WIOA streamlines the governing bodies that establish State, regional and local workforce priorities. Through WIOA the local governance requirements empower Chief Elected Officials, businesses, program partners and others to optimize, leverage, and allocate resources to respond to the needs of local employers, workers and job seekers through targeted sector strategies, increased employer engagement, and accelerated work-based learning and training programs that create career pathways .

Furthermore, WIOA sets a framework for how state and local workforce systems are to be governed and aligned in a way that provides service coordination and integration among the workforce, education, and economic development systems.

Broadly, the WIOA governance provisions:

• Prescribe the parameters for establishing Regions and Local Areas.
• Streamline membership requirements for State and local workforce innovation boards while maintaining a majority of business representation.
• Add Vocational Rehabilitation, Adult Education, and Registered Apprenticeship as required board members and increases the voice of labor on the board.
• Expand the functions for workforce boards and provides guidance on staffing.
• Establish the guidelines for negotiating a memorandum of understanding as well as the designation of local grant recipients, subrecipients, and fiscal agents, and the procurement of one-stop operators.
• Require certification and continuous improvement of one-stop centers by the Chief Elected Officials and the workforce boards.

Chapter 1 provides the state level guidance for these WIOA governance provisions and others found in Sections 106 – 108 of the Act and 20 CFR Sections 677 and 678 of the WIOA Final Joint Rule and 20 CFR Section 679 of the WIOA Final Rule.