---
kind: "section"
citation: "29 U.S.C. § 3331"
title: "29"
title_heading: "Labor"
number: "3331"
heading: "Administrative provisions"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/29/3331"
units:
  - "Chapter 32 — Workforce Innovation and Opportunity"
  - "Subchapter II — Adult Education and Literacy"
  - "Part D — General Provisions"
---

# §3331. Administrative provisions

- (a) **Supplement not supplant—** Funds made available for [adult education and literacy activities](/usc/29/3272.md?p=2) under this subchapter shall supplement and not supplant other [State](/usc/29/3102.md?p=56) or local public funds expended for [adult education and literacy activities](/usc/29/3272.md?p=2).
- (b) **Maintenance of effort—**
  - (1) **In general—**
    - (A) **Determination—** An [eligible agency](/usc/29/3272.md?p=3) may receive funds under this subchapter for any fiscal year if the [Secretary](/usc/29/3272.md?p=15) finds that the fiscal effort per student or the aggregate expenditures of such [eligible agency](/usc/29/3272.md?p=3) for activities under this subchapter, in the second preceding fiscal year, were not less than 90 percent of the fiscal effort per student or the aggregate expenditures of such [eligible agency](/usc/29/3272.md?p=3) for [adult education and literacy activities](/usc/29/3272.md?p=2) in the third preceding fiscal year.
    - (B) **Proportionate reduction—** Subject to paragraphs [(2)](#b-2), [(3)](#b-3), and [(4)](#b-4), for any fiscal year with respect to which the [Secretary](/usc/29/3272.md?p=15) determines under [subparagraph (A)](#b-1-A) that the fiscal effort or the aggregate expenditures of an [eligible agency](/usc/29/3272.md?p=3) for the preceding program year were less than such effort or expenditures for the second preceding program year, the [Secretary](/usc/29/3272.md?p=15)—
      - (i) shall determine the percentage decreases in such effort or in such expenditures; and
      - (ii) shall decrease the payment made under this subchapter for such program year to the agency for [adult education and literacy activities](/usc/29/3272.md?p=2) by the lesser of such percentages.
  - (2) **Computation—** In computing the fiscal effort and aggregate expenditures under [paragraph (1)](#b-1), the [Secretary](/usc/29/3272.md?p=15) shall exclude capital expenditures and special one-time project costs.
  - (3) **Decrease in Federal support—** If the amount made available for [adult education and literacy activities](/usc/29/3272.md?p=2) under this subchapter for a fiscal year is less than the amount made available for [adult education and literacy activities](/usc/29/3272.md?p=2) under this subchapter for the preceding fiscal year, then the fiscal effort per student and the aggregate expenditures of an [eligible agency](/usc/29/3272.md?p=3) required in order to avoid a reduction under [paragraph (1)(B)](#b-1-B) shall be decreased by the same percentage as the percentage decrease in the amount so made available.
  - (4) **Waiver—** The [Secretary](/usc/29/3272.md?p=15) may waive the requirements of this subsection for not more than 1 fiscal year, if the [Secretary](/usc/29/3272.md?p=15) determines that a waiver would be equitable due to exceptional or uncontrollable circumstances, such as a natural disaster or an unforeseen and precipitous decline in the financial resources of the [State](/usc/29/3102.md?p=56) or [outlying area](/usc/29/3102.md?p=45) of the [eligible agency](/usc/29/3272.md?p=3). If the [Secretary](/usc/29/3272.md?p=15) grants a waiver under the preceding sentence for a fiscal year, the level of effort required under [paragraph (1)](#b-1) shall not be reduced in the subsequent fiscal year because of the waiver.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 113–128, title II, § 241, July 22, 2014, 128 Stat. 1620.)

## Notes

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Effective Date

Section effective on the first day of the first full program year after July 22, 2014 (July 1, 2015), see section 506 of Pub. L. 113–128, set out as a note under section 3101 of this title.