to meet with senior staff of the Senate Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions committee (HELP).  Staff was interested in hearing from employers who had used the public system and wanted their feedback on a possible reauthorized bill.  We had a great meeting; and the feedback was that sometime this summer, the Senate would submit a bill in the committee and hopefully to the floor of the Senate.

Also earlier this summer, ASTD met with staff on the House Education and the Workforce committee on WIA reauthorization and other training related legislation in the House.  Although it appears that the House is also willing to reauthorize WIA, they would take a different approach.  If both bills were passed each part of Congress, this would lead to a conference committee situation to work out the differences on the bills.

In July, the Senate HELP committee scheduled a full committee hearing to “mark-up” a reauthorized bill. This is the process by which the committee moves through the contents of a bill, debating and voting on amendments to its provisions by revising, adding or subtracting language prior to ordering the measure reported out (voted on) the to the full Senate for a vote.  Although this committee meeting was moved several times this summer due to the debt limit debates, it appears to have moved off the committee’s calendar for now.

ASTD will continue to monitor WIA activities in the House and Senate and will continue to update members in this blog post.  Chapter Leaders who are coming to ALC and who sign up for Congressional Conversations will be joining us back on Capitol Hill. We will be talking to members of Congress and their staff on WIA and other training related legislation.  If you’re a Chapter leader, please consider joining us for this event!

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Categories: News | The Economy | Public Policy

Two of ASTD’s policy agenda items include Gainful Employment Rules and the Reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act.  This week, two significant activities happened with these two initiatives.

Gainful Employment Rules:

The rules, which are slated to go into effect in July 2012, redefine what’s known as
Gainful Employment. They would eliminate federal financial aid for programs of for-profit colleges and universities with a high proportion of students who are not repaying their student loans or who end up with excessive debt compared with the salaries they can earn.

In a briefing on the new regulations, Secretary of Education Duncan emphasized that several key changes had been made as a result of feedback to the draft: Poor-performing programs must fail the financial debt measures three times in a four-year period before becoming ineligible for student aid programs, rather than losing eligibility immediately.

Currently, the law requires colleges that qualify for federal aid to prepare students for a recognized occupation. Under the new regulations, a program would have to meet at least one of three metrics: at least 35 percent of former students must be repaying their loans; the estimated annual loan payment must not exceed 30 percent of a student’s discretionary income; or the estimated annual loan payment must not exceed 12 percent of a student’s total earnings.

Currently, in the House of Representatives, there is bi-partisan support against these new rules by the Department of Education.  ASTD will continue to monitor these activities as they transpire.

Workforce Investment Act (WIA):

One of ASTD’s main priorities has been the reauthorization of WIA.  Recently, a group of Policy Council members met with senior Senate HELP Committee staff on this subject. It appears that Senator Patty Murray, who is chairing the sub-committee working on WIA, announce recently to reporters that the Senate’s version of WIA reauthorization would be out this summer.  ASTD will be able to see the draft bill when it’s available to review.

The House has not as of yet taken up the reauthorization of WIA.  ASTD will be meeting with staff on the House side soon to share our thoughts on a reauthorized WIA. 

ASTD will continue to monitor events as they transpire and update our members. 

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Categories: News | Public Policy

ETA announces the availability of approximately $240 million in funds for an H-1B Technical Skills Training Grants program.

This grant program is designed to provide education, training, and job placement assistance in the occupations and industries for which employers are using H-1B visas to hire foreign workers. Grants will be awarded in the related activities necessary to support such training.

H-1B technical skills training grants are financed by a user fee paid by employers to bring foreign workers into the United States under the H-1B nonimmigrant visa program.

This is a great way to partner with your local workforce board, community college or non-profit organization and augment your training budgets. 

Here is the full grant announcement, if you need help, please let us know.

http://www.doleta.gov/grants/pdf/SGA-DFA-PY-10-13_Final_H-1BSGA.pdf

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Categories: News | Public Policy | The Economy