To announce the publication of the revised Section 188 WIOA Nondiscrimination and Equal Opportunity Regulations (29 CFR Part 38) Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in the Federal Register on January 26, 2016.

To announce the 2016 National BTQ Review that will be held the week of May 16-20, 2016, at the Frances Perkins Building, 200 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, D.C., and request that Administrators from selected states ensure that two of their BTQ experts attend.

To announce the 2016 Unemployment Insurance (UI) Interstate Benefits and Federal Programs (IBFP) Training Conference scheduled to be held March 14-16, 2016, in Tucson, Arizona, and encourage state administrators to send their Interstate/Federal Program Coordinators and Interstate Connection (ICON) programmer(s) to the conference.

To ensure states are aware that: 1) the social security survivors and old age retirement annuities and the Federal civilian pensions annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will not increase for calendar year 2016, and 2) COLA information may be found on the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Web site.

To expand apprenticeships across the country by announcing ApprenticeshipUSA and launching related promotional and technical assistance resources for starting and enhancing Registered Apprenticeship Programs.

To provide guidelines for the FY 2016 UI RESEA grants and to invite state workforce agencies to submit proposals for funding.

To ensure State Workforce Agencies are aware of the Federal military retired pay annual cost of living adjustment (COLA) and to provide the Department of Defense Web site where the COLA information is located.

To ensure states are aware of the revised Schedule of Remuneration for the UCX program that reflects the military pay increase effective January 1, 2016.

To ensure states are aware of the locality-based salary rates for certain Federal civilian employees.

To provide guidance and planning information to INA grantees on the activities associated with the implementation of Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA).