INCOME MAINTENANCE, REHABILITATION SERVICES, AND EMPLOYMENT & TRAINING SERVICES
ARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC SECURITY PROGRAM SERVICES DIVISION
FUNCTIONAL CHARTS FOR THE BUREAUS OF:

Employment and Training Bureau
Mission: Promote the development of state-
wide programs of Placement, Applicant
Services, and Manpower Training Programs
designed to improve the economic welfare
of the unemployed and under employed.
Provide technical assistance to employers
to assist them in resolving their manpower
problems. Promote the development of
apprenticeship training through voluntary
cooperation of management and labor.
Provide increased opportunities for
training and employment of veterans.
Functions:

-Develop program of maximum exposure
of job and training opportunities to assist
employers in recruiting their labor force
and applicants in their job search.
-Develop a program of counseling and
supportive services to assist applicants.
-Develop a program of technical services
to assist employers in resolving manpower
problems.

-Provide leadership to the development and
improvement of manpower training programs.
-Assist industry in the development, expansion,
and improvement of apprenticeship and
training programs.

-Establish and approve minimum standards for
apprenticeship training programs, veterans' on-
the job training, and courses of instruction
offered by educational and training institutions.
Certify apprentices who have successfully com-
pleted training.

-Provide leadership for the development, im-
provement, and validation of DOL occupational
and aptitude tests.

-Develop and implement a statewide system
of monitoring, evaluation, and program main-
tenance to insure the integrity of employment
and manpower services.

Provide liaison with federal, state, county and
city officials: educational institutions and
other groups for purposes of program planning.

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE,
SOCIAL AND REHABILITATION SERVICE,
REHABILITATION SERVICES ADMINISTRATION,

August 20, 1973.

To: All Associate Regional Commissioners for Rehabilitation Services.
From: Assistant Commissioner, Program Management.
Subject: Information Regarding the VR Organizational Unit Requirements of
the Vocational Rehabilitation Act and Regulations

Frequently, situations arise in one State which are similar to those under consideration in others. For this reason, we believe it would be beneficial to share pertinent information regarding some of these individual State considerations. We are pleased to transmit the attached material concerning the vocational rehabilitation organizational unit requirement for your information and reference. FREDERICK SACHS.

Attachment.

HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE,
SOCIAL AND REHABILITATION SERVICE,
REHBILITATION SERVICES ADMINISTRATION,
Washington, D.C., October 6, 1967.

To: Regional Assistant Commissioners, RSA.
From: Joseph Hunt, Commissioner.
Subject: Organizational level of sole State vocational rehabilitation agencies
and operational units.

In determining whether or not the location of the organizational unit conforms with Section 401.6 of the Regulations, the following should be considered:

1. The organizational scheme of the designated agency should show the organizational unit at a place where it is not so submerged as to be ineffective in the day-to-day operation of the program.

2. The factors listed in Section 401.6 (c) of the Regulations, e.g., directness of reporting, the kind and degree of authority delegated for the administration of the vocational rehabilitation program, etc., should be given sufficient attention and consideration so that one can in fact determine whether or not the organizational unit is at the proper level for effective day-to-day operation of the program. 3. In comparing the location of the organizational unit with that of other major organizational units within the designated agency, it is important to note that comparison is with other units administering major programs such as public assistance and mental health rather than with units set up for administrative purposes only.

We hope that their statement of policy will enable you to move promptly on the negotiations for acceptable State Plan Sections 2.

ISSUE NOT THE SOLE AGENCY, BUT RATHER THE VR UNIT

The requirement of designation of a sole State agency to administer the State's VR program is in Section 5(a)(1) of the VR Act. This requirement raised no issue in Washington State, because the designation of the State Department of Social and Health Services met the requirement of the third of the three alternatives of designation permissible under the VR Act. Nor do we see any problem arising in Georgia with respect to designation of the Department of Human Resources.

When the State designates an agency that is not one primarily concerned with vocational rehabilitation or vocational and other rehabilitation, but is an educational agency or a multiprogram agency including at least two other major programs in health, welfare, labor or education, then there are statutory requirements for a VR unit within the designated agency. These requirements are in Section 5(a) (2) of the VR Act, which provides :

"SEC. 5(a) To be approvable under this Act, a State plan for vocational rehabilitation services shall

"(2) provide, except in the case of agencies described in paragraph (1) (B) (i) 1

(A) that the State agency designated pursuant to paragraph (1) (or each State agency if two are so designated) shall include a vocational rehabili

Agencies primarily concerned with vocational rehabilitation or vocational and other rehabilitation.

27-081 0-74-pt. 2- -8

tation bureau, division, or other organizational unit which (i) is primarily concerned with vocational rehabilitation, or vocational and other rehabilitation, of disabled individuals, and is responsible for the vocational rehabilitation program of such State agency, (ii) has a full-time director, and (iii) has a staff employed on such rehabilitation work of such organizational unit all or substantially all of whom are employed full time on such work; and

(B)(i) that such unit shall be located at an organizational level and shall have an organizational status within such State agency comparable to that of other major organizational units of such agency, or (ii) in the case of an agency described in paragraph (1)(B) (ii), either that such unit shall be so located and have such status, or that the director of such unit shall be the executive officer of such State agency; except that, in the case of a State which has designated only one State agency pursuant to paragraph (1), such State may, if it so desires, assign responsibility for the part of the plan under which vocational rehabilitation services are provided for the blind to one organizational unit of such agency and assign responsibility or the rest of the plan to another organization unit of such agency, with the provisions of this paragraph (2) applying separately to each of such units."

USE OF VR FUNDS TO SUPPORT USE OF "FIELD GENERALISTS" AND HUMAN SERVICE TEAMS

The use of field generalists would not be approvable for the VR program because it cannot be reconciled with the requirement in section 5(a)(2) of the VR Act, quoted above, that the VR unit have a staff, all or substantially all of whom are employed full time on vocational rehabilitation work.

It would also invite Federal audit exceptions unless there were effective measures used to preserve accountability for Federal VR funds. This is because section 2(b) of the VR Act describes the basic support grant as "the Federal share. of the cost of vocational rehabilitation services under the plan for such State approved under Section 5, including expenditures for the administration of the State plan. . . .". "Vocational rehabilitation services" are defined in detail in Section 11(a) of the VR Act.

WAIVER UNDER THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL COOPERATION ACT NOT A SOLUTION FOR VR UNIT ISSUES

It is our understanding that Section 204 of the Intergovernmental Cooperation Act permits a waiver of the sole State agency requirement only and is not relevant to the requirements in the VR Act with respect to the VR unit. This was the interpretation when similar questions arose in California in 1970 and in Washington State in 1971.

For example, when California's request in 1970 for a waiver of the sole State agency requirement was under negotiation, an alternative solution proposed was that the Human Relations Agency be designated sole State agency for the vocational rehabilitation, public health, and welfare programs instead of HRA's departments in these fields and that then the alcoholic rehabilitation program could be transferred from the Department of Rehabilitation to the Department of Public Health without the need for a waiver. This alternative was rejected on the advice of both RSA and CGC because of the requirements in the VR Act regarding the VR unit. The waiver under the Intergovernmental Cooperation Act was considered irrelevant to the VR unit requirement.

ASSOCIATE REGIONAL COMMISSIONER, RS,

Region IX, San Francisco,

Director, Division of Planning and Management Assistance, (Attention of Mr. Dirk Schurrman).

JANUARY 8, 1973.

PUERTO RICO "DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES STATE PLAN FOR VOCATIONAL

REHABILITATION"

1. This is in response to your telephone request of January 3, 1973, for an example of an approved State plan of a State vocational rehabilitation program that is located within a multi-purpose agency.

2. Attached are copies from Puerto Rico of (1) Section 2, "Administrative Organization" of their Department of Social Services State Plan for Vocational Rehabilitation; (2) the Department of Social Services Organization chart; and (3) a digest of the more pertinent sections of their State plan as it relates to the vocational rehabilitation organizational unit requirement.

3. You will note that the Puerto Rico State plan shows that the Department of Social Services is the designated sole State agency and that the Department through its Executive Officer (Secretary) determines, controls and supervises all administrative policies and standards of the various program and support units comprising the Department. The Department's organizational structure further provides for the consolidation of various support functions, such as medical consultation, fiscal administration, personnel administration, program planning, evaluation, research, staff development and legal services. The State plan stipulates, however, that all decisions affecting eligibility for vocational rehabilitation services will be by the Department through its organizational unit, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Vocational Rehabilitation.

4. The Department's service programs, which include, among others, public welfare as well as vocational rehabilitation, are carried out through regional offices. Each of these regional offices is headed by a Regional Director, who is responsible to the Secretary of the Department for support services to regional program staff, program coordination, and administrative functions. Each Regional Director, however, is assisted by an Associate Regional Director for Vocational Rehabilitation, who is responsible to the Assistant Secretary for Vocational Rehabilitation for "all professional and technical activities", which include supervision of vocational rehabilitation field counselors. This organizational structure clearly provides that the vocational rehabilitation organization unit (Office of the Assistant Secretary for Vocational Rehabilitation Services) is totally responsible for the Department's vocational rehabilitation program. 5. To have a vocational rehabilitation program of sufficient scope and sufficient authority for decision and action, the vocational rehabilitation organizational unit requirement has always been interpreted to mean that whenever the designated State agency is not an independent vocational rehabilitation agency reporting directly to the Governor, the State plan must provide for a vocational rehabilitation organizational unit of the designated State agency with full responsibility for program operations. This responsibility includes decisions affecting eligibility for the scope of vocational rehabilitation services and the supervision, at all levels, of full-time staff to ensure the provision of all necessary vocational rehabilitation services available under the State plan.

6. The various elements of program structure of the Puerto Rico Department of Social Services as shown in the State plan for vocational rehabilitation, we believe, provide an example of a State vocational rehabilitation program within a multi-program agency which not only remains consistent with the requirements of the VR Act, but which is also responsive to the integrated service delivery concept.

MIRIAM M. STUBBS.