Waiver Plan Submission
Development of Waiver Request. The Employment and Training Administration (ETA)
Regional and Affiliate Offices are responsible for providing guidance and assistance to the States
as they are developing their waiver requests, answering questions about the ETA waiver policy
and advising the Assistant Secretary about approval of the waiver request(s). We expect that the
Regional and Affiliate Offices, under the new ETA field configuration, will have continuing
dialogue with their States during the developmental stages of waiver requests. These Offices are
available to review and provide comments on draft proposals and provide technical assistance in
preparation of the waiver plan submission. Upon completion of the Waiver Plan, the Governor
will submit one copy of Plan to the appropriate Regional Administrator or Affiliate Office
Administrator, along with the Plan in electronic form in order to reduce paperwork and to
facilitate the automated processing of the States requests. States are asked to use either Microsoft
WORD, Corel WordPerfect 6 or higher, Rich text format, or ASCII text for the electronic format
to avoid conversion problems which might delay the processing of the States request.
Minimum Requirements. WIA requires the Secretary to make a determination of how a State's
request to waive certain statutory and regulatory requirements would remove impediments and
improve the State's or local area's ability to achieve its goals. It also requires the State to include
a summary description of the programmatic or administrative goals to be achieved in order to
overcome the barrier.
The Governor must provide at least the minimum information identified at WIA section
189(i)(4)(B), and set forth at 20 CFR 661.420(c) of the implementing regulations, in order for the
Secretary to make an informed decision on whether to approve the requested waiver(s). Where
documentation (e.g., statistical information, reports, focus groups, customer surveys) is available,
it should be provided to corroborate the statements made in the waiver request. In the absence of
such data, the State is expected to provide a substantive discussion and examples of barriers and
proposed solutions which support the proposed removal of the requirements.
Public Comment Process. The State waiver plan must provide notice and an opportunity to
comment to any Local Board affected by a waiver request, and must ensure meaningful public
comment on the waiver requests, including comment by business and organized labor. We
expect that the State will involve these groups, as well as local public officials, community-based
organizations and other stakeholders, in the process of developing the waiver plan. The proposed
waiver plan must be made reasonably available to the general public through such means as
public hearings and local news media. Copies of all comments received on the requested waivers
should be forwarded to the appropriate Regional or Affiliate Office with the waiver plan.
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Created: February 28, 2006
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