NASWA in Action: December 2022 Committees Recap
Board of Directors
The Board of Directors met December 6, 2022 to discuss state and national labor priorities.
Employment & Training
Members of the Employment & Training and Technology Committee joined together in small group discussions centered around replacing/modernizing case management systems, virtual service delivery and AI job search.
Technology Committee
Chair Liz Carver (UT) welcomed 22 committee members representing 17 states to the NASWA Technology Committee meeting on December 7 and 8 in Nashville, TN.
The Committee received updates from the National Association of State CIOs (NASCIO), on NASWA’s Behavioral Insights activities, and on the status of UI IT Modernization. Members engaged in roundtable discussions on current project updates, staffing challenges, and best practices of user experience/customer journey. The committee also held a joint session with the E&T Committee to discuss the top workforce initiatives of state workforce agencies: replacing/modernizing case management systems, virtual service delivery, and the use of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI).
The next Technology Committee Meeting, is on February 16-17 in Washington, D.C. For more information contact John Quichocho or Amy Hiltunen.
Unemployment Insurance Committee
The NASWA Unemployment Insurance Committee met on December 7 in Nashville, Tennessee. Chair Patsy Westcott from Alaska and Vice-Chair Renita Williams from Louisiana led the meeting with member representation from 26 states in attendance. The Committee heard updates on the priorities and initiatives at the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) from Jim Garner, Administrator of the Office of Unemployment Insurance and Suzanne Simonetta, Director of Division of Performance Management at Office of Unemployment Insurance at USDOL. NASWA Staff shared information about the NASWA’s Tiger Team and equity grant resources available to states. In addition, the meeting included state presentations on short-time compensation/workshare programs, an adjudication workload management tool, federal reporting microservices, and a process to address fraud backlogs. Committee members discussed legislative priorities for the coming year and concluded the meeting with a roundtable discussion.
The next committee meeting will be Tuesday, April 18 in Indianapolis, IN.
Veterans Affairs Committee
Over 50 members of the NASWA Veterans Affairs committee met both virtually and in person Dec. 7-8, 2022, in Nashville, TN. In addition to hearing updates from USDOL VETS officials, the group learned about the state of Tennessee’s history, partnership with State VA and services to justice-involved Veterans. The rest of the meeting was spent discussing strategic priorities for the coming year. Three work groups were formed to work on Expanding DVOP Eligibility, Marketing JVSG Services, and Serving Veterans with Disabilities. All three groups will provide an update at the committee’s monthly virtual meeting on January 12.
Wage & Hour Committee
The Wage and Hour Committee hosted a virtual Child Labor Roundtable on December 15th in conjunction with the USDOL Division of Wage and Hour. With over 40 participants, the session featured a presentation from USDOL’s Chereesse Thymes and Ernest Weiss, and included discussion and committee roundtable about state child labor laws and recent initiatives.
The Wage and Hour Committee had its first meeting of the new Association Year on December 16th. Over 30 committee members joined the virtual meeting to discuss child labor laws, misclassification, new legislation, and future meeting topics.
Laura Fortman (ME) is the Committee Chair with Joe Barela (CO) serving as the Committee Vice-Chair.
The next meeting is scheduled for February 7th from 1:00 – 3:00pm ET and will be virtual. Please contact Luke Shirey for more information.
