Sponsors (2)
The bill clarifies and expands digital literacy under WIOA—improving access, consistency, and family supports—BUT will require additional funding, administrative effort, provider investments, and complementary connectivity to avoid unequal benefits.
Adult learners — including English learners and unemployed workers — gain explicit access to federally-recognized digital literacy training under WIOA, improving employability and self-sufficiency.
States, local WIOA implementers, and training providers get a clear statutory definition of 'digital literacy skills' (aligned with the M&L Act), enabling more consistent curricula, eligibility decisions, and the inclusion of library/museum resources in workforce services.
Parents and other family members can receive digital skills training to better support children’s learning, strengthening family education supports and household digital capacity.
Expanding WIOA to explicitly include digital literacy will increase demand for program funding or require reallocating existing WIOA resources, which could reduce other services or necessitate new appropriations.
Local providers, schools, and nonprofits may need new equipment, instructor training, and curriculum updates to deliver digital literacy instruction, imposing implementation costs and logistical challenges.
Rural and low-income learners without reliable broadband or devices may not fully benefit from expanded digital literacy services unless complementary connectivity and device investments are made, risking inequitable outcomes.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Inserts a federal definition of digital literacy into WIOA and explicitly adds digital literacy to the law’s purposes and definitions for adult education, family literacy, and English-learner services.
Introduced May 23, 2025 by Maggie Goodlander · Last progress May 23, 2025
Adds digital literacy into the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act by defining “digital literacy skills” and explicitly including digital literacy in the law’s purposes and definitions for adult education, family literacy, and English-learner programs. The change cross-references the existing federal definition in the Museum and Library Services Act and updates statutory language so workforce and adult-education programs must consider digital skills as an objective of services. The bill is short and purely statutory: it changes definitions and program language but does not authorize new funding or create new programs. Implementation would be carried out through existing WIOA programs and providers who deliver adult education, family literacy, and English-learner services.