Bill Text: CA AB2285 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: State employment: Foster Youth Job Readiness Training
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Failed) 2016-11-30 - From Senate committee without further action. [AB2285 Detail]
Download: California-2015-AB2285-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 2285 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 2, 2016
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 27, 2016
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 28, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member McCarty
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Gonzalez)
FEBRUARY 18, 2016
An act to add and repeal Article 3 (commencing with Section 54660)
of Chapter 9 of Part 29 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Education
Code, and to add and repeal Section 19816.22 of the Government Code,
relating to state employment, and making an appropriation therefor.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2285, as amended, McCarty. State employment: former
foster youth. Foster Youth Job Readiness Training
Pilot Program.
(1) Existing law, the State Civil Service Act, provides for
filling certain state positions through the process of examinations
and the establishment of eligible lists and promotional lists.
Existing law requires the Department of Human Resources to administer
the Personnel Classification Plan of the State of California,
including the allocation of every position to the appropriate class
in the classification plan.
Existing law requires the Department of Human Resources to
administer the Limited Examination and Appointment Program (LEAP) to
provide an alternative to the traditional civil service examination
and appointment process to facilitate the hiring of persons with
disabilities in state civil service. Existing law requires the
department to conduct competitive examinations to determine
eligibility for appointment under LEAP and to refer the names of
eligible applicants who meet the minimum qualifications of a job
classification to the appointing powers for examination appointments,
as specified.
Existing law authorizes the Employment Development Department to
contract with a specified nonprofit organization meeting specified
criteria to manage grant programs designed to help eligible at-risk
youth complete their secondary education and acquire the skills
necessary to successfully transition into the workforce or enroll in
postsecondary education.
This bill would make legislative findings and declarations
regarding the state's responsibility for the well-being of foster
youth and former foster youth. The bill, until January 1, 2020, would
require the Department of Human Resources to establish an
emancipated foster youth program to promote the training of qualified
foster youth in specified entry-level unclassified positions for
their eventual hiring in classified positions within Sacramento with
any state agency or department as determined by the department. The
bill would require a participant in the program to pass a written
examination for the classification in which he or she is trained, if
generally required for applicants in that classification, after 3
months, but before 9 months, of training.
(2) Existing law establishes a system of public elementary and
secondary schools in this state, and authorizes local educational
agencies throughout the state to operate schools and provide
instruction to pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive.
Existing law establishes the Consolidated Work Program Fund in the
State Treasury for the receipt of all moneys deposited pursuant to
the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. Existing law
provides that moneys in the fund are to be made available, upon
appropriation by the Legislature, to the Employment Development
Department, for expenditure consistent with the purposes of the
federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act and the state plan
required by the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.
This bill would require the Sacramento County Office of Education
to develop and administer the Former Foster Youth
Job Readiness Training Pilot Program with moneys appropriated by the
Legislature for that purpose. The bill would appropriate $1,100,000
from the Consolidated Work Program Fund to the Sacramento County
Office of Education to develop an application and create criteria for
selecting eligible organizations to provide job readiness training
to eligible participants. The bill would require the Sacramento
County Office of Education to award grants to selected eligible
organizations to pay for trainers to provide job readiness training
to eligible participants and to provide a stipend to eligible
participants who satisfy specified conditions. The bill would require
the Sacramento County Office of Education to compile information
regarding participation in the program. The bill would repeal these
provisions on January 1, 2020.
This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to
the necessity of a special statute for the Sacramento County Office
of Education.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates
determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state,
reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these
statutory provisions.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) The state has a unique obligation to children and youth in the
foster care system. When the state removes children and youth from
their parents, it is responsible for providing for the safety and
well-being of the children and youth and for preparing them for
self-sufficient adulthood.
(b) Foster youth who leave the foster care system because of age
face unique challenges in seeking and obtaining employment upon
leaving the system. The foster care program provides little
assistance to youth in finding employment.
(c) The unemployment rate for youth who have left the foster care
system because of age is estimated at 50 percent.
(d) The state is a major employer within the state, yet state law
makes no provision for assisting youth who have left the foster care
system because of age in becoming civil service employees of the
state.
(e) The state owes a unique responsibility to foster youth in
assisting them to secure permanent employment. It also has an
obligation to demonstrate to private employers, by example, the
importance of hiring foster youth and former foster youth.
(f) It is the intent of the Legislature to recognize the state's
role as a parent to children and youth in foster care and to assist
them in securing permanent employment in state government by
providing them access to needed training positions.
SEC. 2. Article 3 (commencing with Section 54660) is added to
Chapter 9 of Part 29 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Education Code,
to read:
Article 3. Former Foster Youth Job
Readiness Training Pilot Program
54660. (a) With moneys appropriated by the Legislature for the
purposes of this article, the Sacramento County Office of Education
shall develop and administer the Former Foster
Youth Job Readiness Training Pilot Program.
(b) The purpose of the program is to prepare the "aged
out" foster care population that is 18 to 25,
inclusive, years of age for entry-level employment in state
service.
54661. (a) The Sacramento County Office of Education shall
develop an application and create criteria for selecting eligible
organizations to provide job readiness training to eligible
participants.
(b) The Sacramento County Office of Education shall award grants
to selected eligible organizations that shall be used for the
following purposes:
(1) To pay for trainers to provide job readiness training to
eligible participants.
(2) To provide a stipend to an eligible participant who satisfies
both of the following:
(A) Remains actively engaged in and attends the training as set
forth in his or her individual service plan.
(B) If he or she has not received a high school diploma or high
school equivalency certificate, the participant shall enroll, be
actively engaged in, and attend a high school equivalency exam
preparation class.
(c) The Sacramento County Office of Education shall compile
disaggregated data on the number of participants enrolling in the
program, the number of participants completing the program, the
number of participants receiving a placement after completing the
program, and the number of participants receiving state employment
after completing a placement. The office, upon request, shall make
this data available to the Department of Human Resources and the
Legislature.
(d) For purposes of this article, the following definitions apply:
(1) "Eligible organization" means an organization that satisfies
all of the following:
(A) The organization is exempt from federal income taxation as an
organization described in Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue
Code and is in compliance with all applicable laws and requirements.
(B) The organization demonstrates expertise in providing job
readiness training.
(C) Any additional criteria required by the Sacramento County
Office of Education to promote the job readiness training of eligible
participants.
(2) "Eligible participant" means an individual who is 25
years of age or younger and who is certified by the State Department
of Social Services as 18 to 25, inclusive, years of
age and who is certified by a county as being, or having been,
for at least one year at any time on or after the date that the
individual turns 15 years of age, either a recipient of foster care
maintenance payments under a state plan approved under Part E of
Title IV of the federal Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 670 et
seq.), or in a foster care program under the responsibility of the
State of California.
(3) "Job readiness training" means an individual service plan that
develops core competencies that create an experience and educational
base for an individual to meet the qualifications for entry-level
employment in state service.
54662. This article shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2020, and as of that date is repealed.
SEC. 3. Section 19816.22 is added to the Government Code, to read:
19816.22. (a) The department, in consultation with the State
Department of Social Services and the Sacramento County Office of
Education, shall promote the training of foster youth who participate
in the Former Foster Youth Job Readiness Training
Pilot Program (Article 3 (commencing with Section 54660), Chapter 9,
Part 29, Division 4, Title 2, Education Code) in specified
entry-level unclassified positions for their eventual hiring in
classified positions with any state agency or department that is
located within the County of Sacramento, as determined by the
department.
(b) A participant in the pilot program shall not apply for a
classification unless he or she meets the minimum qualifications for
that classification.
(c) After a participant in the pilot program has been trained in
an unclassified position for three months, but before being trained
for nine months, he or she shall take a written examination for the
classification in which he or she is trained, if a written
examination is generally required for other applicants in that
classification. The participant shall be eligible to take the written
examination only after receiving a positive recommendation from the
appropriate supervisor.
(d) A participant in the pilot program who does not pass the
written examination for the classification in which he or she is
trained, or who does not receive a favorable promotional rating,
shall be released from the training program.
(e) This section shall be repealed on January 1, 2020.
SEC. 4. The Legislature finds and declares that a special law is
necessary and that a general law cannot be made applicable within the
meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution
because of the need to enact Section 2 of this act that adds
Article 3 (commencing with Section 54660) to Chapter 9 of Part 29 of
Division 4 of Title 2 of the Education Code on a trial basis
only, applied to one appropriately large and diverse county, before
extending the act to every county in the state.
SEC. 5. To the extent permitted by federal law, the sum of one
million one hundred thousand dollars ($1,100,000) is hereby
appropriated from the Consolidated Work Program Fund to the
Sacramento County Office of Education for the purpose of implementing
the Former Foster Youth Job Readiness Training
Pilot Program pursuant to Article 3 (commencing with Section 54660)
to Chapter 9 of Part 29 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Education
Code.
SEC. 6. If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this
act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local
agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant
to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of
the Government Code.
