Rule2025-11742
Rescission of Workforce Investment Act Regulations
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
July 1, 2025
Effective
September 2, 2025
Issuing agencies
Labor DepartmentEmployment and Training Administration
Abstract
The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) of the Department of Labor (Department) is removing the regulations that implemented and governed the Title I Workforce Investment Act (WIA) programs at the national, State, and local levels and provided program requirements applicable to all WIA formula and competitive funds. Title I of WIA was repealed by Congress with the enactment of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) on June 22, 2014, and all remaining grant funding under Title I has been closed out by the Department. Accordingly, these regulations are no longer necessary, and the Department is taking this action to remove regulations from the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) for programs that are no longer operative.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 124 (Tuesday, July 1, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 124 (Tuesday, July 1, 2025)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 27992-27995]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-11742]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Employment and Training Administration
20 CFR Parts 660, 661, 662, 663, 664, 665, 666, 667, 668, 669, 670,
671, and 672
[Docket No. ETA-2025-0001]
RIN 1205-AC26
Rescission of Workforce Investment Act Regulations
AGENCY: Employment and Training Administration, Labor.
ACTION: Direct final rule; request for comments.
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[[Page 27993]]
SUMMARY: The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) of the
Department of Labor (Department) is removing the regulations that
implemented and governed the Title I Workforce Investment Act (WIA)
programs at the national, State, and local levels and provided program
requirements applicable to all WIA formula and competitive funds. Title
I of WIA was repealed by Congress with the enactment of the Workforce
Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) on June 22, 2014, and all
remaining grant funding under Title I has been closed out by the
Department. Accordingly, these regulations are no longer necessary, and
the Department is taking this action to remove regulations from the
Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) for programs that are no longer
operative.
DATES: This final rule is effective September 2, 2025, unless
significant adverse comments are received by July 31, 2025. If adverse
comment is received, ETA will publish a timely withdrawal of the rule
in the Federal Register.
ADDRESSES: You may send comments, identified by Docket No. ETA-2025-
0001 and Regulatory Identification Number (RIN) 1205-AC26, by the
following method:
<bullet> Federal eRulemaking Portal: <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>.
Search for the above-referenced RIN, open the proposed rule, and follow
the on-screen instructions for submitting comments.
Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name
and docket number for this rulemaking or ``RIN 1205-AC26.''
Please be advised that the Department will post comments received
that relate to this proposed rule to <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>,
including any personal information provided. The <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> website is the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal and all
comments posted there are available and accessible to the public.
Please do not submit comments containing trade secrets, confidential or
proprietary commercial or financial information, personal health
information, sensitive personally identifiable information (for
example, social security numbers, driver's license or state
identification numbers, passport numbers, or financial account
numbers), or other information that you do not want to be made
available to the public. Should the agency become aware of such
information, the agency reserves the right to redact or refrain from
posting sensitive information, libelous, or otherwise inappropriate
comments, including those that contain obscene, indecent, or profane
language; that contain threats or defamatory statements; or that
contain hate speech. Please note that depending on how information is
submitted, the agency may not be able to redact the information and
instead reserves the right to refrain from posting the information or
comment in such situations.
Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or
comments received, go to <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> (search using RIN
1205-AC26 or Docket No. ETA-2025-0001). If you need assistance to
review the comments, contact the Office of Policy Development and
Research at 202-693-3700 (this is not a toll-free number).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Luke Murren, Acting Administrator,
Office of Policy Development and Research, U.S. Department of Labor,
200 Constitution Avenue NW, Room N-5641, Washington, DC 20210;
telephone (202) 693-3700 (this is not a toll-free number). For persons
with a hearing or speech disability who need assistance using the
telephone system, please dial 711 to access telecommunications relay
services.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department is removing the regulations
at 20 CFR parts 660 through 672, which implement and govern the WIA
programs authorized under Title I and under secs. 501-503 of Title V of
WIA (Secs. 101-195 and 501-503, Pub. L. 105-220 (codified at 29 U.S.C.
2901-2945).
The Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) was comprehensive reform
legislation that superseded the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) of
1982 and amended the Wagner-Peyser Act title III program, also
administered by the Department. Title I authorized the Workforce
Investment System, established governance provisions for State and
local levels; set forth the ``One-Stop'' service delivery system;
established the funding mechanism for States and local areas; specified
participant eligibility criteria; and authorized a broad array of
services for youth, adults, and dislocated workers, certain statewide
activities, and a performance accountability system, as well as number
of national programs--the Job Corps, Native American programs, Migrant
and Seasonal Farmworker programs, Veterans' Workforce Investment
programs, Youth Opportunity grants, National Emergency grants,
technical assistance efforts, and demonstration, pilot, and other
special national projects. Sections 501-503 of Title V authorized State
unified plans, definitions of indicators of performance, and incentive
grants for exceeding negotiated levels of performance. WIA also
included the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (title II), and
the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998 (title IV) for programs
administered by the U.S. Department of Education (ED). In April 1999,
pursuant to Sec. 506(c), Public Law 105-220; 20 U.S.C. 9276(c), the
Department issued an Interim Final Rule implementing provisions of
titles I, III, and V of WIA.\1\ Public comments were received in
response to the Interim Final Rule, which were taken into consideration
in drafting the final rule. In August 2000, the Department then issued
a Final Rule implementing provisions of titles I, III and V of WIA.\2\
The final rules implementing titles I and V of WIA were codified at 20
CFR parts 660 through 672.
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\1\ See 64 FR 18662 (Apr. 15, 1999).
\2\ See 65 FR 49294 (Aug. 10, 2000).
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In 2014, the enactment of WIOA repealed and replaced WIA.\3\ WIOA
also includes five titles: Workforce Development Activities (title I),
which authorized programs primarily administered by ETA, including
three state formula grant programs, multiple national programs, and Job
Corps. Adult Education and Literacy (title II), which authorized
programs administered by ED, including a state formula grant program
and National Leadership activities. Title III amended the Wagner-Peyser
Act of 1933, which authorized the Employment Service (ES) and is
administered by ETA. Title IV amended the Rehabilitation Act of 1973,
which authorized vocational rehabilitation services to individuals with
disabilities and is administered by ED. Title V included General
Provisions for the administration of WIOA. In August 2016, the
Department promulgated regulations implementing title I of WIOA and the
title III Wagner-Peyser Act amendments.\4\ Any remaining active
participants in the WIA titles I, III and V programs have been
transitioned into similarly-targeted programs under WIOA.\5\ All grant
funds appropriated under WIA titles I, III and V have been closed out.
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\3\ Section 511 of Public Law 113-128, 128 Stat. 1425.
\4\ These regulations were included in a Joint Final Rule issued
with the Department of Education and a Final Rule that applied to
only DOL WIOA programs. See 81 FR 55792 (Aug. 19, 2016); 81 FR 56072
(Aug. 19, 2016). They are codified in Title 20 of the Code of
Federal Regulations at parts 652-688.
\5\ Section 503 of Public Law 113-128, 128 Stat. 1425.
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[[Page 27994]]
The Department is therefore undertaking this ministerial action to
remove the regulations governing the former WIA title I program (which
includes the provisions in secs. 501-503 of WIA) from the CFR at 20 CFR
parts 660 through 672, as they are obsolete.
Procedural and Other Matters
A. Review Under Executive Orders 12866
Executive Order (E.O.) 12866, ``Regulatory Planning and Review,''
58 FR 51735 (Oct. 4, 1993), requires agencies, to the extent permitted
by law, to (1) propose or adopt a regulation only upon a reasoned
determination that its benefits justify its costs (recognizing that
some benefits and costs are difficult to quantify); (2) tailor
regulations to impose the least burden on society, consistent with
obtaining regulatory objectives, taking into account, among other
things, and to the extent practicable, the costs of cumulative
regulations; (3) select, in choosing among alternative regulatory
approaches, those approaches that maximize net benefits; (4) to the
extent feasible, specify performance objectives, rather than specifying
the behavior or manner of compliance that regulated entities must
adopt; and (5) identify and assess available alternatives to direct
regulation, including providing economic incentives to encourage the
desired behavior, such as user fees or marketable permits, or providing
information upon which choices can be made by the public.
Section 6(a) of E.O. 12866 also requires agencies to submit
``significant regulatory actions'' to OIRA for review. OIRA has
determined that this direct final rule does not constitute a
``significant regulatory action'' under section 3(f) of E.O. 12866.
Accordingly, this direct final rule was not submitted to OIRA for
review under E.O. 12866.
B. Review Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act
The Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) requires
preparation of an initial regulatory flexibility analysis (IRFA) and a
final regulatory flexibility analysis (FRFA) for any rule that by law
must be proposed for public comment, unless the agency certifies that
the rule, if promulgated, will not have a significant economic impact
on a substantial number of small entities. DOL reviewed this rescission
under the provisions of the Regulatory Flexibility Act. This program is
no longer operational, so there is no impact on small entities.
C. Review Under the Paperwork Reduction Act
This rescission imposes no new information or record-keeping
requirements. Accordingly, OMB clearance is not required under the
Paperwork Reduction Act. (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).
D. Review Under Executive Order 13132
E.O. 13132, ``Federalism,'' 64 FR 43255 (August 10, 1999), imposes
certain requirements on Federal agencies formulating and implementing
policies or regulations that preempt State law or that have federalism
implications. The E.O. 13132 requires agencies to examine the
constitutional and statutory authority supporting any action that would
limit the policymaking discretion of the States and to carefully assess
the necessity for such actions. The E.O. 13132 also requires agencies
to have an accountable process to ensure meaningful and timely input by
State and local officials in the development of regulatory policies
that have Federalism implications.
DOL has examined this rescission and has determined that it would
not have a substantial direct effect on the States, on the relationship
between the Federal government and the States, or on the distribution
of power and responsibilities among the various levels of government.
E. Review Under Executive Order 12630
Pursuant to E.O. 12630, ``Governmental Actions and Interference
with Constitutionally Protected Property Rights,'' 53 FR 8859 (March
18, 1988), DOL has determined that this proposed rule would not result
in any takings that might require compensation under the Fifth
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
F. Review Under the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act,
2001
Section 515 of the Treasury and General Government Appropriations
Act, 2001 (44 U.S.C. 3516, note) provides for Federal agencies to
review most disseminations of information to the public under
information quality guidelines established by each agency pursuant to
general guidelines issued by OMB. OMB's guidelines were published at 67
FR 8452 (Feb. 22, 2002). DOL has reviewed this proposed rescission
under the OMB guidelines and has concluded that it is consistent with
applicable policies in those guidelines.
G. Congressional Notification
As required by 5 U.S.C. 801, DOL will report to Congress on the
promulgation of this rule before its effective date. The report will
state that it has been determined that the rule is not a ``major rule''
as defined by 5 U.S.C. 804(2).
H. Review Under Additional Executive Orders and Presidential Memoranda
DOL has examined this proposed rule and has determined that it is
consistent with the policies and directives outlined in E.O. 14192,
``Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation,'' This rescission is
expected to be an E.O. 14192 deregulatory action.
List of Subjects
20 CFR Parts 660, 661, 662, and 663
Employment, Grant programs--labor.
20 CFR Part 664
Employment, Grant programs--labor, Youth.
20 CFR Part 665 and 666
Employment, Grant programs--labor.
20 CFR Part 667
Administrative practice and procedure, Employment, Foreign trade,
Grant programs--labor, Intergovernmental relations, Manpower,
Penalties, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Waiver.
20 CFR Part 668
Employment, Grant programs--labor, Indians, Reporting and
recordkeeping requirements.
20 CFR Part 669
Employment, Grant programs--labor, Migrant labor, Reporting and
recordkeeping requirements.
20 CFR Part 670
Employment, Grant programs--labor, Job Corps.
20 CFR Part 671
Employment, Grant programs--labor, Labor, Manpower training
programs.
20 CFR Part 672
Employment, Grant programs--labor, Reporting and recordkeeping
requirements.
PARTS 660 THROUGH 672--[REMOVED AND RESERVED]
0
For the reasons stated in the preamble, and under the authority 29
U.S.C. 3101, et seq., Public Law 113-128., the
[[Page 27995]]
Department removes and reserves 20 CFR parts 660 through 672.
Susan Frazier,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training, Labor.
[FR Doc. 2025-11742 Filed 6-30-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-FN-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on July 1, 2025.
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