Bill Text: NJ S1308 | 2020-2021 | Regular Session | Introduced


Bill Title: Establishes Green Jobs Training Partnership Program.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-02-10 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Labor Committee [S1308 Detail]

Download: New_Jersey-2020-S1308-Introduced.html

SENATE, No. 1308

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

219th LEGISLATURE

 

INTRODUCED FEBRUARY 10, 2020

 


 

Sponsored by:

Senator  SHIRLEY K. TURNER

District 15 (Hunterdon and Mercer)

 

 

 

 

SYNOPSIS

     Establishes Green Jobs Training Partnership Program.

 

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

     As introduced.

  


An Act establishing the Green Jobs Training Partnership Program, supplementing P.L.1992, c.43 (C.34:15D-1 et seq.) and amending P.L.1999, c.23.

 

     Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

 

     1.    (New section)  a.  There is established, in the Department of Labor and Workforce Development, in consultation with the State Employment and Training Commission created pursuant to section 5 of P.L.1989, c.293 (C.34:15C-2), the Green Jobs Training Partnership Program.  The purpose of this program is to recruit, prepare, and educate individuals for entry-level green jobs with long-term career potential through paid training programs.  The program shall target for recruitment traditionally underserved urban men, women, and youth, as well as current workers in need of skills development. 

     b.    To fulfill the purpose of the program, the department shall annually provide a minimum of five consortia of employers, labor organizations, and education institutions with training program grants.  Each program shall offer 12 weeks of paid training, at a minimum wage of $15 per hour for each trainee, and include, but not be limited to, the following areas: basic math and English literacy; life skills and job readiness skills training; environmental sustainability; financial management; Occupational Safety and Health Administration safety training certification; an overview of apprenticeship; vocational hard skills training in areas such as air sealing, building analysis, and insulation installing; and any other requirement deemed necessary by the Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development.  Training may be provided through an apprenticeship program of a labor organization of the consortium.

     Each trainee shall be a minimum of 18 years old and no consortium shall determine a trainee's eligibility for participation in a training program on the trainee's possession of a high school diploma or any high school equivalency diploma or certificate such as a General Educational Development (GED) certificate. 

     Following the successful completion of a training program, each program shall offer trainees: (1) college credits for all applicable course work of the program provided through an educational institution of the consortium; and (2) employment provided through a business of the consortium.

     c.     Each grant awardee shall submit to the department the following information three months following the close of the training program, six months following the close of the training program, and nine months following the close of the training program: the number of participants who successfully completed the training program, and the number of participants currently placed in a green job, including each participant's job title and salary.

      d.   The department shall provide each grant awardee with the funds necessary to reimburse employers up to 50 percent of the hourly wage paid to each trainee for the duration of the training, as well as all tuition and other direct costs of the training, and shall be funded as follows:

     (1)   Each grant awardee shall comply with all requirements of section 5 of P.L.1992, c.43 (C.34:15D-5) and shall receive grant funds from the Workforce Development Partnership Fund for customized training services pursuant to section 5 of P.L.1992, c.43 (C.34:15D-5).  All customized training grant funds awarded to employers shall be administered by the Office of Customized Training; and

     (2)   The department is authorized to utilize any additional funds necessary, as determined by the commissioner, to fulfill the provisions of this section from the moneys collected from the societal benefits charge pursuant to section 12 of P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-60). 

      e.    As used in this section:

     "Apprenticeship program" means a registered apprenticeship program providing to each trainee combined classroom and on-the-job training under the direct and close supervision of a highly skilled worker in an occupation recognized as an apprenticeable trade, registered by the Office of Apprenticeship of the United States Department of Labor, and meeting the standards established by that office.

     "Green job" means a job which exhibits those aspects of employment that promote energy efficiency and energy conservation, such as assistant building analyst, assistant air sealer, and insulation installer.

 

     2.    Section 12 of P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-60) is amended to read as follows:

     12.  a.   Simultaneously with the starting date for the implementation of retail choice as determined by the board pursuant to subsection a. of section 5 of this act, the board shall permit each electric public utility and gas public utility to recover some or all of the following costs through a societal benefits charge that shall be collected as a non-bypassable charge imposed on all electric public utility customers and gas public utility customers, as appropriate:

     (1)   The costs for the social programs for which rate recovery was approved by the board prior to April 30, 1997.  For the purpose of establishing initial unbundled rates pursuant to section 4 of this act, the societal benefits charge shall be set to recover the same level of social program costs as is being collected in the bundled rates of the electric public utility on the effective date of this act.  The board may subsequently order, pursuant to its rules and regulations, an increase or decrease in the societal benefits charge to reflect changes in the costs to the utility of administering existing social programs.  Nothing in this act  shall be construed to abolish or change any social program required by statute or board order or rule or regulation to be provided by an electric public utility.  Any such social program shall continue to be provided by the utility until otherwise provided by law, unless the board determines that it is no longer appropriate for the electric public utility to provide the program, or the board chooses to modify the program;

     (2)   Nuclear plant decommissioning costs;

     (3)   The costs of demand side management programs that were approved by the board pursuant to its demand side management regulations prior to April 30, 1997.  For the purpose of establishing initial unbundled rates pursuant to section 4 of this act, the societal benefits charge shall be set to recover the same level of demand side management program costs as is being collected in the bundled rates of the electric public utility on the effective date of this act.  Within four months of the effective date  of this act, and every four years thereafter, the board shall initiate a proceeding and cause to be undertaken a comprehensive resource analysis of energy programs, and within eight months of initiating such proceeding and after notice, provision of the opportunity for public comment, and public hearing, the board, in consultation with the Department of Environmental Protection, shall determine the appropriate level of funding for energy efficiency and Class I renewable energy programs that provide environmental benefits above and beyond those provided by standard offer or similar programs in effect as of the effective date of this act; provided that the funding for such programs be no less than 50% of the total Statewide amount being collected in public electric and gas utility rates for demand side management programs on the effective date of this act for an initial period of four years from the issuance of the first comprehensive resource analysis following the effective date of this act, and provided that 25% of this amount shall be used to provide funding for Class I renewable energy projects in the State.  In each of the following fifth through eighth years, the Statewide funding for such programs shall be no less than 50 percent of the total Statewide amount being collected in public electric and gas utility rates for demand side management programs on the effective date of this act, except that as additional funds are made available as a result of the expiration of past standard offer or similar commitments, the minimum amount of funding for  such programs shall increase by an additional amount equal to 50 percent of the additional funds made available, until the minimum amount of funding dedicated to such programs reaches $140,000,000 total.  After the eighth year the board shall make a determination as to the appropriate level of funding for these programs.  Such programs shall include a program to provide financial incentives for the installation of  Class I renewable energy projects in the State, and the board, in consultation with the Department of Environmental Protection, shall determine the level and total amount of such incentives as well as the renewable technologies eligible for such incentives which shall include, at a minimum, photovoltaic, wind, and fuel cells. The board shall simultaneously determine, as a result of the comprehensive resource analysis, the programs to be funded by the societal benefits charge, the level of cost recovery and performance incentives for old and new programs and whether the recovery of demand side management programs' costs currently approved by the board may be reduced or extended over a longer period of time.  The board shall make these determinations taking into consideration existing market barriers and environmental benefits, with the objective of transforming markets, capturing lost opportunities, making energy services more affordable for low income customers and eliminating subsidies for programs that can be delivered in the marketplace without electric public utility and gas public utility customer funding;

     (4)   Manufactured gas plant remediation costs, which shall be determined initially in a manner consistent with mechanisms in the remediation adjustment clauses for the electric public utility and gas public utility adopted by the board; [and]

     (5)   The cost, of consumer education, as determined by the board, which shall be in an amount that, together with the consumer education surcharge imposed on electric power supplier license fees pursuant to subsection h. of section 29 of this act and the consumer education surcharge imposed on gas supplier license fees pursuant to subsection g. of section 30 of this act, shall be sufficient to fund the consumer education program established pursuant to section 36 of this act; and

     (6)   Costs associated with the Green Jobs Training Partnership Program established pursuant to section 1 of P.L.    , c.    (C.        ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), as determined by the Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development, which shall be an amount sufficient, when combined with other funding, to annually fund a minimum of five 12-week paid training programs designed to recruit, prepare, and educate individuals for entry-level green jobs with long-term career potential.

      b.   There is established in the Board of Public Utilities a nonlapsing fund to be known as the "Universal Service Fund."  The board shall determine:  the level of funding and the appropriate administration of the fund; the purposes and programs to be funded with monies from the fund; which social programs shall be provided by an electric public utility as part of the provision of its regulated services which provide a public benefit; whether the funds appropriated to fund the "Lifeline Credit Program" established pursuant to P.L.1979, c.197 (C.48:2-29.15 et seq.), the "Tenants' Lifeline Assistance Program" established pursuant to P.L.1981, c.210 (C.48:2-29.31 et seq.), the funds received pursuant to the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program established pursuant to 42 U.S.C. s. 8621 et seq., and funds collected by electric and natural gas utilities, as authorized by the board, to offset uncollectible electricity and natural gas bills should be deposited in the fund; and whether new charges should be imposed to fund new or expanded social programs.

(cf: P.L.1999, c.23, s.12)

 

     3.    This act shall take effect immediately.

 

 

STATEMENT

 

     This bill establishes the Green Jobs Training Partnership Program in the Department of Labor and Workforce Development, in consultation with the State Employment and Training Commission. 

     To fulfill the purpose of the program, the department is required to annually provide a minimum of five consortia of employers, labor organizations, and education institutions with training program grants.  Each program must offer 12 weeks of paid training, at a minimum wage of $15 per hour for each trainee,  and include, but not be limited to, the following areas: basic math and English literacy; life skills and job readiness skills training; environmental sustainability; financial management; OSHA safety training certification; an overview of apprenticeship; vocational hard skills training in areas such as air sealing, building analysis, and insulation installing; and any other requirement deemed necessary by the Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development.  Furthermore, the training may be provided through an apprenticeship program of a labor organization of the consortium.

     Trainees must be a minimum of 18 years old.  A consortium may not determine a trainee's eligibility for participation in the training program on the trainee's possession of either a high school diploma or any high school equivalency diploma or certificate such as a General Education Development (GED) certificate.  Each program shall offer trainees (1) college credits for all applicable course work of the program provided through an educational institution of the consortium; and (2) employment provided through a business of the consortium upon the trainee's successful completion of the program.

     Under the bill, an "apprenticeship program" means a registered apprenticeship program providing to each trainee combined classroom and on-the-job training under the direct and close supervision of a highly skilled worker in an occupation recognized as an apprenticeable trade, registered by the Office of Apprenticeship of the United States Department of Labor, and meeting the standards established by that office. A "green job" is defined as a job which exhibits those aspects of employment that promote energy efficiency and energy conservation, such as assistant building analyst, assistant air sealer, and insulation installer.

     The department will provide each grant awardee with the funds necessary to reimburse employers up to 50 percent of the hourly wage paid to each trainee for the duration of the training, as well as all tuition and other direct costs of the training.  To fund these costs, each grant awardee will receive grant funds pursuant to section 5 of P.L.1992, c.43 (C.34:15D-5) from the Workforce Development Partnership Fund for customized training services through the Office of Customized Training.  Furthermore, the bill authorizes the department to utilize moneys collected from the societal benefits charge (SBC), a non-bypassable charge on all electric and gas utility customers to recover the costs associated with socially beneficial programs, to fund any additional expenses of the program.  The Green Jobs Training Partnership Program reflects the purpose of the SBC, as it will provide a pipeline of skilled, entry-level workers capable of employment that will further advance New Jersey towards energy conservation and efficiency.

     In order to track program performance, each grant awardee is required to submit to the department the following information three, six, and nine months following the close of the training program: the number of participants who successfully completed the training program, and the number of participants currently placed in a green job, including each participant's job title and salary.

     This bill codifies the Green Jobs Training Partnership Program, a grant program established in 2009 in collaboration between the Department of Labor and Workforce Development, the Conserve to Preserve Foundation of the New Jersey Resources Corporation, and the New Jersey Center for Energy and Environmental Training.  The program ended in 2011 due to lack of State and private funding.

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