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Improvements to Transition Assistance Program and Skillbridge

Title II: Education and Economic Opportunity

Plain-language summaryAI

The section updates the Transition Assistance Program by including special operations forces, setting minimum days for preseparation counseling based on post-service plans, and allowing members to attend counseling twice if space is available. It standardizes pathways across the armed forces, requires recording pathway assignments in service records, and improves coordination between the Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, and Labor to support members at risk of difficult transitions. Additionally, it mandates annual reports on counseling participation, referrals, and unemployment compensation, and encourages standardized contracting for counseling services.

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Section Text · Sec. 206.
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(a) Transition Assistance Program: amendments; pilot program; reports

(1) Special operations forces

Subsection (a) of section 1142 of title 10, United States Code, is amended, in paragraph (1), by inserting (including each member of the special operations forces) after armed forces .

(2) Requirement of preseparation counseling: number of days

Such subsection is further amended, in paragraph (1)—

(A)

by inserting (A) before Within ; and

(B)

by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:

(B)

The Secretary concerned shall ensure that a member described in subparagraph (A) receives preseparation counseling in the following amounts:

(i)

In the case of a member who has accepted an offer of full-time employment, or has enrolled in a program of education or vocational training, that shall commence after the member separates, retires, or is discharged, not fewer than three days.

(ii)

In the case of a member other than a member described in clause (i), not fewer than five days.

(3) Repeat attendance

Such subsection is further amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:

(6)

A member who received preseparation counseling under this section may, before separation, retirement, or discharge, request to receive, on a space-available basis, such preseparation counseling a second time.

(4) Pathways: standardization; establishment of pathway for members of the reserve components

Such section is further amended, in paragraph (1) of subsection (c), in the matter preceding subparagraph (A)(1)—

(A)

by striking Each Secretary concerned and inserting The Secretaries of Defense and Homeland Security ; and

(B)

by striking pathways for members of the military department concerned and inserting pathways, standardized across the armed forces .

(5) Pathways: record of pathway assignment

Such subsection is further amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:

(4)

The Secretary concerned shall ensure that the pathway in which a member is placed, and the reasons for such placement, are noted in the service record of such member.

(6) Coordination between Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, and Labor

Such section is further amended, in subsection (d)—

(A)

by striking the heading and inserting Transmission of Certain Information to Other Departments ;

(B)

by inserting (1) before In the case ; and

(C)

by adding at the end the following new paragraphs:

(2)

Before a member described in subsection (a) separates, retires, or is discharged, the Secretary concerned shall transmit to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs the Department of Defense Form DD–2648 regarding such member.

(3)
(A)

In the case of a member described in subsection (a) whom the Secretary determined as tier 3 status the Secretary concerned shall, before the member separates, retires, or is discharged, provide such member with the contact information of an employee of the Department of Veterans Affairs and an employee of the Department of Labor; and

(B)

Each employee described in subparagraph (A) shall contact the member described in such subparagraph not later than 60 days after such member separates, retires, or is discharged.

(C)

The Secretary of Veterans Affairs and the Secretary of Labor shall each submit to the Committees on Armed Services and on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and House of Representatives an annual report that identifies the number of times, and reasons why, an employee of the department under the jurisdiction of such Secretary failed to carry out subparagraph (B) in the year preceding the date of the report.

(D)

The Secretary of Defense and Secretary of Homeland Security shall prescribe regulations to ensure that, for purposes of this paragraph, each Secretary concerned uses the same definition of the term at risk for a difficult transition to civilian life .

(7) Report

Not later than two years after the date of the enactment of this Act and annually thereafter for four years, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the Committees on Armed Services, and the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs, of the Senate and House of Representatives, a report on data recorded with such tracking system during the year preceding the date of such report. Such a report shall include a list of the seven military installations located inside the continental United States, and three military installations located outside the continental United States, where members are least likely to receive preseparation counseling in accordance with such time periods.

(A)

The number of members who, in the course of such preseparation counseling, were referred to another Federal agency or department.

(B)

The Federal agencies or departments to which members were so referred.

(C)

The number of members who should have been, but were not, so referred, and reasons why such referrals did not occur.

(D)

The number of members who receive such preseparation counseling and apply for unemployment compensation under subchapter II of chapter 85 of title 5, United States Code.

(E)

The total amount of such unemployment compensation paid to members separating from the Armed Forces.

(F)

The frequency with which the commander of the military installation received a briefing regarding attendance of members in accordance with statutory requirements of the Transition Assistance Program.

(8) Contracting: standardization

Such section is further amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:

(f) Contracting

A Secretary concerned may enter into an agreement with an entity under which such entity shall provide preseparation counseling under this section. If more than one Secretary seeks to enter into such an agreement, such Secretaries concerned shall, to the extent practicable, seek to enter into such agreements with the same entity.

(9) Annual report on TAP participation

The frequency with which the commander of the military installation received a briefing regarding attendance of members in accordance with statutory requirements of the Transition Assistance Program.

(b) Skillbridge: GAO study

(1) Study required

The Comptroller General of the United States shall conduct a study of the Skillbridge programs under section 1143(e) of title 10, United States Code.

(2) Report

Not later than two years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall submit to the Committees on Armed Services, and the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs, of the Senate and House of Representatives, a report regarding such study. Such report shall include observations and recommendations of the Comptroller regarding, with respect to members and employers who participate in Skillbridge—

(A)

differences in criteria for participation between the Armed Forces;

(B)

other differences in Skillbridge programs between the Armed Forces;

(C)

best practices in Skillbridge programs across the Armed Forces, including—

(i)

the selection of employers; and

(ii)

the development of contracts; and

(D)

the feasibility of making Skillbridge programs uniform across the Armed Forces.