B. Laws and Regulations (AEFLA)

This summary is intended to provide grantees with direct links to the most relevant and important laws, regulations, and guidance for AEFLA grantees. These documents have been used to formulate the processes, tools, and templates the Office of Adult Education Initiatives (AEI) uses with grantees.

The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) (PDF) was signed into law (Pub. L. 113-128) by President Obama on July 22, 2014. This Act reauthorized AEFLA (in Title II of WIOA) with several major revisions.

The U.S. Department of Education (USDoE) released the Title II AEFLA Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Final Rule (PDF) on August 19, 2016. These final regulations clarify new provisions in AEFLA resulting from the changes in WIOA.

USDoE and the U.S. Department of Labor (USDoL) released the Joint Final Rule: Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (PDF) on August 19, 2016. These final regulations address the implementation of jointly-administered activities under Title I of WIOA regarding Unified and Combined State Plans, performance accountability, and the one-stop system. The rule applies to all core programs, including the State Vocational Rehabilitation Services and AEFLA programs.

The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) annual edition is the codification of the general and permanent rules published in the Federal Register by the departments and agencies of the Federal Government. It is divided into 50 titles that represent broad areas subject to Federal regulation. The 50 subject matter titles contain one or more individual volumes, which are updated once each calendar year, on a staggered basis.¹

The Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (commonly called "Uniform Guidance") was officially implemented in December 2014 and is included in the Code of Federal Regulations. The Uniform Guidance – a "government-wide framework for grants management" – synthesizes and supersedes guidance from earlier OMB circulars. The reforms that comprise the Uniform Guidance aim to reduce the administrative burden on award recipients and, at the same time, guard against the risk of waste and misuse of Federal funds.²

The Education Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) are also part of the Code of Federal Regulations and they govern grants that come specifically from the U.S. Department of Education. EDGAR’s purpose is to ensure that Federal funds are spent according to USDoE’s mission and that you meet your commitments.

Below are important regulations relevant to AEFLA:

Code of Federal Regulations, Parts 1-299, are available on the U.S. Government Publishing Office website. A PDF containing all of parts 200-299 (PDF), which addresses Uniform Guidance for Grants and Agreements, is also available.
Code of Federal Regulations, parts 3400-3499 are also available on the U.S. Government Publishing Office website. A PDF that contains part 3474 (PDF), which addresses Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards, is also available.
Education Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) are available in a different section of the U.S. Government Publishing Office website:

The Office of Management and Budget Compliance supplements serve to identify existing important compliance requirements that the Federal Government expects to be considered as part of an audit and is available on the OMB section of the White House website.