this morning. The statement, however, in its entire form, will be entered into the record as it has been given to us.

Mr. DELLINGER. That is correct, sir. I believe you have a copy of the summary if you wish to read along.

Mr. HAWKINS. Thank you.

STATEMENT OF ROYAL DELLINGER, ACTING ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF LABOR FOR EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING, ACCOMPANIED BY PATRICK O'KEEFE, ADMINISTRATOR, OFFICE OF STRATEGIC PLANNING AND POLICY DEVELOPMENT; AND ROBERTS JONES, ADMINISTRATOR, OFFICE OF COMPREHENSIVE EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING

Mr. DELLINGER. Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to appear at this important hearing. We believe that the Job Training Partnership Act is successfully launched and are happy for the opportunity to review with you the implementation of the program.

At the outset, let me express to the committee Secretary Donovan's and former Assistant Secretary Angrisani's appreciation for your efforts to secure enactment of job training legislation, which led to the Job Training Partnership Act. We believe that the Job Training Partnership Act will lead to increased employment and earnings for literally millions of Americans, and as a result, will be a program of which we all can be proud of.

Before proceeding with my remarks, let me also thank the members of this committee and your staff for your support throughout the implementation of JTPA. This support has been a major factor in the accomplishments of the entire training and employment system over the past 12 months and we sincerely appreciate it.

As you know, JTPA represents a significant departure from past employment and training programs and for several reasons should be considered a landmark piece of legislation. Basic to the act is the premise that training is the vehicle for providing disadvantaged and dislocated workers the skills that they will need to obtain regular self-supporting employment. Other major features of the act are the involvement of the private sector, the increased responsibility of the States, and the emphasis on performance. The combined effect of these features will be a training and employment system that will meet its basic objective: increased employment and earnings for those who are served.

Since late in the summer of 1982, even prior to enactment of JTPA, ETA senior staff has had as our top priority the implementation of a program in a timely and responsible manner. We have been committed to laying the foundation of a program that will be effective for years to come and I believe we have achieved our objective.

We have prepared a chronology of major implementation efforts to date, which I would be pleased to make available to the committee.

[The chronology follows:]

CHRONOLOGY OF MAJOR IMPLEMENTATION

DATE AND ACTION

September 1982-Established Transition Task Force to oversee implementation activities.

October 1982-President Reagan signs JTPA, October 13, 1982; Published Implementation Plan.

November 1982-Established Assistant Secretary's Advisory Committee on the Implementation of JTPA; Published preliminary draft regulations regarding State Job Training Coordinating Councils (SJTCCs), Service Delivery Areas and Private Industry Councils (PICs); Governors designated JTPA liaisons in 57 States and territories.

December 1982-Published final rules on SJTCCs, SDAs, and PICS.

January 1983-Published proposed regulations for Titles I, II, and III.

February 1983-Initiated needs assessment for technical assistance; Informed Governors about Dislocated Workers Program initial funding of $25 million; Established system for biweekly tracking of implemenation progress; Published JTPA transition Training and Technical Assistance Plan.

March 1983-Published, on schedule, Final Regulations for Titles I, II and III of JTPA; Established JTPA Question and Answer system; Announced availability of PIC Planning Grants; Published Operational Planning Schedule for Implementation; Issued data to States that they needed to calculate substate allocations.

April 1983-Notified Governors of additional ($85 million) dislocated worker fund provided through the Emergency Jobs Act; Report to Congress on the status of implementation; Issued proposed Fiscal Year 1984 allotments for Title II and Title III; Published performance standards for the initial 9-month period; Released for comment proposed longer-term performance standards package.

May 1983-Published Technical Assistance guides on a Glossary of JTPA Terms and Definitions and the Participant Record; Transmitted to States the Quarterly Status Report and Instructions for Completion; Compiled summary of all Technical Assistance available from DOL and our TA contractors (NAB, NGA, NCSL, etc.) Published fiscal year 1984 final planning estimates for Wagner-Peyser Activities.

June 1983-Notified Regions and States of additional fiscal year 1983 Technical Assistance Funds totalling $4 million; Disseminated procedures to allow the voluntary transfer of CETA funds to JTPA; Advised Regions and States of the procedures for submitting and processing the Governor/Secretary Agreements and the Governor's Coordination and Special Services Plan (GCSSP); Midterm letter sent to Governors, outlining remaining implementation steps; Midterm letter sent to Congress assessing implementation and transition to date.

July 1983-Oversight Hearings on JTPA Implementation before the Manpower and Housing Subcommittee of the Committee on Government Operations; Published proposed regulations on Title IV programs; Published proposed regulations on Title V programs; Letter to Governors on eligibility of handicapped youth for services under Title II; Advised States of the procedures for submitting plans for Statewide Service Delivery Areas (SDAs).

August 1983-Disseminated reports on the experience of six Dislocated Worker Demonstration projects; Distributed compilation of Selected Federal Legislation relating to Job Training; Provided answers to questions regarding the voluntary transfer of CETA funds to the JTPA System; Implemented the Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) system.

September 1983-Issued Secretary's reporting requirements-JTPA Annual Status Report-for Titles II and III; Governor/Secretary Agreements executed; Program Plans reviewed and approved in States; Plans for Employment Services reviewed and approved.

October 1983-Final regulations published for Title IV; Published notice of issuance of the calculation procedures for the Secretary's Performance Standards for fiscal year 1984 under title II of JTPA; Disseminated Technical Assistance Guide on Procedures for Enforcement of Military Selective Service Act; Final letters to Congress and Governors on transition and implementation; JTPA begins nationwide, on line, on time.

Mr. DELLINGER. As you know, section 181 of the act imposed a very tight schedule on the Department's development and issuance of regulations and other guidance relating to JTPA. If the act was to take effect in October of this year, it was necessary that such a

schedule be met. We are proud to report that the Department has met or beaten every deadline imposed by the Act.

Our implementation plans went beyond the issuance of Federal regulations. Obviously the transition from CETA to JTPA was a massive undertaking, involving thousands of staff, billions of dollars, and services to literally millions of people. Therefore, we established a system for monitoring the implementation, providing technical assistance where requested, and where problems were identified, providing whatever additional assistance was needed to assure the smooth and rapid implementation of the new program. The Department has basically completed the issuance of those directives and procedures which constitute its main responsibilities under the new system. In addition to regulations, the Department has developed and implemented procedures for reviewing and approving agreements between the Secretary and each Governor, the Governor's coordination and special services plans, statewide plans where the State is a single SDA, appeals of local job training plans, and appeals of the Secretary's decision on SDA's.

With respect to SDA appeals, the Department received a total of 21 appeals regarding the designation of SDA's. All of these appeals were resolved by the Secretary in a timely manner. While a few of the Secretary's determinations were further appealed, we think the significant point is how smoothly the designation of SDA's was accomplished in the vast majority of cases.

To determine the readiness of JTPA administrative entities to implement the new program, teams from the Department's Office of the Inspector General and the Employment and Training Administration conducted a survey of grantees. The survey focused on the development of systems to insure compliance with the act and regulations and to safeguard funds from fraud, waste and abuse. Site work on the survey was completed on August 25, early enough so that the findings could be provided to the States prior to the actual startup of programs.

Also, to assure the availability of funds at the SDA level on October 1, the Department arranged for the transfer of excess funds from the CETA system to the JTPA system, a total of $126.4 million was transferred.

In order to keep abreast of the JTPA implementation, the Department has had in place an extensive tracking system. We believe that this system has served well to identify issues and problems on a timely basis. Biweekly reports were sent to the Assistant Secretary and these were shared with the House and Senate committees and the public. We also sent regular letters to all members of Congress, informing them of our progress in implementing the act and held briefing sessions on JTPA implementation.

Another point that should be mentioned is that for the first time in the history of these programs, funds were available to the States at the onset of the fiscal year when the new program began. This was accomplished through the efforts of the Department and the Office of Management and Budget to insure that the funds could be electronically transferred to the States and they, in turn, could pass funds to the SDA's at the beginning of October. Because the States were prepared to begin operations and were funded on the same day, program continuity was assured.

Thus far, my discussion has focused on the efforts of the Department of Labor. We should keep in mind that while the Department was developing regulations and designing and putting in place major systems, the States were proceeding with their major tasks. These included the establishment of State job training coordinating councils, the designation of service delivery areas, the certification of private industry councils, the distribution of substate allocations, and the development and implementation of State administrative and management systems.

Local jurisdictions discharged their responsibilities for nominating individuals to the PIC's, developing and completing the PIC local elected official agreements for the operation and administration of the programs within SDA's and concluding agreements designating both the grant recipient and the SDA administrative entity. All of these activities have now been completed. A total of 596 SDA's have been established and PIC's certified in the 57 States and jurisdictions.

I am pleased to say that on October 1, the Job Training Partnership Act was up and running throughout the Nation. Of course, at this early date, we do not have sufficient experience to say how the system is performing, what services are being provided, and to whom, how effective these services are, and how the performance of the new system compares with CETA. These are important questions that we will be looking at in the coming months and years. What is essential now is for this to be a period of stability for the new system to mature. We learned from our experience with CETA that frequent changes in policies and program direction can sometimes end up being counterproductive and substantially hinder the success of the program.

I will now turn to the specific issues of concern to the committee that were mentioned in your letter of invitation. The first such issue is performance standards. As you know, two sets of performance standards are required by JTPA: interim standards for the initial 9-month period and longer term standards for the program year 1984 and beyond.

Interim standards and performance measures have been issued. As provided in the statute, a State can adjust the Secretary's performance standards based on demographic and economic differences, as well as the types of participants to be served and the types of services to be delivered. The Department has provided an optional adjustment methodology to the Governors so that they can adjust performance expectations in response to how difficult particular participant groupings are to serve. This will reduce creaming, or choosing those easiest to serve.

Standards in the initial 9 months of JTPA were issued in April. The Department is developing the performance standards for the first full program year, July 1984 through June 1985, and these will be issued prior to January 31, 1984. Again, the Department's adjustment methodology will be made available to the Governors. A specific issue of concern that was raised in your letter relates to outcomes for in-school youth. In response to comments the Department received expressing concern that there were limited opportunities for positive outcomes for in-school youth, we revised the definitions of the youth positive termination standards. The new

definition provides the opportunity for Governors to include youth who attain employment competencies when the local PIC has recognized such competencies pursuant to section 106(B)(2) of the act. This will permit SDA's to take credit for locally recognized positive outcomes for youth, which may include school retention. Because section 106 assigns to the PIC's responsibility for defining recognized employment competencies, we believe this approach permits credit to be given without unduly limiting the discretion of the PIC's.

This change in the definition does not change the Federal reporting requirements or the performance standards which have been issued for the initial 9 months of JTPA. The Department is conducting further research on how PIC's define employment competencies, and based on the results, may propose modifications in this area in the future.

Another issue of concern to the committee is reporting requirements. The Department has dual goals regarding reporting. The first is to obtain adequate information for the Department to carry out its responsibilities for oversight and performance standards. The second is to minimize the federally mandated reporting work load burden on JTPA recipients and subrecipients.

Two distinct types of reporting systems have been established for JTPA in fiscal year 1984. The first, an administrative management information system, covers program expenditure and participation data. It will enable the Department to track the expenditure of funds and the level of enrollment.

The second reporting system focuses on performance and utilizes an annual status report containing information on participants, terminees, and costs. This information will be used to monitor program operations and in the development and implementation of performance standards.

The committee specifically asked about followup data. To date, we have not developed performance standards based on postprogram data that are adequate indices of program accomplishment. As you know, followup data is extremely costly and burdensome to collect and we agree that it should not be routinely required of local service deliverers. Accordingly, we did not impose requirements for reporting postprogram data. Instead, we will collect this data through the job training longitudinal survey, conduct further analysis on possible postprogram measures, and revisit this issue as we proceed.

Another area of interest mentioned by the committee is the Governor's coordination and special services plan, which is required by section 121 of the act. The Department issued instructions to the States regarding the preparation of this plan on June 22, 1983. Each State has submitted the required Governor's coordination and special services plan. The plan provides information on the ways in which the State plans to use its JTPA funds. As provided in the statute, the plan is a general description of operations and resource utilization. The initial plans are for the 21 months, covering the 9 months of October 1983 through June 1984, and the first program year, June 1984 through June 1985.

The committee also expressed an interest in technical assistance. Our technical assistance role has been primarily that of the broker,