By Palmer                                      H.C.R. No. 102

      75R4734 CCK-D                           

                             HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

 1-1           WHEREAS, In 1995 the Texas Legislature enacted House Bill

 1-2     1863, revising the state's public assistance programs and

 1-3     restructuring its job-training and workforce development programs

 1-4     to promote the move from welfare to jobs; and

 1-5           WHEREAS, The law provides for the formation of local

 1-6     workforce development boards and for the creation by those boards

 1-7     of one-stop career development centers to be operated alternatively

 1-8     by private contractors or by the Texas Workforce Commission; and

 1-9           WHEREAS, Communications to the state by the U.S. Department

1-10     of Labor have impeded full implementation of House Bill 1863, with

1-11     federal officials taking the position that Wagner-Peyser funds,

1-12     used for certain job matching and other labor market and employer

1-13     services, may be  administered only by state employees; and

1-14           WHEREAS, This policy disrupts the efficacy of the state's job

1-15     program consolidation, which has broad bipartisan support in Texas,

1-16     having been recommended by Comptroller John Sharp and having the

1-17     backing of Governor George W. Bush, who signed House Bill 1863 into

1-18     law; and

1-19           WHEREAS, Texas' new system for delivering job-related

1-20     services, which puts this state at the forefront of workforce

1-21     development, not only merges like programs but also offers greater

1-22     control at the community level; this system, including contracts

1-23     with private entities to deliver public services, reflects trends

1-24     and philosophies of decentralization that today are reshaping

 2-1     American politics and reinventing American government; and

 2-2           WHEREAS, Increased privatization of public services, such as

 2-3     competitive bidding between innovative public and private

 2-4     providers, and as exemplified by this legislature's creation of a

 2-5     State Council on Competitive Government in 1993, has been one such

 2-6     trend; and

 2-7           WHEREAS, Many other events reflect changed thinking about the

 2-8     nature of American federalism:  the reassertion of states' rights,

 2-9     the questioning of unfunded mandates, the increased use of block

2-10     grants, and the more frequent approval of federal regulatory

2-11     waivers, all of which speak to the philosophy that small, localized

2-12     government is better than large, distant government; and

2-13           WHEREAS, The president recognizes this principle in his

2-14     public pronouncements, the vice president recognizes it in his

2-15     National Performance Review, and the congress recognizes it in laws

2-16     such as last year's welfare reform act, but the message appears not

2-17     yet to have reached or motivated the U.S. Department of Labor,

2-18     which remains out of line with the viewpoint of all three; now,

2-19     therefore, be it

2-20           RESOLVED, That the 75th Legislature of the State of Texas

2-21     hereby respectfully memorialize the Congress of the United States,

2-22     and request the president of the United States, to overrule the

2-23     U.S.  Department of Labor policy barring nonstate employees from

2-24     administering programs that use federal funds under House Bill

2-25     1863, 74th Texas Legislature, Regular Session; and, be it further

2-26           RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official

2-27     copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to

 3-1     the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of

 3-2     the senate of the United States Congress, and to all the members of

 3-3     the Texas delegation to the congress with the request that this

 3-4     resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a

 3-5     memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.