S. 5263: Workforce Recovery and Resilience Act

This bill would update a federal workforce law to address job and training problems in communities affected by substance use disorders.

What it changes

• It adds a new duty for the U.S. Secretary of Labor to gather and share information with states and local workforce agencies about evidence-based and promising ways to deal with the workforce and economic effects of high rates of substance use disorder.
• This information would be updated every year to reflect the latest available research.
• The guidance would also include effective practices already shared by states and local areas, plus information on how to apply for certain federal funding.

Grant changes

• It expands a type of federal workforce grant called a national dislocated worker grant.
• Under the new language, these grants could be used to provide employment and training activities tied to the prevention and treatment of substance use disorders.
• That includes training related to addiction treatment, mental health treatment, and pain management.
• The grants would be aimed at areas where substance use, addiction, and overdoses have created higher-than-average demand for these services, and where state and local resources are not enough to meet that demand.

Who could receive help

To qualify for this kind of grant-funded assistance, a person would need to be one of the following:

• a dislocated worker;
• a long-term unemployed person;
• someone unemployed or significantly underemployed because of widespread substance use in the area; or
• someone working in, or looking to work in, a health care job involved in preventing or treating substance use disorders, including addiction treatment, mental health treatment, or pain management.

Practical effect

In plain terms, the bill would steer more workforce support toward communities dealing with addiction-related problems. It would help local areas learn what approaches have worked elsewhere and make it easier to use federal workforce funds for training people to work in treatment- and prevention-related jobs.

Relevant Companies

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