Narrative: III. b. 2.

State Policies

TWC is governed by a three-member Commission appointed by the governor. The three full- time Commissioners represent employers, labor, and the public. Together they serve as the rule making authority for TWC, oversee agency functions, and develop agency policy.

Twenty days after adoption by the Commissioners, TWC rules, which guide agency operations and its programs, are codified in the Texas Administrative Code, Title 40, Part 20. Policies that support the implementation of TWC strategies and programs related to WIOA are available on the agency’s website, including:

• Texas Workforce Commission Rules, available at https://twc.texas.gov/agency/texas-workforce-commission-rules
• The WIOA Guidelines for Adults, Dislocated Workers, and Youth, available at https://twc.texas.gov/files/partners/wioa-guidelines-twc.pdf, provides Boards with the criteria and documentation sources for establishing WIOA Title I program eligibility for adults, dislocated workers, and youth. This policy guide is based on WIOA final rules for Titles I–IV, publicly available in late June 2016. The WIOA final rules pertaining to Titles I   and III, published in the Federal Register on August 19, 2016, went into effect October 18, 2016. As future updates become available, the policy guide will be updated.
• The WIOA Guide to Texas Workforce System Operations, available at https://twc.texas.gov/files/partners/wioa-operations-guide-twc.pdf,provides information on the methods by which WIOA reinforces the partnerships and strategies necessary for Workforce Solutions Offices to provide job seekers and workers with the high-quality career, training, and support services they need to find and keep good jobs. These strategies also help businesses find skilled workers and access other human resources  assistance, including education and training, to meet their workforce needs. This guide  describes the roles of TWC, Boards, chief elected officials, and local workforce partner programs. Boards are required to ensure that all state policies provided in this document are adhered to and followed according to established timelines.
• Operational guidance and active workforce policy provided to local Boards in the form of Workforce Development (WD) Letters, Adult Education and Literacy (AEL) Letters, Technical Assistance (TA) Bulletins, and comprehensive guides are based on Commission-approved policies and are available at https://twc.texas.gov/agency/
  workforce-policy-guidance.
• TWC maintains a repository of major publications including the agency’s strategic plans and annual reports, publications for employers and job seekers, and program information, available at https://twc.texas.gov/agency/reports-plans-publications.
• Various reports, policy guides, and customer information related to VR services are maintained by TWC and available at https://twc.texas.gov/programs/vocational-rehabilitation-program-overview and https://twc.texas.gov/partners/vocational-rehabilitation-division-publications.

Core Program Activities to Implement the State’s Strategy

Partnership with Texas Workforce Solutions and Designated Providers

The following activities support WIOA core programs and align with the state’s strategies, as previously described.

TWC administers the development and integration of workforce services in coordination with the Board’s oversight and planning efforts. Service delivery is executed through Texas Workforce Solutions, which may contract with Workforce Solutions Offices (our one-stop providers) to operate a variety of program components. This network gives customers local access to workforce solutions and statewide services at approximately 180 Workforce Solutions Offices, four UI tele-centers, and numerous partner locations.

WIOA has strengthened Texas’ progress toward integrating services for customers. WIOA §193(a)(3) provides that Boards’ contracted workforce service providers and community partners are defined under prior consistent state law.

Section 302.021 of the Texas Labor Code set forth the job training, employment, and employment-related educational programs and functions consolidated under the authority of TWC. In Texas, prior consistent state law defines the Boards’ responsibility to develop, implement, and modify a plan for convening all relevant programs, identified as one-stop required-partner programs, including:

• WIOA, formerly WIA
• ES
• UI benefits information
• Choices, the TANF employment and training program
• SNAP E&T
• Child Care Services
• TAA
• AEL programs
• VR programs
• Business Enterprises of Texas
• Grant for Independent Living Services for Older Individuals Who Are Blind
• The Criss Cole Rehabilitation Center

Prior consistent state law further defines the following as required one-stop partner programs. Other than UI compensation, which is administered by TWC, the programs are not under the direct oversight of the Boards; therefore, Boards are required to establish memoranda of understanding (MOUs) with:

• AEL (WIOA, Title II);
• Apprenticeship programs;
• National and Community Services Act Program;
• Non-Certificate Postsecondary Career and Technology Training programs; and
• SCSEP

TWC also recommends that Boards enter into MOUs with the following optional partner activities:

• Career and technical education programs authorized under the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006, as amended by the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V) (20 USC 2301 et seq.)
• Job counseling, training, and placement services for veterans, 38 USC 41
• Education and vocational training programs through Job Corps, administered by DOL
• Native American programs authorized under Title I of WIOA
• US Department of Housing and Urban Development-administered employment and training programs
• Employment and training activities carried out under the Community Services Block Grant Act
• Reintegration of Offenders programs authorized under the Second Chance Act, 2007
• Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker programs authorized under WIOA §167

Additionally, Boards may partner with other entities that are not considered required workforce partners or optional workforce partners. These entities are state or local organizations that do not carry out a workforce development program and may include local social service agencies, housing authorities, and others.

TWC also requires Boards to jointly develop and adopt an MOU with HHS. Although HHS is a federal optional one-stop partner, the MOU fulfills state law regarding the coordinated interagency case management of recipients of financial assistance in employment and training activities and support services, Texas Human Resources, Code §31.0128.

Pay-for-Performance Contracts

TWC and Boards will maintain, where applicable, performance-based contracts. However, TWC and Boards will consider developing, with stakeholder input, a WIOA pay-for-performance contracting strategy applicable to Title I programs, as defined in WIOA §3(47).

The development of a performance-based contract is contingent on the pay-for-performance contract strategy, which establishes specific benchmarks that must be achieved for the contractor to receive payment. WIOA calls for the benchmarks to be tied to the prime indicators of performance and adjustments thereof related to economic conditions and the population demographics.

TWC will maintain the latitude provided for in WIOA to consider the development of a pay-for- performance contract strategy as guidance is issued.

Determination of Funds Provided for Infrastructure Costs

TWC provides policy and procedural guidance to boards regarding the requirements for funding infrastructure costs in the Guide to Texas Workforce System Operations, Section D Infrastructure Funding. This Guide, updated in February 2020, states that Boards, with the agreement of CEOs, develop and enter into MOUs with statutorily required one-stop partners for operation and funding of a one-stop delivery system in the local area. Boards may also enter MOUs with other optional partners, as described by WIOA. Among several required provisions, the MOU must include a final plan, or an interim plan if needed, on how the infrastructure costs of the one-stop centers will be funded.

Within each MOU, each Board and its workforce partners must establish an IFA that describes how the Board and partner programs will fund the infrastructure costs of the Workforce Solutions Offices that are part of the local workforce development area (workforce area) (WIOA

§121(c)(1) and 20 CFR §678.500(b)(2)(i)). If a Board and its required workforce partners are unable to reach consensus on the terms of the IFAs for the program year, then the Board must notify the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) of an impasse no later than March 15 (20 CFR

§678.510(c)) of the program year immediately preceding the program year for which the IFA must be negotiated. TWC will, in turn, notify the state agency responsible for administering the partner’s program. If TWC cannot help the Board resolve the issue, TWC will notify the governor, the Texas Workforce Investment Council, the Secretary of Labor, and the head of any other federal agency with responsibility for overseeing a workforce partner’s program.

Boards and workforce partners must fund infrastructure costs through either the Local Funding Mechanism (LFM) or the State Funding Mechanism (SFM). The LFM provides Boards, CEOs, and workforce partners with the flexibility to design and agree locally on the methods to fund infrastructure costs. However, if a Board fails to reach consensus with all of the required workforce partners operating in its workforce area with regard to the amount each partner will contribute to the local workforce system’s infrastructure costs, the statute replaces local flexibility for determining how to fund infrastructure costs with the SFM. Under the SFM, TWC (on behalf of the governor) is charged with allocating infrastructure costs and determining each partner’s proportionate share of costs for Boards that did not reach consensus on the LFM. The LFM and SFM apply only to the funding of infrastructure costs.