Bill Text: CA AB637 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Enabling Youth to Access Workforce Training Grant Program.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 2-1)
Status: (Failed) 2022-02-01 - From committee: Filed with the Chief Clerk pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [AB637 Detail]
Download: California-2021-AB637-Introduced.html
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill
No. 637
| Introduced by Assembly Member Lackey (Coauthor: Assembly Member Cooley) (Coauthor: Senator Wilk) |
February 12, 2021 |
An act to add Article 7 (commencing with Section 14115) to Chapter 3 of Division 7 of the Unemployment Insurance Code, relating to workforce training.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 637, as introduced, Lackey.
Enabling Youth to Access Workforce Training Grant Program.
Existing law, the California Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, establishes the California Workforce Development Board. Existing law requires the board to assist the Governor in developing and continuously improving California’s workforce investment system, as specified.
This bill would create the Enabling Youth to Access Workforce Training Grant Program. Upon appropriation by the Legislature, the bill would require the California Workforce Development Board to create the program, which would fund supportive services, as specified, that are necessary for homeless youth and current or former foster youth to enable their participation in the workforce development program, as defined. Under the bill, grants would be awarded on a competitive basis. The bill would require the board to conduct outreach activities and to provide technical
assistance to eligible applicants to ensure that grants are awarded to qualified applicants providing a broad spectrum of supportive services. The bill would prescribe definitions, duties for the board, and requirements for applications and applicants, including the requirement that applicants agree to provide the board any information that it deems necessary to meet reporting requirements and other grant requirements. The bill would require the board to evaluate how grants awarded under the program address the needs of eligible targeted populations and, beginning one year after the initial award of grant funds, to post an annual report on its internet website regarding the progress and success of the program.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NOBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Article 7 (commencing with Section 14115) is added to Chapter 3 of Division 7 of the Unemployment Insurance Code, to read:Article 7. Youth Access to Workforce Training
14115.
This article shall be known, and may be cited, as the Enabling Youth to Access Workforce Training Grant Program.14116.
For purposes of this article:(a) “Applicant” means a community-based organization, local workforce development board, or nonprofit organization that helps individuals who face barriers to employment get supportive services, meets the standards of the program, and submits an application for a grant.
(b) “Board” means the California Workforce Development Board.
(c) “Foster youth” means a person who is less than 26 years of age who meets either of the following criteria:
(1) The person is, or has been, the subject of a petition filed pursuant to Section 300 of the Welfare and
Institutions Code and who was removed from the person’s home by the juvenile court pursuant to Section 319 or 361 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
(2) A person who is, or has been, the subject of a petition filed pursuant to Section 602 of the Welfare and Institutions Code and who was removed from the person’s home by the juvenile court pursuant to Section 727 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
(d) “Homeless youth” means a person up to 26 years of age, who has been verified as a homeless child or youth, as defined in Section 11343a (2) of Title 42 of the United States Code, as it read on January 1, 2021, by at least one of the following:
(1) A homeless services provider, as defined in paragraph (3) of subdivision (d) of Section 103577 of the Health and Safety Code.
(2) The director, or the director’s designee, of a federal TRIO program or a Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs program.
(3) A financial aid administrator.
(e) “Program” means the Enabling Youth to Access Workforce Training Grant Program. created by this article.
(f) “Supportive services” include, but are not limited to any of the following and, for purposes of this section, these services shall be interpreted consistently with the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (Public Law 113-128):
(1) Linkages to community services.
(2) Assistance with transportation.
(3) Assistance with child care and dependent care.
(4) Assistance with housing.
(5) Needs-related payments.
(6) Assistance with educational testing.
(7) Reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities.
(8) Legal aid services.
(9) Referrals to health care.
(10) Assistance with uniforms or other appropriate work attire and work-related tools, including items such as eyeglasses and protective eye wear.
(11) Assistance with
books, fees, school supplies, and other necessary items for students who are enrolled in postsecondary education classes.
(12) Payments and fees for employment and training-related applications, tests, and certifications.
(g) “Workforce development program” means the services described in paragraph (5) of subdivision (d) of Section 14013.
14117.
(a) Upon appropriation by the Legislature, the board shall create the program to fund supportive services that are necessary for homeless youth and current or former foster youth in order to enable their participation in the workforce development program. Grants shall be awarded on a competitive basis consistently with the requirements of this article.(b) The board, pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code), shall develop regulations to implement this program, including criteria, policies, and guidelines for the award of supportive services grant funds to applicants. The board shall develop methods to evaluate how grant projects
adequately serve the needs of eligible homeless youth and current or former foster youth.
(c) The board shall conduct outreach activities and provide technical assistance to eligible applicants to ensure that grants are awarded to qualified applicants providing a broad spectrum of supportive services.
14118.
(a) Application forms for the program shall include, at a minimum, all of the following:(1) A description of the permitted purposes for which program grants may be awarded, the requirements of the program oversight and monitoring process, and other required terms of the grants.
(2) A description of the requirement that grant recipients report to the board on their use of the funds on an annual basis and upon completion of the grant period.
(3) An acknowledgment pursuant to which an applicant shall agree to provide any information to the board that the board deems necessary to meet reporting and other grant
requirements.
(b) A completed application shall satisfy, at a minimum, all of the following requirements:
(1) It shall contain a detailed description of the proposed supportive services to be provided.
(2) An explanation of how the supportive services to be provided will serve homeless youth and current or former foster youth and assist these populations in obtaining and completing workforce development programs.
(3) A description of the process through which the needs of participants will be assessed and how those needs will be met in the most cost-effective manner possible, including through the referral to, and utilization of, other public and private programs and services that may be available.
(4) A description and confirmation of the availability of full-time employment in the local area of the applicant upon the successful completion of the workforce development programs.
(5) An acknowledgment that the applicant agrees to provide any information to the board that it deems necessary to meet reporting requirements and other grant requirements.
