To encourage labor representatives on state and local Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs) to attend the 2004 training conferences sponsored by the AFL-CIO Working for America Institute. The conferences will be held May 12-14 in San Diego, California, and May 19-21 in New York, New York.

This advisory provides guidance for funding of ATAA administrative costs.

To provide states and grantees of the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) policy and procedures relating to program termination, transition of participants and closeout pursuant to the rescission of the Welfare-to-Work (WtW) State formula program funded in Fiscal Year 1999 under Section 403(a)(5)(H)(i)(II) of the Social Security Act. A list of the applicable grants (30) and their expiration dates prior to the rescission is provided in Attachment B.

To provide procedural guidance to State Workforce Agencies (SWAs) on processing of requests for certification under the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) and Welfare-to-Work Tax Credit (WtWTC) after these tax credits expired on December 31, 2003. This guidance covers the period January 1 - September 30, 2004. If the WOTC and WtWTC program has not been reauthorized by September 30, 2004, additional guidance will be issued.

To provide adjusted funding levels for Program Year (PY) 2003 allotments for the Dislocated Worker program under WIA Title I Section 132(c) through the recapture and reallotment mechanism.

To announce the extension of the form ETA-227 for reporting benefit payment control activities.

To encourage attendance and participation at the "United We Ride National Leadership Forum", February 23-25, 2004, in Washington, D.C. The U.S. Department of Labor is pleased to be a co-sponsor of this Forum in partnership with other agencies in the Departments of Transportation, Education, and Health and Human Services. Letters to Governors have been sent from the four Secretaries asking teams of three to five senior decision-makers to attend the Forum, including a representative of the Workforce Investment Board. A copy of the letter is attached for your information.

To inform the state and local workforce investment system of the policies and priorities that will govern the award and use of the Secretary's discretionary National Emergency Grant (NEG) Dislocated Worker funds, pursuant to the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), Title I, Section 173, as amended.

To inform State Workforce Agencies (SWAs) of the 2004 Monitor Advocate Training being held in San Antonio, Texas, April 13-16, 2004.

To transmit the subject computation for State Workforce Agency use in computing minimum weekly DUA amounts for all major disasters declared during the second quarter of fiscal year (FY) 2004.