BILL NUMBER: AB 554	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Atkins

                        FEBRUARY 16, 2011

   An act to amend Section 14230 of the Unemployment Insurance Code,
relating to employment.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 554, as introduced, Atkins. Employment: workforce services.
   The federal Workforce Investment Act of 1998 provides for
workforce investment activities, including activities in which states
may participate. Existing law contains various programs for job
training and employment investment, including work incentive
programs, as specified.
   This bill would require the California Workforce Investment Board
and each local board to ensure that programs and services funded by
the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 and directed to apprenticeable
occupations, including preapprenticeship training, are conducted in
coordination with one or more apprenticeship programs approved by the
Division of Apprenticeship Standards for the occupation and
geographic area. The bill would also require the California Workforce
Investment Board and each local board to develop a policy of
fostering collaboration between community colleges and approved
apprenticeship programs in the geographic area to provide
preapprenticeship training, apprenticeship training, and continuing
education in apprenticeable occupations through the approved
apprenticeship programs.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


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

  SECTION 1.  Section 14230 of the Unemployment Insurance Code is
amended to read:
   14230.  (a) It is the intent of the Legislature that:
   (1) California deliver comprehensive workforce services to
jobseekers, students, and employers through a system of one-stop
career centers.
   (2) Services and resources target high-wage industry sectors with
career advancement opportunities.
   (3) Universal access to core services shall be available to adult
residents regardless of income, education, employment barriers, or
other eligibility requirements. Core services shall include, but not
be limited to:
   (A) Outreach, intake, and orientation to services available
through the one-stop delivery system.
   (B) Initial assessment of skill levels, aptitudes, abilities, and
supportive service needs.
   (C) Job search and placement assistance.
   (D) Career counseling, where appropriate.
   (E) Provision of labor market information.
   (F) Provision of program performance and cost information on
eligible providers of training services and local area performance
measures.
   (G) Provision of information on supportive services in the local
area.
   (H) Provision of information on the filing of claims for
unemployment compensation benefits and unemployment compensation
disability benefits.
   (I) Assistance in establishing eligibility for welfare-to-work
activities pursuant to Section 11325.8 of the Welfare and
Institutions Code, and financial aid assistance.
   (4) State and federally funded workforce education, training, and
employment programs shall be integrated in the one-stop delivery
system to achieve universal access to the core services described in
paragraph (3).
   (5) Intensive services shall be available to individuals who have
completed at least one core service, have been unable to obtain
employment, and who have been determined, by the one-stop operator,
as being in need of more intensive services, or who are employed but
in need of intensive services to obtain or retain employment to
achieve self-sufficiency. Intensive services may include
comprehensive and specialized assessments of skill levels and service
needs, including learning disability screening, the development of
individual employment plans, counseling, career planning, and
short-term prevocational services to prepare an individual for
training and employment.
   (6) Training services shall be made available to individuals who
have met the requirements for intensive services, have been unable to
obtain or retain employment through these services, and who, after
an interview, evaluation, or assessment, are determined to be in need
of training, and have selected a program of services directly linked
to occupations in demand in the local or regional area. Training
services may include:
   (A) Occupational skill training including training for
nontraditional employment.
   (B) On-the-job training.
   (C) Programs that combine workplace training with related
instruction.
   (D) Training programs operated by the private sector.
   (E) Skill upgrading and retraining.
   (F) Entrepreneurial training.
   (G) Job readiness training.
   (H) Adult education and literacy activities, including vocational
English as a second language, provided in combination with
subparagraphs (A) through (G), inclusive.
   (I) Customized training conducted by an employer or a group of
employers or a labor-management training partnership with a
commitment to employ an individual upon completion of the training.
   (7) As prescribed in the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, when
funds are limited, priority for intensive services and training
services shall be given to adult recipients of public assistance and
other low-income adults, such as CalWORKs participants.
   (b) Each local workforce investment board shall establish at least
one full service one-stop career center in the local workforce
investment area. Each full service one-stop career center shall have
all entities specified in Section 14231 as partners and shall provide
jobseekers with integrated employment, education, training, and job
search services. Additionally, employers will be provided with access
to comprehensive career and labor market information, job placement,
economic development information, performance and program
information on service providers, and other such services as the
businesses in the community may require.
   (c) Local boards may also establish affiliated and specialized
centers, as defined in the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, which
shall act as portals into the larger local one-stop system, but are
not required to have all of the partners specified for full service
one-stop centers.
   (d) Each local board shall develop a policy for identifying
individuals who, because of their skills or experience, should be
referred immediately to training services. This policy, along with
the methods for referral of individuals between the one-stop
operators and the one-stop partners for appropriate services and
activities, shall be contained in the memorandum of understanding
between the local board and the one-stop partners. 
   (e) The California Workforce Investment Board and each local board
shall ensure that programs and services funded by the Workforce
Investment Act of 1998 and directed to apprenticeable occupations,
including preapprenticeship training, are conducted, to the maximum
extent feasible, in coordination with one or more apprenticeship
programs approved by the Division of Apprenticeship Standards for the
occupation and geographic area. The California Workforce Investment
Board and each local board shall also develop a policy of fostering
collaboration between community colleges and approved apprenticeship
programs in the geographic area to provide preapprenticeship
training, apprenticeship training, and continuing education in
apprenticeable occupations through the approved apprenticeship
programs.  
   (e) 
    (f)  In light of California's diverse population, each
one-stop career center should have the capacity to provide the
appropriate services to the full range of languages and cultures
represented in the community served by the one-stop career center.