1.1 	A bill for an act
1.2 	relating to workforce development; modifying the dislocated worker program;
1.3 	amending Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 116L.17, subdivision 1.
1.4 	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.5 	Section 1. Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 116L.17, subdivision 1, is amended to read:
1.6 		Subdivision 1.Definitions. (a) For the purposes of this section, the following terms have 
1.7 	the meanings given them in this subdivision.
1.8 	(b) "Commissioner" means the commissioner of employment and economic development.
1.9 	(c) "Dislocated worker" means an individual who is a resident of Minnesota at the time 
1.10 	employment ceased or was working in the state at the time employment ceased and:
1.11 	(1) has been permanently separated or has received a notice of permanent separation 
1.12 	from public or private sector employment and is eligible for or has exhausted entitlement 
1.13 	to unemployment benefits, and is unlikely to return to the previous industry or occupation;
1.14 	(2) has been long-term unemployed and has limited opportunities for employment or 
1.15 	reemployment in the same or a similar occupation in the area in which the individual resides, 
1.16 	including older individuals who may have substantial barriers to employment by reason of 
1.17 	age;
1.18 	(3) has been terminated or has received a notice of termination of employment as a result 
1.19 	of a plant closing or a substantial layoff at a plant, facility, or enterprise;
2.1 	(4) has been self-employed, including farmers and ranchers, and is unemployed as a 
2.2 	result of general economic conditions in the community in which the individual resides or 
2.3 	because of natural disasters;
2.4 	(5) MS 2011 Supp [Expired, 2011 c 84 art 3 s 1]
2.5 	(6) (5) is a veteran as defined by section 197.447, has been discharged or released from 
2.6 	active duty under honorable conditions within the last 36 months, and (i) is unemployed or 
2.7 	(ii) is employed in a job verified to be below the skill level and earning capacity of the 
2.8 	veteran;
2.9 	(7) (6) is an individual determined by the United States Department of Labor to be 
2.10 	covered by trade adjustment assistance under United States Code, title 19, sections 2271 to 
2.11 	2331, as amended; or
2.12 	(8) (7) is a displaced homemaker. A "displaced homemaker" is an individual who has 
2.13 	spent a substantial number of years in the home providing homemaking service and (i) has 
2.14 	been dependent upon the financial support of another; and now due to divorce, separation, 
2.15 	death, or disability of that person, must find employment to self support; or (ii) derived the 
2.16 	substantial share of support from public assistance on account of dependents in the home 
2.17 	and no longer receives such support. To be eligible under this clause, the support must have 
2.18 	ceased while the worker resided in Minnesota.
2.19 	For the purposes of this section, "dislocated worker" does not include an individual who 
2.20 	was an employee, at the time employment ceased, of a political committee, political fund, 
2.21 	principle campaign committee, or party unit, as those terms are used in chapter 10A, or an 
2.22 	organization required to file with the federal elections commission.
2.23 	(d) "Eligible organization" means a state or local government unit, nonprofit organization, 
2.24 	community action agency, business organization or association, or labor organization.
2.25 	(e) "Plant closing" means the announced or actual permanent shutdown of a single site 
2.26 	of employment, or one or more facilities or operating units within a single site of 
2.27 	employment.
2.28 	(f) "Substantial layoff" means a permanent reduction in the workforce, which is not a 
2.29 	result of a plant closing, and which results in an employment loss at a single site of 
2.30 	employment during any 30-day period for at least 50 employees excluding those employees 
2.31 	that work less than 20 hours per week.