February 22, 2005
House
Passes Class Action Bill
On Thursday, February 17,
the House passed (by a vote of 279-149) the Class Action Fairness Act of
2005 (S.5). The measure would shift many class action lawsuits from
state courts to federal courts, thereby creating federal jurisdiction over
class action lawsuits when the amount in dispute exceeds $5 million and when
the plaintiff and the defendant live in different states. The Senate
passed the bill on Thursday, February 10 and the President is expected to
sign it into law.
House
Committee Approves WIA Legislation
The House Education and the Workforce
Committee approved (by a vote of 26-20) legislation that would revamp the
Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA). H.R.
27 would combine job-training funds for adults, dislocated workers, and
employment services into a single state block grant and provide Governors
with new discretion to distribute funds. It also provides for
increased pilot projects of personal reemployment accounts for the
unemployed to use to purchase their own job training. In addition, the
measure contains a controversial "faith based" provision that
would allow religious organizations that operate job training programs to
consider the religious beliefs of applicants for hire;
the provision could be challenged in the Senate.
Budget
Chairmen Agree to 'Macro'
Numbers for Budget Resolution
Senate
Budget Committee Chairman Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) and House Budget Committee
Chairman Jim Nussle (R-Iowa) have agreed on the macro numbers to be
reflected in the budget resolution for attaining deficit reduction. The
numbers reflect the broad outline in the President’s budget for both
mandatory and discretionary spending. In addition, it appears that House
authorizing committee chairmen have agreed with this approach and will not
oppose a reconciliation bill as in the last two years.
The State of Nevada Washington Office publishes a weekly listing of new
grant notifications as a service to Nevadans and other interested parties.
The update is published here every Friday. Please visit www.nevadadc.org
and click the grant notifications link.