Bill Text: CA SB61 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Introduced

California Senate Bill 61 (Prior Session Legislation)

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

Bill Title: Workforce training programs: supportive services.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Failed) 2022-02-01 - Died on file pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [SB61 Detail]

Download: California-2021-SB61-Introduced.html

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill

No. 61

Introduced by Senator Hurtado

December 07, 2020

An act to add Article 4.5 (commencing with Section 14050) to Chapter 3 of Division 7 of the Unemployment Insurance Code, relating to job training.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SB 61, as introduced, Hurtado. Workforce training programs: supportive services.

The California Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act establishes the California Workforce Development Board as the body responsible for assisting the Governor in the development, oversight, and continuous improvement of California’s workforce investment system and the alignment of the education and workforce investment systems to the needs of the 21st century economy and workforce. That act requires the establishment of a local workforce development board in each local workforce development area of the state to assist the local chief elected official in planning, oversight, and evaluation of local workforce investment. The act requires local boards to carry out specific tasks consistent with the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, including, with representatives of secondary and postsecondary education programs, to lead efforts in the local area to develop and implement career pathways within the local area by aligning the employment, training, education, and supportive services that are needed by adults and youth, particularly individuals with barriers to employment.

The act also provides for training partnerships that are overseen by the board, including the High Road Training Partnerships initiative, a demonstration project to model partnership strategies for the state among various industry sectors.

This bill would require the California Workforce Development Board to establish and administer the Lifting Families Out of Poverty Supportive Services Program. The bill would require the board, upon appropriation by the Legislature for that purpose, to make $50,000,000 in grants available to consortia, composed of combinations of local workforce development boards, community colleges, or other stakeholders, that apply for funding to provide supportive services, as defined, and are approved in accordance with the bill.

The bill would require the California Workforce Development Board to develop criteria, policies, and guidelines for the award of supportive service grant funds to a consortium consistent with the bill. The bill would require a consortium to apply for a grant by submitting a plan with prescribed elements to the board, and would authorize the board to approve the submitted plan and award grant funds to a consortium. The bill would require the board to develop necessary policies to ensure that grants awarded are consistent with the intent of these provisions.

The bill would also require the board, as part of the supportive services program described above, to develop High Road Training Partnerships or other similar programs to address the displacement of workers, including farmworkers in the southern central valley and youth who are in or out of school who are individuals with a barrier to employment, as specified. The bill would also authorize a High Road Training Partnership or other similar workforce training program to focus on the healthcare industry, which could include the evaluation of a region’s provider network adequacy to meet the needs of the community. The bill would require a consortium that receives a grant to report annually to the board how it used supportive service funds in sufficient detail to determine what services qualified as support services and how much funding went to each category of service.

Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NO

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) The Workforce, Education, and Training Subcommittee of the state Lifting Children and Families Out of Poverty Task Force was responsible for investigating existing workforce training programs and policies including community college training, career and technical education, work opportunity tax credits, and policies within the K–12 education system.

(b) The evidence provided to the task force showed that there is a need for supportive services to address the common reasons that low-income workforce training participants do not complete workforce training programs.

(c) A lack of childcare or affordable transportation are among the primary reasons that participants do not complete their vocational training programs.

(d) The subcommittee and the full task force determined that additional funding for supportive services for low-income workforce participants and an increase in coordination across the many programs aiming to support education and employment for this population are necessary to lift families out of poverty and to ensure that they can fully participate in programs that will provide them the regional market skills to sustain upward mobility.

(e) COVID-19 has further affected the ability for all Californians to start training programs due to lack of supportive services.

SEC. 2.

Article 4.5 (commencing with Section 14050) is added to Chapter 3 of Division 7 of the Unemployment Insurance Code, to read:

Article 4.5. Supportive Services For Workforce Program Participants

14050.

As used in this article:

(a) “Consortium” means an entity that may be composed of any combination of a local workforce development board, community college, California Adult Education Program Consortium, or Adult Education Program, or other local stakeholders, working in partnership to enroll and support individuals in poverty in workforce training programs aligned with regional labor market needs, except that every consortium shall include the local workforce development board that corresponds to its geographical area.

(b) “Supportive services” means childcare, transportation, or other services identified by the state or local workforce development board, including those listed in paragraphs (2) and (3) of subdivision (c) of Section 134 of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (Section 3174 of Title 29 of the United States Code) as necessary to enable an individual to successfully participate in High Road Training Partnerships programs or other similar workforce programs.

(d) “Workforce training program” means California Workforce Development Board workforce programs and other workforce programs administered by local workforce development boards that are industry-based, worker-focused training partnerships that deliver equity, sustainability, and job quality aligned with the needs of the regional labor market.

14055.

(a) The board shall establish and administer the Lifting Families Out of Poverty Supportive Services Program. Upon appropriation by the Legislature for that purpose, the board shall make fifty million dollars ($50,000,000) in grants available to consortia that apply for funding and are approved in accordance with this article. The board may use up to 5 percent of the funding appropriated for purpose of this section to design and administer the program.

(b) The board shall develop criteria, policies, and guidelines for the award of supportive service grant funds to a consortium consistent with this article.

(1) The ability of a consortium to leverage additional funds in support of the program.

(2) The availability and likelihood of full-time employment in the regional labor market based on the successful completion of the High Road Training Partnerships Program or another similar workforce training program, including the alignment of the training partnerships program with regional labor market demand.

(3) The process through which a consortium of local partners will assess the needs of participants and determine the most cost-effective manner possible for the provision of supportive services, including through the referral to, and utilization of, all other public and private programs and supportive services that may be available.

(4) The list of designated qualified opportunity zones (QOZ) that meet the criteria for a low-income community, as defined in Sections 1400Z-1 and 1400Z-2 of the federal Internal Revenue Code.

(d) The criteria, guidelines, and policies developed pursuant to this section shall be exempt from the rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code). The board shall make the criteria, guidelines, and policies available to the public by posting them on its internet website.

(e) A consortium shall apply for a grant by submitting a plan to the board in accordance with subdivision (f).

(f) A plan submitted pursuant to subdivision (e) shall include all of the following:

(1) The number of people to be served.

(2) The coordination with local governments, public and private employers in the area, community colleges, and other stakeholders.

(3) The availability and likelihood of full-time employment in the local area based on the successful completion of the High Road Training Partnerships Program or another similar workforce training program.

(4) The process through which the needs of participants will be assessed, and those needs met, in the most cost-effective manner possible including through the referral to and utilization of all other public and private programs and services that may be available.

(g) A consortium that receives a grant shall report annually to the California Workforce Development Board on how it used supportive service funds in sufficient detail to determine what services qualified as support services and how much funding went to each category of service.

14055.1.

(a) The board, as part of its supportive services program pursuant to Section 14055, shall also develop High Road Training Partnerships or other similar workforce training programs to address the displacement of workers, including, but not limited to, farmworkers in the southern central valley of the state, and youth who are in or out of school and who are individuals with a barrier to employment, as defined in Title 1 of the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014 (Public Law 113-128).

(b) “High Road Training Partnerships” means the programs administered or overseen by the board, to model strategies for the state to develop industry-based, worker-focused training partnerships that deliver equity, sustainability, and job quality and address questions of income inequality, economic competitiveness, and climate change through regional skills development designed to support communities across the state. To be similar to the High Road Training Partnership, another workforce training program shall have similar objectives and employ similar strategies to achieve those objectives.

(c) A High Road Training Partnership or other similar workforce training program, as defined by subdivision (d) of Section 14050, may also include a focus on the health care industry, which may include the evaluation of a region’s provider network adequacy to meet the needs of the community.

14055.3.

The California Workforce Development Board shall develop necessary policies to ensure that grants awarded pursuant to Section 14055 are consistent with the intent of this article.