BILL NUMBER: SB 342 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JULY 1, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Senator Jackson
FEBRUARY 23, 2015
An act to amend Sections 14000 14000,
14005, and 14013 of the Unemployment Insurance Code, relating
to unemployment insurance.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 342, as amended, Jackson. California Workforce Investment
Board: responsibilities.
Under
(1) Under existing law, the
California Workforce Investment Board is responsible for assisting
the Governor in the development, oversight, and continuous
improvement of California's workforce investment system. Existing law
requires the board to assist the Governor in targeting resources to
specified industry sectors and providing guidance to ensure that
services reflect the needs of those sectors.
This bill would additionally require the board to assist the
Governor in helping individuals with barriers to employment achieve
economic security and upward mobility by implementing policies that
encourage the attainment of marketable skills relevant to current
labor market trends.
(2) Existing law requires the California Workforce Investment
Board, in consultation with the Division of Apprenticeship Standards,
to identify opportunities for "earn and learn" job training
opportunities that meet an industry's workforce demands and that are
in high-wage, high-demand jobs, identify and develop specific
requirements and qualifications for entry into "earn and learn" job
training models, and establish standards for "earn and learn" job
training programs that are outcome oriented and accountable, as
specified.
This bill would define the term "earn and learn" for the purposes
of these provisions.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 14000 of the Unemployment Insurance Code is
amended to read:
14000. (a) The Legislature finds and declares that, in order for
California to remain prosperous and globally competitive, it needs to
have a well-educated and highly skilled workforce.
(b) The Legislature finds and declares that the following
principles shall guide the state's workforce investment system:
(1) Workforce investment programs and services shall be responsive
to the needs of employers, workers, and students by accomplishing
the following:
(A) Preparing California's students and workers with the skills
necessary to successfully compete in the global economy.
(B) Producing greater numbers of individuals who obtain
industry-recognized certificates and degrees in competitive and
emerging industry sectors and filling critical labor market skills
gaps.
(C) Adapting to rapidly changing local and regional labor markets
as specific workforce skill requirements change over time.
(D) Preparing workers for good-paying jobs that foster economic
security and upward mobility.
(2) State and local workforce investment boards are encouraged to
collaborate with other public and private institutions, including
businesses, unions, nonprofit organizations, kindergarten and grades
1 to 12, inclusive, career technical education programs, adult career
technical education and basic skills programs, community college
career technical education and basic skills programs,
entrepreneurship training programs, where appropriate, the California
Community Colleges Economic and Workforce Development Program, and
the Employment Training Panel, to better align resources across
workforce education and training service delivery systems and build a
well-articulated workforce investment system by accomplishing the
following:
(A) Adopting sector-focused local and regional
training and education strategies which include workplace-based
earn and learn programs that build on the strengths and fill
the gaps in the education and workforce development pipeline in order
to address the needs of job seekers, workers, and employers within
regional labor markets by supporting sector strategies.
(B) Leveraging resources across education and workforce training
delivery systems to build career pathways and fill critical skills
gaps.
(3) Workforce investment programs and services shall be data
driven and evidence based when setting priorities, investing
resources, and adopting practices.
(4) Workforce investment programs and services shall develop
strong partnerships with the private sector, ensuring industry
involvement in needs assessment, planning, and program evaluation.
(A) Workforce investment programs and services shall encourage
industry involvement by developing strong partnerships with an
industry's employers and the unions that represent the industry's
workers.
(B) Workforce investment programs and services may consider the
needs of employers and businesses of all sizes, including large,
medium, small, and microenterprises, when setting priorities,
investing resources, and adopting practices.
(5) Workforce investment programs and services shall be outcome
oriented and accountable, measuring results for program participants,
including, but not limited to, outcomes related to program
completion, employment, and earnings.
(6) Programs and services shall be accessible to employers, the
self-employed, workers, and students who may benefit from their
operation, including individuals with employment barriers, such as
persons with economic, physical, or other barriers to employment.
SEC. 2. Section 14005 of the
Unemployment Insurance Code is amended to read:
14005. For purposes of this division:
(a) "Board" means the California Workforce Investment Board.
(b) "Agency" means the Labor and Workforce Development Agency.
(c) "Career pathways," "career ladders," or "career lattices" mean
an identified series of positions, work experiences, or educational
benchmarks or credentials with multiple access points that offer
occupational and financial advancement within a specified career
field or related fields over time.
(d) "Cluster-based sector strategies" means methods of focusing
workforce and economic development on those sectors that have
demonstrated a capacity for economic growth and job creation in a
particular geographic area.
(e) "Data driven" means a process of making decisions about
investments and policies based on systematic analysis of data, which
may include data pertaining to labor markets.
(f) "Economic security" means, with respect to a worker, earning a
wage sufficient to support a family adequately, and, over time, to
save for emergency expenses and adequate retirement income, based on
factors such as household size, the cost of living in the worker's
community, and other factors that may vary by region.
(g) "Evidence-based" means making use of policy research as a
basis for determining best policy practices. Evidence-based
policymakers adopt policies that research has shown to produce
positive outcomes, in a variety of settings, for a variety of
populations over time. Successful, evidence-based programs deliver
quantifiable and sustainable results. Evidence-based practices differ
from approaches that are based on tradition, belief, convention, or
anecdotal evidence.
(h) "High-priority occupations" mean occupations that have a
significant presence in a targeted industry sector or industry
cluster, are in demand by employers, and pay or lead to payment of a
wage that provides economic security.
(i) "Individual with employment barriers" means an individual with
any characteristic that substantially limits an individual's ability
to obtain employment, including indicators of poor work history,
lack of work experience, or access to employment in nontraditional
occupations, long-term unemployment, lack of educational or
occupational skills attainment, dislocation from high-wage and
high-benefit employment, low levels of literacy or English
proficiency, disability status, or welfare dependency.
(j) "Industry cluster" means a geographic concentration or
emerging concentration of interdependent industries with direct
service, supplier, and research relationships, or independent
industries that share common resources in a given regional economy or
labor market. An industry cluster is a group of employers closely
linked by common product or services, workforce needs, similar
technologies, and supply chains in a given regional economy or labor
market.
(k) (1) "Industry or sector partnership" means a workforce
collaborative that organizes key stakeholders in a targeted industry
cluster into a working group that focuses on the workforce needs of
the targeted industry cluster. An industry or sector partnership
organizes the stakeholders connected with a specific local or
regional industry--multiple firms, labor groups, education and
training providers, and workforce and education systems--to develop
workforce development strategies within the industry. Successful
sector partnerships leverage partner resources to address both
short-term and long-term human capital needs of a particular sector,
including by analyzing current labor markets and identifying barriers
to employment within the industry, developing cross-firm skill
standards, curricula, and training programs, and developing
occupational career ladders to ensure workers of all skill levels can
advance within the industry.
(2) Industry or sector partnerships include, at the appropriate
stage of development of the partnership, all of the following:
(A) Representatives of multiple firms or employers in the targeted
industry cluster, including small-sized and medium-sized employers
when practicable.
(B) One or more representatives of state labor organizations,
central labor coalitions, or other labor organizations, except in
instances where no labor representations exists.
(C) One or more representatives of local workforce investment
boards.
(D) One or more representatives of kindergarten and grades 1 to
12, inclusive, and postsecondary educational institutions or other
training providers, including, but not limited to, career technical
educators.
(E) One or more representatives of state workforce agencies or
other entities providing employment services.
(3) An industry or sector partnership may also include
representatives from the following:
(A) State or local government.
(B) State or local economic development agencies.
(C) Other state or local agencies.
(D) Chambers of commerce.
(E) Nonprofit organizations.
(F) Philanthropic organizations.
(G) Economic development organizations.
(H) Industry associations.
(I) Other organizations, as determined necessary by the members
comprising the industry or sector partnership.
(l) "Industry sector" means those firms that produce similar
products or provide similar services using somewhat similar business
processes, and are closely linked by workforce needs, within a
regional labor market.
(m) "Local labor federation" means a central labor council that is
an organization of local unions affiliated with the California Labor
Federation or a local building and construction trades council
affiliated with the State Building and Construction Trades Council.
(n) "Sector strategies" means methods of prioritizing investments
in competitive and emerging industry sectors and industry clusters on
the basis of labor market and other economic data indicating
strategic growth potential, especially with regard to jobs and
income, and exhibit the following characteristics:
(1) Focus workforce investment in education and workforce training
programs that are likely to lead to jobs providing economic security
or to an entry-level job with a well-articulated career pathway into
a job providing economic security.
(2) Effectively boost labor productivity or reduce business
barriers to growth and expansion stemming from workforce supply
problems, including skills gaps and occupational shortages by
directing resources and making investments to plug skills gaps and
provide education and training programs for high-priority
occupations.
(3) May be implemented using articulated career pathways or
lattices and a system of stackable credentials.
(4) May target underserved communities, disconnected youths,
incumbent workers, and recently separated military veterans.
(5) Frequently are implemented using industry or sector
partnerships.
(6) Typically are implemented at the regional level where sector
firms, those employers described in subdivisions (j) and (l), often
share a common labor market and supply chains. However, sector
strategies may also be implemented at the state or local level
depending on sector needs and labor market conditions.
(o) "Workforce Investment Act of 1998" means the federal act
enacted as Public Law 105-220.
(p) (1) "Earn and learn" includes, but is not limited to, a
program that does any of the following:
(A) Combines applied-learning in a workplace setting with
compensation allowing workers or students to gain work experience and
secure a wage as they develop skills and competencies directly
relevant to the occupation or career for which they are preparing.
(B) Brings together classroom instruction with on-the-job training
to combine both formal instruction and actual paid work experience.
(2) "Earn and learn" programs include, but are not limited to, all
of the following:
(A) Apprenticeships.
(B) Preapprenticeships.
(C) Incumbent worker training.
(D) Transitional and subsidized employment, particularly for
individuals with barriers to employment.
(E) Paid internships and externships.
(F) Project-based compensated learning.
SEC. 2. SEC. 3. Section 14013 of the
Unemployment Insurance Code is amended to read:
14013. The board shall assist the Governor in the following:
(a) Promoting the development of a well-educated and highly
skilled 21st century workforce.
(b) Developing the State Workforce Investment Plan.
(c) Developing guidelines for the continuous improvement and
operation of the workforce investment system, including:
(1) Developing policies to guide the one-stop system.
(2) Providing technical assistance for the continuous improvement
of the one-stop system.
(3) Recommending state investments in the one-stop system.
(4) Targeting resources to competitive and emerging industry
sectors and industry clusters that provide economic security and are
either high-growth sectors or critical to California's economy, or
both. These industry sectors and clusters shall have significant
economic impacts on the state and its regional and workforce
development needs and have documented career opportunities.
(5) To the extent permissible under state and federal laws,
recommending youth policies and strategies that support linkages
between kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, and community
college educational systems and youth training opportunities in order
to help youth secure educational and career advancement. These
policies and strategies may be implemented using a sector strategies
framework and should ultimately lead to placement in a job providing
economic security or job placement in an entry-level job that has a
well-articulated career pathway or career ladder to a job providing
economic security.
(6) To the extent permissible under state and federal law,
recommending adult and dislocated worker training policies and
investments that offer a variety of career opportunities while
upgrading the skills of California's workforce. These may include
training policies and investments pertaining to any of the following:
(A) Occupational skills training, including training for
nontraditional employment.
(B) On-the-job training.
(C) Programs that combine workplace training with related
instruction, which may include cooperative education programs.
(D) Training programs operated by the private sector.
(E) Skill upgrading and retraining.
(F) Entrepreneurial training.
(G) Job readiness training.
(H) Adult education and literacy activities provided in
combination with any of the services described in this paragraph.
(I) Customized training conducted with a commitment by an employer
or group of employers to employ an individual upon successful
completion of the training.
(d) Developing and continuously improving the statewide workforce
investment system as delivered via the one-stop delivery system and
via other programs and services supported by funding from the federal
Workforce Investment Act of 1998, including:
(1) Developing linkages in order to ensure coordination and
nonduplication among workforce programs and activities.
(2) Reviewing local workforce investment plans.
(3) Leveraging state and federal funds to ensure that resources
are invested in activities that meet the needs of the state's
competitive and emerging industry sectors and advance the education
and employment needs of students and workers so they can keep pace
with the education and skill needs of the state, its regional
economies, and leading industry sectors.
(e) Commenting, at least once annually, on the measures taken
pursuant to the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology
Education Act Amendments of 1990 (Public Law 101-392; 20 U.S.C. Sec.
2301 et seq.).
(f) Designating local workforce investment areas within the state
based on information derived from all of the following:
(1) Consultations with the Governor.
(2) Consultations with the chief local elected officials.
(3) Consideration of comments received through the public comment
process, as described in Section 112(b)(9) of the federal Workforce
Investment Act of 1998.
(g) Developing and modifying allocation formulas, as necessary,
for the distribution of funds for adult employment and training
activities, for youth activities to local workforce investment areas,
and dislocated worker employment and training activities, as
permitted by federal law.
(h) Coordinating the development and continuous improvement of
comprehensive state performance measures, including state adjusted
levels of performance, to assess the effectiveness of the workforce
investment activities in the state.
(i) Preparing the annual report to the United States Secretary of
Labor.
(j) Recommending policy for the development of the statewide
employment statistics system, including workforce and economic data,
as described in Section 49l-2 of Title 29 of the United States Code,
and using, to the fullest extent possible, the Employment Development
Department's existing labor market information systems.
(k) Recommending strategies to the Governor for strategic training
investments of the Governor's 15-percent discretionary funds.
(l) Developing and recommending waivers, in conjunction with local
workforce investment boards, to the Governor as provided for in the
federal Workforce Investment Act of 1998.
(m) Recommending policy to the Governor for the use of the
25-percent rapid response funds, as authorized under the federal
Workforce Investment Act of 1998.
(n) Developing an application to the United States Department of
Labor for an incentive grant under Section 9273 of Title 20 of the
United States Code.
(o) (1) Developing a workforce metrics dashboard, to be updated
annually, that measures the state's human capital investments in
workforce development to better understand the collective impact of
these investments on the labor market. The workforce metrics
dashboard shall be produced using existing available data and
resources that are currently collected and accessible to state
agencies. The board shall convene workforce program partners to
develop a standardized set of inputs and outputs for the workforce
metrics dashboard. The workforce metrics dashboard shall do all of
the following:
(A) Provide a status report on credential attainment, training
completion, degree attainment, and participant earnings from
workforce education and training programs. The board shall publish
and distribute the final report.
(B) Provide demographic breakdowns, including, to the extent
possible, race, ethnicity, age, gender, veteran status, wage and
credential or degree outcomes, and information on workforce outcomes
in different industry sectors.
(C) Measure, at a minimum and to the extent feasible with existing
resources, the performance of the following workforce programs:
community college career technical education, the Employment Training
Panel, Title I and Title II of the federal Workforce Investment Act
of 1998, Trade Adjustment Assistance, and state apprenticeship
programs.
(D) Measure participant earnings in California, and to the extent
feasible, in other states. The Employment Development Department
shall assist the board by calculating aggregated participant earnings
using unemployment insurance wage records, without violating any
applicable confidentiality requirements.
(2) The State Department of Education is hereby authorized to
collect the social security numbers of adults participating in adult
education programs so that accurate participation in those programs
can be represented in the report card. However, an individual shall
not be denied program participation if he or she refuses to provide a
social security number. The State Department of Education shall keep
this information confidential and shall only use this information
for tracking purposes, in compliance with all applicable state and
federal law.
(3) (A) Participating workforce programs, as specified in
clause subparagraph (C) of paragraph (1), shall provide
participant data in a standardized format to the Employment
Development Department.
(B) The Employment Development Department shall aggregate data
provided by participating workforce programs and shall report the
data, organized by demographics, earnings, and industry of
employment, to the board to assist the board in producing the annual
workforce metrics dashboard.
(p) Helping individuals with barriers to employment, including
low-skill, low-wage workers, the long-term unemployed, and members of
single-parent households, achieve economic security and upward
mobility by implementing policies that encourage the attainment of
marketable skills relevant to current labor market trends.