BILL NUMBER: SB 342 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Senator Jackson
FEBRUARY 23, 2015
An act to amend Sections 14000 and 14013 of the Unemployment
Insurance Code, relating to unemployment insurance.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 342, as introduced, Jackson. California Workforce Investment
Board: responsibilities.
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.
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 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 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.