BILL NUMBER: AB 2405	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Negrete McLeod

                        FEBRUARY 21, 2002

   An act relating to workforce training programs, and making an
appropriation therefor.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2405, as introduced, Negrete McLeod.  Workforce training
programs: task force.
   Existing law makes legislative findings and declarations regarding
the importance of preparing pupils for an economy that demands
strong academic and career skills, and creates the Interagency
Partnership for School-to-Career Programs as a formal collaboration
among the Secretary for Education, the State Department of Education,
the Chancellor's Office of the California Community Colleges and the
Health and Human Services Agency, for the purpose of administering a
grant program to local entities who meet certain requirements.
   This bill would require the State Department of Education, in
cooperation with specified educational agencies, to form a task force
to establish educational and workforce training programs relevant to
alternative sources of renewable energy.  The bill would appropriate
$100,000 from the General Fund to the State Department of Education
for use by the task force for those purposes.
   Vote:  2/3.  Appropriation:  yes.  Fiscal committee:  yes.
State-mandated local program:  no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  (a) The State Department of Education, in cooperation
with the Employment Development Department, the Chancellor of the
California Community Colleges, the California State University, and,
to the extent that they wish to cooperate, the University of
California, shall form a task force to establish educational and
workforce training programs relevant to alternative sources of
renewable energy.  The task force shall oversee the development of
educational and workforce training programs that train students for
careers in various facets of the renewable energy sector, including,
but not limited to, solar, photvoltaic, biomass, wind, hydrogen,
geothermal, and fuel cell energy.  In carrying out this function, the
task force shall consult with public and private elementary and
secondary schools, community, junior, and four-year colleges, and
postgraduate educational institutions, and with representatives from
the renewable energy sector. The task force shall coordinate its
efforts with other state agencies in order to secure any available
state, federal, and private grant funding available for this purpose.

   (b) The sum of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) is hereby
appropriated from the General Fund to the State Department of
Education for use by the task force for the purposes described in
this section.