34 C.F.R. §§ 361.140–361.145

A State may choose to develop and submit a 4-year Combined State Plan in lieu of the Unified State Plan described in §§ 361.105 through 361.125.

A State that submits a Combined State Plan covering an activity or program described in paragraph (d) of this section that is, in accordance with WIOA sec. 103(c), approved or deemed complete under the law relating to the program will not be required to submit any other plan or application in order to receive Federal funds to carry out the core programs or the program or activities described under paragraph (d) of this section that are covered by the Combined State Plan.

If a State develops a Combined State Plan, it must be submitted in accordance with the process described in § 361.143.

If a State chooses to submit a Combined State Plan, the plan must include the six core programs and one or more of the Combined State Plan partner programs and activities described in sec. 103(a)(2) of WIOA. The Combined State Plan partner programs and activities that may be included in the Combined State Plan are:

A Combined State Plan must contain:

Each Combined State Plan partner program included in the Combined State Plan remains subject to the applicable program-specific requirements of the Federal law and regulations, and any other applicable legal or program requirements, governing the implementation and operation of that program.

For purposes of §§ 361.140 through 361.145 the term “appropriate Secretary” means the head of the Federal agency who exercises either plan or application approval authority for the program or activity under the Federal law authorizing the program or activity or, if there are no planning or application requirements, who exercises administrative authority over the program or activity under that Federal law.

States that include employment and training activities carried out under the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) Act (42 U.S.C. 9901 et seq.) under a Combined State Plan would submit all other required elements of a complete CSBG State Plan directly to the Federal agency that administers the program, according to the requirements of Federal law and regulations.

States that submit employment and training activities carried out by HUD under a Combined State Plan would submit any other required planning documents for HUD programs directly to HUD, according to the requirements of Federal law and regulations.

For purposes of § 361.140(a), if a State chooses to develop a Combined State Plan it must submit the Combined State Plan in accordance with the requirements described below and sec. 103 of WIOA, as explained in the joint planning guidelines issued by the Secretaries of Labor and Education.

The Combined State Plan must be developed with the assistance of the State WDB, as required by 20 CFR 679.130(a) and WIOA sec. 101(d), and must be developed in coordination with administrators with optimum policy-making authority for the core programs and required one-stop partners.

The State must provide an opportunity for public comment on and input into the development of the Combined State Plan prior to its submission.

The State must submit to the Secretaries of Labor and Education and to the Secretary of the agency with responsibility for approving the program's plan or deeming it complete under the law governing the program, as part of its Combined State Plan, any plan, application, form, or any other similar document that is required as a condition for the approval of Federal funding under the applicable program or activity. Such submission must occur in accordance with a process identified by the relevant Secretaries in paragraph (a) of this section.

The Combined State Plan will be approved or disapproved in accordance with the requirements of sec. 103(c) of WIOA.

The appropriate Secretaries will review and approve or deem complete the Combined State Plan within 90 or 120 days, as appropriate, as described in paragraph (e) of this section, unless the Secretaries of Labor and Education or appropriate Secretary have determined in writing within that period that:

If the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of Education, or the appropriate Secretary does not make the written determination described in paragraph (f) of this section within the relevant period of time after submission of the Combined State Plan, that portion of the Combined State Plan over which the Secretary has jurisdiction will be considered approved.

The Secretaries of Labor and Education's written determination of approval or disapproval regarding the portion of the plan for the six core programs may be separate from the written determination of approval, disapproval, or completeness of the program-specific requirements of Combined State Plan partner programs and activities described in § 361.140(d) and included in the Combined State Plan.

Special rule. In paragraphs (f)(1) and (3) of this section, the term “criteria for approval of a plan or application,” with respect to a State or a core program or a program under the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 (20 U.S.C. 2301 et seq.), includes a requirement for agreement between the State and the appropriate Secretaries regarding State performance measures or State performance accountability measures, as the case may be, including levels of performance.

In addition to the required modification review described in paragraph (a)(1) of this section, a State may submit a modification of its Combined State Plan at any time during the 4-year period of the plan.

For any Combined State Plan partner programs and activities described in § 361.140(d) that are included in a State's Combined State Plan, the State—

Modifications of the Combined State Plan are subject to the same public review and comment requirements that apply to the development of the original Combined State Plan as described in § 361.143(c) except that, if the modification, amendment, or revision affects the administration of a particular Combined State Plan partner program and has no impact on the Combined State Plan as a whole or the integration and administration of the core and other Combined State Plan partner programs at the State level, a State may comply instead with the procedures and requirements applicable to the particular Combined State Plan partner program.

Modifications for the core program portions of the Combined State Plan must be approved by the Secretaries of Labor and Education, based on the approval standards applicable to the original Combined State Plan under § 361.143. This approval must come after the approval of the Commissioner of the Rehabilitation Services Administration for modification of any portion of the Combined State Plan described in sec. 102(b)(2)(D)(iii) of WIOA.