A bill

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY ADDING CHAPTER 79 TO TITLE 39 SO AS TO CREATE THE SOUTH CAROLINA IRELAND TRADE COMMISSION, TO PROVIDE FOR THE MEMBERS OF THE TRADE COMMISSION, AND TO ESTABLISH THE DUTIES OF THE COMMISSION.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION 1.  Title 39 of the S.C. Code is amended by adding:

    CHAPTER 79

    South Carolina Ireland Trade Commission

    Section 39-79-100. (A) There is established the South Carolina Ireland Trade Commission which is created to advance bilateral trade and investment between South Carolina and Ireland. The trade commission is comprised of the following members:

       (1) the Secretary of the Department of Commerce or his designee;

       (2) the State Superintendent of Education or his designee;

       (3) the Executive Director of the State Board for Technical and Comprehensive Education or his designee;

       (4) the Executive Director of the Department of Employment and Workforce or his designee;

       (5) the Executive Director of the Commission on Higher Education or his designee;

       (6) the president or provost of a research university who must be selected by the presidents of the research universities;

       (7) the president or provost of a four-year college or university who must be selected by the presidents of the four-year universities;

       (8) the president of a technical college who must be appointed by the Chairman of the State Board for Technical and Comprehensive Education;

       (9) a person appointed by the Superintendent of Education who has particularized expertise regarding Chapter 59, Title 59, the South Carolina Education and Economic Development Act; and

       (10) a representative from the business community appointed by the President of the

South Carolina Chamber of Commerce.

    (B)(1) The commission shall:

           (a) develop and implement procedures for sharing information and coordinating efforts among stakeholders to prepare the state's current and emerging workforce to meet the needs of the state's economy. The primary workforce focus of the council must be on persons over age twenty-one;

           (b) make recommendations to the General Assembly concerning matters related to workforce development that exceed the council members' agencies' scope of authority to implement and legislation is required;

           (c) recommend, to the General Assembly, programs intended to increase student access to and incentivize workforce training within state training programs or through programs offered by businesses through scholarships, grants, loans, tax credits, or other programs documented to be effective in addressing current and future workforce needs;

           (d) develop a method for identifying and addressing long-term workforce needs;

           (e) conduct an ongoing inventory of existing workforce programs to identify duplications among and within the programs and identify ineffective programs. The council may make recommendations concerning the appropriate actions necessary to eliminate duplication, improvements to ineffective programs so that the programs can achieve the desired result, or the elimination of programs that no longer meet workforce needs; and

           (f) submit an annual progress report to the Governor and the General Assembly, by July first of each fiscal year, concerning the actions taken by the council during the previous fiscal year, and any recommendations for legislation or agency action. The council may submit additional reports on an ongoing basis as deemed necessary by the council chairman.

       (2) The commission may create subcommittees or advisory groups comprised of community or state or local government stakeholders to assist the council in carrying out the council's duties as contained in item (1).

    (C) The Secretary of the Department of Commerce or his designee to the commission is the commission's chairman.

    (D) The Commission on Higher Education, the Department of Commerce, and the State Board for Technical and Comprehensive Education shall provide staff for the commission.

SECTION 2.  This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.

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