BILL ANALYSIS
AB 35
Page 1
Date of Hearing: January 13, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON JOBS, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND THE ECONOMY
V. Manuel Perez, Chair
AB 35 (Furutani) - As Amended: January 4, 2009
SUBJECT : Education: workforce preparation
SUMMARY : Expands the scope of the functions and
responsibilities of the California Postsecondary Education
Commission (CPEC) to include the development of a strategic plan
for the purpose of connecting education and workforce
development programs in the state. Specifically this bill:
1)Specifies that it is the intent of the Legislature to enact
legislation to develop a strategic plan in the education
system for workforce preparation and career technical
education.
2)Requires CPEC to develop recommendations for the strategic
plan by connecting education and workforce development
programs in the state. Working with representatives from the
California Department of Education (CDE) the California
Workforce Investment Board (CWIB), business and labor
organizations, to make recommendations in the strategic plan
that address the contribution of academic and career technical
education to workforce development.
3)Requires that the strategic plan include, at a minimum, the
following provisions:
a) How the state determines appropriate measures for
evaluating and collecting data for future workforce needs;
b) Alignment of workforce needs with future postsecondary
education programs and capacity at both the state and
regional levels;
c) Strategies for fostering long-term improvements in
workers' skills and knowledge;
d) Methods for closing the skills gap and strengthening the
nexus between education and the workforce; and
e) Appropriate measures for improving data collection on
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future workforce needs.
4)Specifies that it is the intent of the legislature that CPEC
solicit input from K-12, postsecondary education institutions,
local workforce investment boards and other appropriate
governmental entities in developing recommendations for the
strategic plan.
5)Requires CPEC to report its recommendations for the strategic
plan to the Governor and the Legislature no later than July 1,
2011.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Establishes CPEC as the statewide postsecondary education
coordinating and planning agency and advisor to the
Legislature and the Governor.
2)Requires CPEC to prepare a state plan for postsecondary
education that integrates the planning efforts of the public
segments with other pertinent plans. In undertaking this
task, CPEC is directed to resolve any inconsistencies among
the segment plans and report to the Legislature any unresolved
issues, including recommendations on how to resolve the
differences.
3)Establishes the CWIB for the purpose of assisting the state in
meeting the requirements of the federal Workforce Investment
Act of 1998 (WIA), as well as, assisting the Governor in the
development, oversight, and continuous improvement of
California's workforce investment system.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
1)Purpose: According to the author, California has a startling
high unemployment rate of over 12%. The state needs a
comprehensive strategy to get people back into jobs that will
reenergize our economy. In many cases, entire industries have
left regions requiring displaced workers to retrain into other
professions.
The author further states, the current method of workforce
preparation has great potential to address the individual
needs of a diverse population. However, more can be done to
strengthen the coordination between California Community
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Colleges, adult education, high school career technical
programs, and California Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs).
Many agencies are involved in workforce development planning,
but these agencies fail to work cohesively, resulting in a
lack of statewide direction and coordination on workforce
development. By requiring lead agencies involved in education
to work together on a strategic plan for workforce
development, this bill will begin the conversation and
reevaluation of the state's method of educating and training
the majority of the workforce.
2)No state current plan : Existing law provides that one of the
primary roles and responsibilities of CPEC is to prepare a
state plan for postsecondary education that integrates the
planning efforts of the various public segments. According to
CPEC staff, this plan has never been prepared. CPEC has
instead produced a number of topic-specific reports, such as
the workforce preparation reports detailed below.
In 2007, CPEC issued a series of 4 reports on workforce
development. The first three reports provided an assessment,
including a review of employers concerns that California's
postsecondary education system was not producing enough
graduates with the skills needed to competitive in today's
workplace. The final report included a set of recommendations
for strengthening the nexus between education and career
preparation. Among other recommendations, the report includes
the following:
a) CPEC should compile and disseminate "Best Practices" for
partnerships;
b) There should be an increased focus on workforce and
career development in both K-12 and postsecondary education
systems;
c) The alignment between K-12 and postsecondary education
should be improved to better prepare students for success
in both their careers and higher education;
d) Data linkages between Employment Development Department
(EDD), K-12, and postsecondary education should be
improved, i.e. students success in obtaining jobs,
including pay levels, should be tracked; and
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e) Regional workforce strategies should be encouraged that
include K-12 and postsecondary education.
CPEC, who is in support of this measure, has indicated its
agreement with these policy options and requested staff to
develop implementation options for the council's
consideration. Progress on implementation has been mixed,
according to information prepared by CPEC. Potentially,
implementation of AB 35 could assist CPEC in operationalizing
these and other workforce development recommendations into a
single strategy, including funding sources. Comment 5 provides
additional information on related workforce development
funding.
3)Unemployment in California : While increases in unemployment
are slowing over 7 million California workers were identified
as unemployed in November 2009, the most recent month for
which data is available. The numbers provided below have not
been seasonally adjusted by EDD.
Statewide: 12.2% (Up from 8.4% in 2008)
Alameda County: 11.2% (Up from 7.3% in 2008)
Colusa County: 22.6% (Up from 18.6% in 2008)
Contra Costa: 11.2 % (Up from 7.1% in 2008)
Fresno County: 16.5% (Up from 12.1% 2008)
Imperial County: 29.2% (Up from 25.5% in 2008)
Los Angeles County: 12.2% (Up from 8.8% in 2008)
Riverside County: 14.6% (Up from 10.0% in 2008)
Sacramento County: 12.5% (Up from 8.2% in 2008)
Santa Clara County: 11.7% (Up from 7.0% in 2008)
4 California Economic Development Recovery Strategy: In
anticipation of the enactment of the $787 billion federal
stimulus package, Assemblyman P?rez, Chairman of the Assembly
Economic Development Committee, called for the preparation of
a statewide 24 month blueprint on how to most effectively use
federal stimulus funds to address the state's most immediate
economic and workforce needs while still serving as a catalyst
for advancing the state's long-term economic growth.
The Recovery Strategy proposed to use the broadest set of
community, economic, and workforce development tools to link
these new and enhanced federal resources with the people and
organizations they are designed to serve. This bill
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implements several recommendations in the Recovery Strategy,
including the overall objective to manage resources toward
defined outcomes, utilizing solid planning principles and good
data, and making workforce training needs a special focus.
5)Background on workforce training programs : California
annually receives hundreds of millions of dollars in federal
workforce training funds. In addition, employers contribute
to a state employment training program and the state offers
certain workforce hiring credits. The following are
descriptions, including funding levels, for several of the
larger existing workforce training programs and services.
a) Workforce Investment Board (WIB) : The role of the WIB
is to assist the Governor in designing a statewide plan and
establishing appropriate policy for workforce development
programs. WIA funding is distributed to states based on a
set formula which includes specified economic and
demographic data. California's share has declined over the
years from a high of $630 million in 2000-01 to an
estimated $427 million 2009-10.
Pursuant to federal WIA requirements, 85% of funding
flowing to the states ius reallocated to the local
workforce investment boards. Resources used to carry out
CWIB activities are derived from the Governor's 15% WIA
Discretionary funds. The 2009-10 estimated WIA allocation
to local workforce investment boards is $363 million, while
the state will receive about $63 million in discretionary
moneys. Recent budget actions, however, redirected
portions of state discretionary moneys to offset General
Fund employment and training costs at the California
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation or the
California Conservation Corp.
Under the $787 billion federal stimulus package, California
was expected to receive $568.6 million in supplemental
funding through three WIA funding streams: Youth formula
grants, dislocated worker funding, and adult services
grants. Of the $568.6 million in WIA moneys targeted for
California, the CWIB is expected to receive approximately
$70 million to carry out supplemental activities related to
the federal stimulus programs. These moneys are required
to be fully expended in 24 months. The dislocated worker
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and adult activities moneys are distributed to the state
under existing Workforce Investment Act formulas. As
January 7, 2010 only $493.1 million of the WIA moneys have
been award and only $133.1 million have been expended by
California.
b) One-Stop Service Centers and Wagner-Peyser Funding :
Among EDD's most important missions is to ensure that
California's workforce has the skills that employers need
to manage their businesses. EDD's major workforce
investment programs include the California One-Stop Career
Centers, the California Jobs Service Program (CalJOBS),
Employment Training Panel, and the Workforce Investment
Program.
The One-Stop Career Center system is a statewide network of
centers that provide employment, education, and training
services all in one location. The One-Stop Centers work
with public and private non-profit partners to provide
their services. The One-Stop Centers include programs such
as Job Services, Unemployment Insurance, Vocational
Education, and Vocational Rehabilitation. The One-Stop
Centers provide their services in English and Spanish and
are organized around a locally determined set of
priorities, which are designed to meet the unique
employment needs in each community. All but two of
California's 58 counties have a One-Stop Center, with many
counties having multiple one-stop locations.
The federal Wagner-Peyser Act (WPA) funds employment
training programs administered through EDD, most
specifically, the employment services through the One-Stop
Career Center service delivery structure. The state
currently receives about $80 million in WPA funds.
Services funded with WPA moneys include: job search
assistance, job referral, placement assistance for job
seekers, reemployment services to unemployment insurance
(UI) claimants, and recruitment services to employers with
job openings.
The Recovery Act provides an additional $47 million in WPA
funds for state employment services. Of this amount,
approximately $29 million is required to be used for
reemployment services to UI claimants.
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State Total Allotment RES Other
Total $396,000,000
$247,500,000 $148,500,000
California 46,970,564
29,356,604 17,613,960
c) California Employment Training Panel: The Employment
Training Panel (ETP) was created in 1983. Monies in the
Employment Training Fund are provided by one tenth of 1% of
unemployment insurance wages paid by every private,
for-profit employer in the state, as well as, some
non-profits, amounting to no more than $7.00 per covered
employee per year. Projects funded through the ETP assists
employers in strengthening their competitive edge by
providing funds to offset the costs of job skills training
necessary to maintain high-performance workplaces. ETP is
governed by an 8 member panel, of which 7 are appointed by
the Governor and the Assembly and Senate leadership and the
last member is the Secretary of Business, Transportation
and Housing.
Currently, there is no single plan or strategy that brings
together all the federal and state workforce development
programs and services with the related programs and services
in K-12 and postsecondary education.
6)Related legislation :
a) AB 365 (Portantino) : of 2007, which was vetoed, would
have required CPEC, in cooperation with the Labor and
Workforce Development Agency, to convene a Task Force on
State Workforce Needs. Status: Vetoed by the Governor in
2007. In his veto message, Governor Schwarzenegger wrote:
"I am supportive of efforts to align state workforce needs
with program development at postsecondary education
institutions. However, statutory authority is not
necessary for the California Postsecondary Education
Commission to meet the objective of convening meetings with
the relevant entities, and developing recommendations.
Therefore, this bill is unnecessary."
a) AB 699 (Portantino and V. Manuel Perez) : This bill
would have updated the requirements for the development of
a State Economic Development Strategy, including key
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elements related to innovation-based industries and
workforce development. Status: Held in the Assembly
Appropriations Committee in May of 2009.
b) AB 1916 (Portantino, Arambula, Price, Salas, and
Caballero): This bill would have updated the membership
and requirements of the California Economic Strategy Panel
and required that the next State Economic Development
Strategy be submitted to the Legislature by January 1,
2010. Status: Vetoed by the Governor in 2008 due to
budget delays.
c) AB 2595 (Arambula) : This bill would have required the
Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development and the
California Workforce Investment Board to establish a
Logistics Worker Training Initiative for the purpose of
increasing California workers' competitiveness within the
global manufacturing value chain. The outcome of this
initiative was to have a state strategy to support
regionally based workforce intermediaries that provide
training in advanced logistical systems, especially in the
transportation and goods movement sectors. Status: Vetoed
by the Governor in 2007 due to budget delay.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Postsecondary Education Commission
Opposition
None received
Analysis Prepared by : Mercedes Flores/Toni Symonds/ / J.,
E.D. & E. / (916) 319-2090