Narrative: e.

The State of Arkansas anticipates seeking a waiver after the full approval of the State's Medicaid Expansion Program, called Arkansas Works.

Arkansas Works provides health care coverage to Arkansans who are U.S. citizens and certain legally residing immigrants ages 19-64 with household incomes below 138 percent of the Federal Poverty Level for their family size. If determined eligible for this program, individuals will be enrolled in either a Qualified Health Plan or Employer Sponsored Insurance (ESI). Medicaid will pay most or all of the premiums for the plan while the individual may be responsible for co-pays and a small part of the premium. If eligible, individuals may have a small co-pay for doctor visits, prescriptions and certain other medical services. All Arkansas Works Program recipients will be referred to the Arkansas Division of Workforce Services for free job assistance services.

WAIVER REQUEST 1

Out-of-School Youth Expenditure Requirement

ADWS is seeking a waiver of the requirement under WIOA §129(a)(4) and 20 CFR 681.410 that the state and local workforce areas spend not less than 75 percent of youth funds to provide services to out-of-school youth (OSY).

2. Actions the State has taken to remove state or local barriers

There are no state or local statutory or regulatory barriers that would impede implementation of the requested waiver.

3. State strategic goal(s) and Department of Labor priorities (e.g. expansion of apprenticeship, improved employer engagement, etc.) supported by the waiver

This request is for a waiver to allow the state and all workforce areas in Arkansas the flexibility to direct up to 50 percent of youth funds to deliver workforce and educational services to ISY, while continuing to serve OSY as a priority population.

On September 20, 2018, DOLETA granted this same waiver request to Texas, reducing the OSY expenditure requirement from 75 percent to not less than 50 percent of youth funds. DOLETA authorized the waiver for WIOA program years 2018 and 2019 (July 1, 2018, through June 30, 2020).

While the provision of services to OSY is vital, the requirement to expend 75 percent of youth statewide and formula funds on OSY prohibits states and workforce areas from using discretion when serving youth based on state and local demographics, resources, economies, employment outlooks, and other labor market factors. The requirement also weakens Title I’s ability to design and deliver meaningful career pathway programs to all youth, regardless of school status. The 75 percent OSY expenditure requirement limits state and local ability to carry out such initiatives that provide necessary educational and training experiences for students and that meet employer’s workforce education and skills needs.

Reducing the OSY expenditure requirement to 50 percent and permitting flexibility to calculate OSY expenditures on a collective statewide basis, instead of per workforce area, would allow ADWS and Boards to continue serving the OSY population while also increasing their ability to meet the needs of ISY throughout the state in alignment with WIOA’s intent by supporting career pathways and the preparation of young people for in-demand careers in the workforce, regardless of a youth’s school status. Under this waiver, Boards would continue to serve OSY as a priority population and track OSY services, expenditures, and performance metrics.

Approval of this waiver request would allow ADWS to meet the following state goals:

• Serve youth regardless of school status: Allow Boards flexibility to increase spending on providing education and training to ISY would not only increase the workforce opportunities available to all youth, but also help prevent at-risk ISY from dropping out of school or not pursuing additional education and training that would lead to meaningful work and economic self-sufficiency.
• Serve ISY in rural communities: Help ISY living in rural workforce areas overcome the unique economic and employment challenges facing rural—and often remote—Arkansas communities.
• Serve youth according to local and statewide need: Provide local- and state-level flexibility to serve OSY and ISY in a way that best meets each workforce area’s needs according to population, resources, economy, employment outlook, and other labor market factors.
• Continue serving out-of-school youth as a priority population: ADWS and Boards will continue to give priority of service to OSY and achieve any OSY expenditure target authorized by DOLETA through this waiver request.

This waiver request aligns with DOL’s policy priorities in that it:

• focuses on ensuring that eligible youth achieve secondary and postsecondary educational success;
• increases youths’ access to and opportunities for the education, training, employment, and support services that they need;
• aligns with WIOA’s intent by supporting career pathways and the preparation of young people for in-demand careers; and ensures that ISY do not fall into an at-risk category because of expenditure restrictions.

4. Projected programmatic outcomes resulting from implementation of the waiver

Approval of this waiver would permit Boards the opportunity to determine how best to meet the educational and training needs of youth, regardless of school status, and specific to the population, geographical location, and economic and employment conditions of each workforce area. Increasing outreach to ISY while maintaining a focus on serving OSY will help develop a larger pool of young people qualified and prepared to meet the current and future needs of employers in their workforce areas and throughout the state.

5. Individuals, groups, or populations benefiting from the waiver

• At-risk ISY statewide who face barriers to education, training, and employment
• OSY because they will continue to be served as a priority population in accordance with WIOA
• Boards through increased flexibility to develop unique solutions to better serve youth according to local conditions and needs

6. How the State plans to monitor waiver implementation, including collection of waiver outcome information

Upon DOL’s approval of this waiver request, ADWS will communicate the waiver allowance to Boards and workforce system partner programs. ADWS will monitor progress under this waiver by reviewing monthly performance reports submitted by the Boards, through regularly scheduled meetings with Board executive directors, and through its monitoring and performance accountability system. ADWS will report waiver outcomes in the state’s WIOA Annual Report.

7. Assurance of State’s posting of the request for public comment and notification to affected Local Workforce Development Boards

ADWS will include this waiver request as part of the agency’s PT2020-2023 WIOA Combined State Plan when the plan was presented for public comment. ADWS has notified all Boards and sought their input regarding this waiver request.

WAIVER REQUEST 2

Eligible Training Providers Performance Reporting Requirements

1. The statutory and/or regulatory requirements the State would like to waive

ADWS is seeking a waiver of WIOA §116(d)(4) and 20 CFR §677.230(a)(5) in order to allow eligible training providers (ETPs) to collect and report performance data for WIOA-funded participants only.

2. Actions the State has taken to remove state or local barriers

There are no state or local statutory or regulatory barriers that would impede implementation of the requested waiver.

3. State strategic goal(s) and Department of Labor priorities (e.g. expansion of apprenticeship, improved employer engagement, etc.) supported by the waiver

Under WIOA §116(d)(4)(A) and 20 CFR §677.230(a)(5), ETPs must report performance data with respect to all individuals engaging in a program of study (or the equivalent). While ADWS recognizes the value and importance of monitoring provider performance, requiring ETPs to produce data on all individuals instead of just WIOA-funded participants places an undue burden on ETPs to collect, enter, and report excessive data. This is especially burdensome when ETPs have many students of whom only a small percentage are WIOA participants. DOL and ED acknowledge this burden in their response to comments regarding 20 CFR §677.230 in the preamble to the WIOA Final Rule by stating, “The Departments are cognizant of the reporting burden the ETP performance report places on ETPs and do not want to place additional burden on these entities,” yet did not modify the regulatory text to ease that burden.

Further, ETPs and ADWS are concerned that providing data—including Social Security numbers—on all individuals engaging in a program of study (or the equivalent) instead of WIOA-funded participants only may conflict with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which protects the privacy of student education records. Generally, schools must have written permission from the parent or eligible student to release any information from a student’s education record (34 CFR §99.30). Releasing student information on individuals who are not workforce system participants without their explicit consent may be in violation of federal law and compromise their personally identifiable information (PII) and potentially make those students vulnerable to identity theft and privacy risks.

Burdensome reporting requirements combined with mandatory submission of PII for non-WIOA-funded participants disincentivizes training providers from participating or remaining in the ETP system. A shortage of participating providers could result in limited customer choice locally or even statewide.

Under this waiver, ETPs will continue to collect and report performance data for all WIOA-funded participants in accordance with WIOA §116(d)(4)(A) and as specified at 20 CFR §677.230.

Approval of this waiver request would allow ADWS to meet the following state goals:

• • Ease undue reporting burden on ETPs: Reporting performance data on all individuals engaging in a program of study (or the equivalent) consumes considerable time and expense. Reducing ETPs’ reporting requirements to include only WIOA-funded participants would save considerable time and expense to allow ETPs to focus on education and training outcomes while still providing the required data on WIOA-funded participants.
  • Ensure protection of non-WIOA participants’ PII: Not reporting data for individuals who are not WIOA participants would reduce ETPs’ liability for potential breach of those individuals’ PII.
  • Ensure that local areas have sufficient numbers of and diversity of training providers: Establishing a more provider-friendly system will help ensure that local areas have sufficient numbers of and diversity of training providers necessary to create an effective marketplace of training programs for WIOA participants utilizing ITAs.
  • Incentivize training providers to participate in the ETP system: Minimizing the reporting burden and eliminating the need to provide sensitive data on non-WIOA-funded students would make ETP participation more attractive to training providers and would therefore help increase the number of new ETPs and retain providers that are already participating in the ETP system.
  • Ensure accuracy of performance data: Eliminating reporting barriers and limiting reporting to only WIOA-funded participants would result in more consistent and more accurate provider performance data.
  • Maximize customer choice: A provider friendly ETP system attracts more training providers, resulting in increased customer choice.

• This waiver request aligns with DOL’s policy priorities in that it:
  • connects education and training strategies by reducing the reporting burden on ETPs, thus allowing them to focus more time and resources on producing successful outcomes for WIOA-funded participants; and
  • further protects the privacy rights of ETPs’ students who are not WIOA participants.
     

4. Projected programmatic outcomes resulting from implementation of the waiver

Approval of this waiver would reduce the reporting burden on ETPs and allow them to focus more time and resources on producing successful outcomes for WIOA-funded participants as well as for their non-WIOA students.

5. Individuals, groups, or populations benefiting from the waiver

• Eligible training providers

6. How the State plans to monitor waiver implementation, including collection of waiver outcome information

Upon DOL’s continued approval of this waiver request, ADWS will communicate the waiver allowance to Boards and workforce system partner programs. ADWS will monitor progress under this waiver by continuing to collect data from ETPs on their WIOA-funded students and to submit that data via ADWS’s annual report to DOL. ADWS will report waiver outcomes in the state’s WIOA Annual Report. If the state requests renewal of this waiver, then TWC will provide the most recent outcomes data available.

7. Assurance of State’s posting of the request for public comment and notification to affected Local Workforce Development Boards

ADWS will include this waiver request as part of the agency’s PT2020-2023 WIOA Combined State Plan when the plan was presented for public comment. ADWS has notified all Boards and sought their input regarding this waiver request.

Waiver Impact

Through this waiver, ETPs will be more willing to submit data on their WIOA-funded students and to remain in the ETP program, thus allowing the Arkansas workforce system to continue delivering essential training services that meet the needs of employers, job seekers, and workers.

WAIVER REQUEST 3

Waiver to increase on-the-job-training reimbursement up to 90 percent for businesses with 50 or fewer employees.  WIOA Section 134(c) (3)(H)(i) and 20 CFR 680.720 (b)

Arkansas is requesting a waiver to the current allowable employer reimbursement rate of up to 50 percent of the wage rate of the On-the-Job-Training (OJT) participant for the extraordinary costs of providing training and additional supervision related to the OJT as described in the WIOA Section 134(c) (3)(H)(ii).  The waiver require has been developed following the WIOA guidelines in Section189 (i)(3)(B) and the WIOA Federal regulation at 20 CFR 680.720(b).

Arkansas is proposing a sliding scale of reimbursement to the employer based on its size and capability.  Under this waiver, the following scale will be implemented: up to 90% reimbursement for employers with 50 or less employees; up to 75% reimbursement for employers with a workforce between 51 and 250 employees.  For employers with 251 employees or more, the statutorily defined 50% limit will continue to apply.

The waiver is requested for all WIOA formula funds: Adult, Dislocated Worker, Youth, National Dislocated Worker Grants, as well as other Discretionary grants, as appropriate.

1. The statutory and/or regulatory requirements the State would like to waive

ADWS is seeking a waiver of the requirement under WIOA Section 134(c) (3)(H)(ii)(II) and the accompanying regulations as promulgated at 20 CFR 680.720 (b) state that employers may be reimbursed up to 50 percent of the wage rate of an OJT participant for the extraordinary costs of providing the training and additional supervision related to the OJT.

2. Actions the State has taken to remove state or local barriers

There are no state or local statutory or regulatory barriers that would impede implementation of the requested waiver.

3.Description of the waiver goals; relationship of goals to the strategic plan goals; and expected programmatic outcomes:

The waiver is consistent with national policy to develop a workforce system that is responsive to the demands of both individual and employer customers. The State anticipates the following goals will be achieved with approval of the waiver request:

• Maximize the flexibility needed to impact local economic vitality and direct resources where demand for services is greatest by assisting local areas in marketing OJT as a vehicle to engage employers, particularly in targeted sectors, to hire and provide training to new workers. This will build the capacity and future viability of both the workforce and the industries themselves.
• Assist with the transformation of the current workforce system to a demand-driven, sector based and d regionally driven talent development pipeline.
• Increase training and transitional employment opportunities for unemployed workers and hard-to serve youth and adults.
• Equip individuals with relevant job training and transferable skills in high-skill, high-wage, high demand occupations and industries.
• Increase business usage of the local workforce system by providing added incentives to hire and train new workers.

Local workforce development boards have provided feedback with regard to employer needs for assistance with economic competitiveness in the current economic downturn. Allowing businesses to be reimbursed on a sliding scale will address the primary reason for prior limited use of OJT and increase employer participation.

Employer feedback indicates that they will be more likely to use this opportunity

if reimbursement was greater than 50%. Small to medium-sized employers are responsible for the majority of all the jobs in Arkansas, therefore the State estimates that small to medium-sized employers will comprise a significant percentage of OJT opportunities.

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Approval of this waiver would increase the opportunity to utilize the OJT model to hire and train new workers.

5.

The need for training is especially acute for those workers most in need: dislocated workers transitioning to new occupations and industries, long-term unemployed individuals in need of advancing outmoded skills in order to catch up with emerging technologies, and low-income and entry-level workers seeking to start their careers in a weak economic climate. Approval of the waiver will increase training options

for WIOA-eligible job seekers.

The reduced match requirement for employers, particularly new start-ups and other small to medium-sized businesses, will provide an attractive and cost-effective financial incentive. This waiver will allow Arkansas businesses to more rapidly adapt to both technological and general marketplace changes by improving their capacity to expand and remain competitive with affordable OJT options uniquely designed to

achieve their specific developmental goals.

6. How the State plans to monitor waiver implementation, including collection of waiver outcome information

Upon DOL’s continued approval of this waiver request, ADWS will communicate the waiver allowance to Boards and workforce system partner programs. ADWS will monitor progress under this waiver and to submit that data via ADWS’s annual report to DOL.

7. Description of the process used to: Ensure meaningful public comment, including comment from business and labor; provide notice to any local board affected by the waiver; provide affected local boards the opportunity to comment; and monitor implementation:

ADWS will include this waiver request as part of the agency’s PT2020-2023 WIOA Combined State Plan when the plan was presented for public comment. ADWS has notified all Boards and sought their input regarding this waiver request.

WAIVER REQUEST 4

Waiver to allow flexibility in the use of funds reserved by the Governor to provide disaster relief as permitted under Dislocated Worker Grants for disaster relief, including temporary work.  WIOA Section 134(a)(2)(A), WIOA Section 134(a)(2)(B) and WIOA Section 134(a)(3)

1. The statutory and/or regulatory requirements the State would like to waive

Arkansas requests a waiver of WIOA Section 134(a)(2)(A), (2)(B), and (3) to add flexibility in the use of the funds reserved by the Governor for use to provide statewide rapid response activities, for use to provide statewide employment and training activities, and to underwrite or fund disaster relief to affected areas of pending National Dislocated Worker Grants.

Under this allowance, Governor’s funds would only be used to fund temporary cleanup efforts and will only be made available to local areas impacted under a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) declaration.  Governor’s funds allotted to local areas under this waiver, who are subsequently awarded funds under the pending National Dislocated Worker Grants application, will refund the Governor’s discretionary funds.

The purpose of this waiver request is to expedite the delivery of temporary cleanup resources and will be limited to one $200,000 allotment, per Local Area, per qualifying event.

1. 1. Actions undertaken to remove state or local statutory or regulatory barriers

There are currently no state or local statutory or regulatory barriers to implementing any of the requested waivers.

1. 2. State strategic goal(s) and Department of Labor priorities (e.g. expansion of apprenticeship, improved employer engagement, etc.) supported by the waiver

This request is for a waiver will provide local workforce areas in Arkansas the flexibility to more quickly implement cleanup efforts while awaiting the final approval of subsequently awarded funds under the pending National Dislocated Worker Grants application

4. Projected programmatic outcomes resulting from implementation of the waiver

Approval of this waiver would greatly enhance local workforce areas’ ability to address emergency situations swiftly that negatively impact Arkansans suffering from disasters.

5. Description of the individuals impacted by the waivers:

This waiver would benefit those workers most in need, dislocated workers, as well as the general citizenry of the geographical areas that are negatively impacted by disasters.

6. How the State plans to monitor waiver implementation, including collection of waiver outcome information

Upon DOL’s continued approval of this waiver request, ADWS will communicate the waiver allowance to Boards and workforce system partner programs. ADWS will monitor progress under this waiver and to submit that data via ADWS’s annual report to DOL.

7. Description of the process used to: Ensure meaningful public comment, including comment from business and labor; provide notice to any local board affected by the waiver; provide affected local boards the opportunity to comment; and monitor implementation:

ADWS will include this waiver request as part of the agency’s PT2020-2023 WIOA Combined State Plan when the plan was presented for public comment. ADWS has notified all Boards and sought their input regarding this waiver request.