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HJM015......................................by COMMERCE AND HUMAN RESOURCES
NAFTA-TAA PETITIONS - Stating findings of the Legislature and urging the
Congress of the United States to require all agencies to strictly comply
with all TAA and NAFTA-TAA petition investigations and to determine time
requirements to ensure that determinations are made within the sixty day
notification period required by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining
Notification Act.
01/30 House intro - 1st rdg - to printing
01/31 Rpt prt - to Com/HuRes
02/12 Rpt out - rec d/p - to 2nd rdg
02/13 2nd rdg - to 3rd rdg
02/15 3rd rdg - ADOPTED, voice vote
Title apvd - to Senate
02/18 Senate intro - 1st rdg - to Com/HuRes
03/05 Rpt out - rec d/p - to 10th Ord
03/06 10th ord - ADOPTED - voice vote
Title apvd - to House
To enrol
03/07 Rpt enrol - Sp signed
03/08 Pres signed
03/11 To Secretary of State
|||| LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF IDAHO ||||
Fifty-sixth Legislature Second Regular Session - 2002
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL NO. 15
BY COMMERCE AND HUMAN RESOURCES COMMITTEE
1 A JOINT MEMORIAL
2 TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES IN CONGRESS
3 ASSEMBLED, AND TO THE CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION REPRESENTING THE STATE OF
4 IDAHO IN THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES.
5 We, your Memorialists, the House of Representatives and the Senate of the
6 State of Idaho assembled in the Second Regular Session of the Fifty-sixth
7 Idaho Legislature, do hereby respectfully represent that:
8 WHEREAS, Congress has enacted various laws throughout the years containing
9 provisions designed to assist dislocated workers in our country; and
10 WHEREAS, among those laws is the Trade Act of 1974, which provides for
11 assistance to workers whose employment is adversely affected by increased
12 imports and the North American Free Trade Agreement of 1993 which, in part,
13 establishes a specialized trade adjustment assistance program known as the
14 NAFTA-TAA program. The NAFTA-TAA program is a transitional program that helps
15 workers whose companies have been impacted or are threatened to be impacted as
16 a direct result of increased imports from Canada or Mexico; and
17 WHEREAS, when certified as eligible to apply for TAA and/or NAFTA-TAA
18 adjustment assistance, workers may qualify to receive benefits which may
19 include trade readjustment allowances, re-employment services such as counsel-
20 ing, testing, job development and placement, job search allowances, reimburse-
21 ment for approved job search expenses, relocation allowances, reimbursement
22 for approved costs of relocating to a new job and job training which is
23 expected to lead to employment. Each benefit has its own eligibility require-
24 ments; and
25 WHEREAS, to obtain relief provided by the programs, the laws require offi-
26 cial certification by the United States Department of Labor authorizing a
27 specified group of workers to apply for adjustment assistance. To obtain cer-
28 tification, individuals designated by statute including workers, union repre-
29 sentatives or company officials, are required to file a TAA and/or NAFTA-TAA
30 petition; and
31 WHEREAS, TAA petitions are to be filed directly with the United States
32 Department of Labor. The Department is charged with conducting a fact-finding
33 investigation following receipt of a petition, and an official notice of eli-
34 gibility determination is to be finalized no later than sixty days after a
35 petition is instituted; and
36 WHEREAS, NAFTA-TAA petitions are to be filed with the Governor's desig-
37 nated state agency and that agency shares the responsibility for completing a
38 fact-finding investigation with the Department of Labor which is to be com-
39 pleted no later than forty days after a petition is instituted; and
40 WHEREAS, various companies throughout the state of Idaho have been
41 adversely affected by increased imports, making workers in these companies
42 eligible for federal adjustment assistance. However, despite the stated time
43 requirements for completion of investigations by the various government agen-
44 cies, determinations regarding affected workers in the state of Idaho have not
2
1 always been made within the required period of time, subjecting workers to
2 unreasonable delays in receipt of determinations; and
3 WHEREAS, in the case of company closures or layoffs, workers are often
4 forced to hurriedly relocate before determinations are received in order to
5 provide their families with a means of support. As a result, affected workers
6 do not benefit from the federal adjustment programs and communities suffer
7 losses in population, which in turn results in significant social and economic
8 impact to the communities; and
9 WHEREAS, the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) was
10 enacted on August 4, 1988, and offers protection to workers, their families
11 and communities by requiring employers to give sixty days' advance notice of
12 covered plant closings and covered mass layoffs to workers, their representa-
13 tives and the state dislocated worker unit and appropriate unit of local gov-
14 ernment; and
15 WHEREAS, workers faced with impending layoffs, and the communities in
16 which they reside, would benefit if all TAA and NAFTA-TAA petition determina-
17 tions were actually made within the sixty day notification period required by
18 the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.
19 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the members of the Second Regular Ses-
20 sion of the Fifty-sixth Idaho Legislature, the House of Representatives and
21 the Senate concurring therein, hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the
22 United States to require all agencies to strictly comply with all TAA and
23 NAFTA-TAA petition investigation and determination time requirements to ensure
24 that determinations are made within the sixty day notification period required
25 by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.
26 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Chief Clerk of the House of Representa-
27 tives be, and she is hereby authorized and directed to forward a copy of this
28 Memorial to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Repre-
29 sentatives of Congress, and the congressional delegation representing the
30 State of Idaho in the Congress of the United States.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
RS 11513
A joint memorial urging Congress to require federal agencies to
comply with the time requirements and notifications of TAA and
NAFTA-TAA set forth by the Workers Adjustment and Retraining
Notification Act.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal impact to the general fund.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE/FISCAL NOTE HJM 15
Contact
Name: Elmer Martinez
Phone: 332-1130
Chuck Cuddy:332-1000
Mary Lou Shepherd: 332-1000