House OKs Reemployment Account Measure

June 3, 2004 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday approved a bill that would create personal reemployment accounts of up to $3,000 to help jobless Americans buy job training and other services.

The bill, the Worker Reemployment Accounts Act, HR 444, allows demonstration and pilot project funding under the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) to be used by states and local workforce investment boards to offer the accounts.

With the accounts workers can use the funds to purchase:

  • job training
  • child care
  • transportation services
  • relocation services
  • career counseling
  • computer classes
  • housing assistance
  • skills assessment services.

When an account recipient finds work within 13 weeks, he or she can keep the unused portion of the funds as a reemployment bonus under the terms of the measure, sponsored by Representative Jon Porter (R-Nevada).

“The Worker Reemployment Accounts Act is a new, innovative approach designed to provide unemployed Americans additional flexibility, greater choice, and more control over their employment search,” Porter said in a news release announcing the bill’s passage.   “This bill is about empowering Americans to find good paying jobs, and giving individuals the tools and resources they need to help them reenter the workforce.”  

More information about the bill is at  http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d108:HR00444:  .

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