Ms. Lorraine H. Akiba
Director
Department of Labor and Industrial Relations
830 Punchbowl Street, Room 204
Honolulu, Hawaii 96813

Dear Ms. Akiba:

This is in response to Governor Cayetano's request to waive the provisions of section 702(a)(2)(B) of the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) under the waiver authority granted to the Secretary in the Department of Labor (DOL) Appropriation Act for 1997 (Pub. L. 104-208, section 101(e)), and is intended to formalize information provided in earlier communications with State staff.

As indicated in contacts with the State by our staff, the State's request to waiver the provisions of section 702 pertaining to the 15 percent educational representation on the Human Resource Investment Council (HRIC) is outside of the Secretary's waiver authority and, therefore, could not be granted. The JTPA statutory waiver authority granted to the Secretary in the DOL 1997 Appropriations Act is limited to the provisions of JTPA titles I, II and III. The provisions pertaining to the establishment of a HRIC are set forth at title VII of JTPA, and, as such, are outside of the Secretary's waiver authority.

Although a waiver could not be granted, our Regional Office staff were able to provide guidance to the State on how it might achieve the desired result without the need for a waiver. (INSERT THE GUIDANCE THAT WAS PROVIDED TO THE STATE HERE)

We appreciate the unique circumstances that prompted the State's request and are happy that we could be of assistance in achieving a positive result. The Department is prepared to consider other waiver requests that the State may wish to submit.

Sincerely,

Armando Quiroz

Regional Administrator