SB 653

The Wisconsin Works (W-2) program under current law provides work

experience and benefits for low-income custodial parents who are at least 18 years

old, as well as job search assistance to noncustodial parents and child care subsidies

for certain parents who need child care services to participate in various educational

or work activities. W-2, which is administered by the Department of Children and

Families (DCF), which in turn contracts with W-2 agencies to administer W-2 on the

local level, is partially funded with federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families

(TANF) block grant moneys. One of the work components under W-2 is the trial job

program (program), under which an individual receives at least minimum wage from

an employer for up to 40 hours of work per week and the W-2 agency pays the

employer a wage subsidy of up to $300 per month. Also under current law, DCF is

required to conduct a transitional jobs demonstration project (project) in six counties

under which DCF provides up to 2,500 transitional jobs for unemployed, low-income

adults who are not eligible for W-2.

This bill provides federal funding from the TANF Emergency Fund under the

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 for the project and for an

expansion of the program. Under both the project and the program, an individual

may participate for a maximum of 1,040 hours actually worked and is paid by the

employer at not less than minimum wage. Any employer is eligible to receive a

subsidy for employing a participating individual if the individual is employed for at

least 20 hours per week and at a location in this state. The employer receives a wage

subsidy that is equal to the wages the employer actually pays the individual, up to

40 hours per week at minimum wage.

As under current law for the program, the bill prohibits the employment of an

individual under the project from having the effect of filling a vacancy created by

terminating a regular employee's employment for the purpose of hiring an individual

under the project or of filling a position of a person who is on layoff or strike or

engaged in a labor dispute regarding the job. The bill expands the project so that it

is not limited to 2,500 transitional jobs nor to any specific geographic areas of the

state.

The bill requires DCF to evaluate the project and its effectiveness in the six

counties in which the project was initially going to be conducted and to submit a

report of its evaluation to the Joint Committee on Finance (JCF) and to the

appropriate standing committees of the legislature by June 30, 2011. DCF is also

required to submit quarterly reports to JCF outlining its progress in implementing

the project and the expansion of the program and identifying the employers

participating in each. In addition, DCF must take any action necessary to obtain any

additional federal funding that becomes available for the program and the project.

Also under the bill, the Department of Workforce Development is required to

publicize and maintain information about the project and the program, and how to