BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 1402
Page 1
Date of Hearing: July 3, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION
Marty Block, Chair
SB 1402 (Lieu) - As Amended: June 26, 2012
SENATE VOTE : 38-0
SUBJECT : Economic development: California Community Colleges
Economic and Workforce Development Program.
SUMMARY : Recasts and revises provisions of the Education Code
governing the California Community Colleges (CCC) Economic and
Workforce Development Program (EWDP) and extends the program's
sunset date from January 1, 2013, to January 1, 2018.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Establishes the program under a new Part of the Education
Code, moving the EWDP from § 88500 et seq. to § 88600 et seq.
2)Extends the sunset on the EWDP from January 1, 2013, to
January 1, 2018.
3)Adds six principles to the mission of the EWD Program.
Specifically, the bill requires the EWDP to:
a) Be responsive to the needs of employers, workers, and
students.
b) Collaborate with other public institutions, aligning
resources to foster cooperation across workforce education
and service delivery systems, and building well-articulated
career pathways.
c) Make data driven and evidence based decisions, investing
resources and adopting practices on the basis of what
works.
d) Develop strong partnerships with the private sector,
ensuring industry involvement in needs assessment,
planning, and program evaluation.
e) Be outcome oriented and accountable, measuring results
for program participants, including students, employers,
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and workers.
f) Be accessible to employers, workers, and students who
may benefit from its operation.
4)Updates the mission of the EWDP to reflect the need to
implement sector strategies that align with labor markets.
5)Updates the General Provisions to strengthen decision criteria
for allocating funds to ensure that education and services are
responsive to changing local markets and to improve
accountability of regional programs. Requires funding to be
based on each of the following:
a) An evaluation of the relevance of the grant to the labor
market needs of the state and relevant region's competitive
and emerging industry sectors and industry cluster, or to
the state's need to plug skills gaps and skills shortages
in the economy, including skills gaps and shortages at the
state and regional level.
b) An assessment of the past performance of the grant
recipient.
c) For grants providing direct services to employers and
industry, an assessment of the purported beneficial impacts
of the grant on the relevant businesses, which may include
a review of the grant's purported impacts as specified.
d) For grants involving direct education and training
services provided to workers and students, an assessment of
the educational and training goals of the grant, the
projected numbers of the students and workers served and
projected rates of course and program completion or
transfer-readiness, the projected rate of skills attainment
for certificates and degrees, and the projected wages and
rate of employment placement for those entering the labor
market.
e) For technical assistance and logistical support
projects, a concrete enumeration of the ways the project
will collaborate with the Chancellor's office to advance
sector strategies, regional development, accountability
based on performance data, and the adoption of effective
workforce and economic development practices.
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f) Authorizes the Chancellor's office to terminate programs
for nonperformance.
6)Updates definitions to reflect current practices:
a) Defines career pathways and career ladders or career
lattices to mean an identified series of positions, work
experiences, or educational benchmarks or credentials that
offer occupational and financial advancement within a
specific career field or related field over time.
b) Defines high-priority occupation to mean an occupation
that has a significant presence in a targeted industry or
sector or industry cluster, as specified.
c) Defines industry cluster as a group of employers closely
linked by a common product or services, workforce needs,
similar technologies, and supply chains in a given regional
economy or labor market.
d) Defines industry sector to mean those firms that produce
similar products or provide similar services using a
somewhat similar business process.
e) Defines sector strategies to mean prioritizing
investments in competitive and emerging industry sectors
and industry clusters as specified.
f) Defines stackable credentials to mean a sequence of
modularized training or credentials, progression of
modularized training and certificates that build on one
another and are linked to educational and career
advancement where each progression or stack has employment
or industry value.
EXISTING LAW :
Current state law:
1)Establishes the EWDP as a primary CCC mission and specifies
the program's mission and goals and an administrative
structure for the program that includes:
a) The California Community Colleges Business Resource
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Assistance and Innovation Network Trust Fund.
b) Centers and Regional Collaboratives.
c) The Job Development Incentive Training Program.
2)EWDP is administered through the CCC Chancellor's office which
is required under current law to implement accountability
measures and annually report specified information to the
Governor and the Legislature. (Education Code § 88500 et.
seq)
3)Requires the CCC Board of Governors to assist economic and
workforce regional development centers and consortia to
improve linkages and career technical education (CTE) pathways
between high schools and CCCs in a manner that improves the
quality of career exploration. (EC § 88532)
Current federal law, the Workforce Investment Act, provides
funding for workforce investment activities, including training,
access to career information, counseling, and other support
services.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, the sunset extension will result in state costs of
$22.9 million to $46.7 million annually, subject to an
appropriation in the Budget Act.
By reauthorizing EWDP, this bill allows existing programs and
services that are already funded through the Budget Act to
continue and maintains language in current law that specifies
the Act will only be implemented during those fiscal years for
which funds are appropriated for that purpose in the annual
Budget Act.
COMMENTS : This bill is double referred to the Jobs, Economic
Development, and the Economy Committee, which is scheduled to
hear the bill on the morning of July 3, 2012.
EWDP background . The purpose of the EWDP is to advance
California's economic growth and global competitiveness through
education and services that contribute to continuous workforce
improvement, technology deployment, and business development and
are consistent with the current needs of the state's regional
economies. CCCs and business partners form consortia to
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identify regional workforce needs and priorities, provide
assistance to small businesses in the region through local
Economic and Workforce Development Centers, and train workers.
The partnerships enable CCCs to develop curricula that address
the training needs of local industry.
Codified in 1991, the EWDP formalized earlier efforts to
coordinate statewide technical training and programs for small
businesses and economic development. SB 1809 (Polanco), Chapter
1057, Statutes of 1996, further clarified the EWDP's legislative
intent, defined regional planning, priority setting and
coordination, added accountability and audit requirements, and
made economic development and continuous workforce improvement a
primary CCC mission.
The 2010-11 EWDP Annual Report shows that CCCs play an integral
role in helping California build its workforce despite budget
cuts and stagnant economic growth. The report noted that during
the reporting period, 929 people received a job through EWDP,
while an additional 9,475 people were able to retain their job
through EWDP services. A one-time return-on-investment report
conducted by Time Structures, Inc. found that from 2002-2009,
EWDP assisted an average of 41,000 businesses, 107,000 students
and trainees, and placed 4,300 individuals in jobs. The report
revealed that it cost the state of California an average of $589
to train each worker in a highly concentrated one-time course.
Each newly trained worker earned a higher wage, subsequently
paying an additional $450 in state and local taxes over the next
three years. The report indicated that the workers' higher tax
payments returned almost 80% of the state's costs for the
training.
Need for this bill . According to the author, this bill is
necessary to extend the sunset for EWDP from January 1, 2013, to
January 2, 2018, and to improve its ability to respond to
changing economic conditions, accountability for investments and
performance, integration with CTE programs.
Changes to EWDP . This bill will create a new code section for
EWDP, allowing the previous code section to sunset on January 1,
2013, and effectively separating EWDP from the Career Technical
Education Pathways Initiative Ýwhose provisions are recast and
sunset extended in SB 1070 (Steinberg), approved by this
Committee on June 19]. This bill would recast EWDP's provisions
to emphasize the importance of aligning activities with changing
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labor market needs to ensure that workers are being trained for
jobs that are likely to exist and strengthen the evaluation of
EWDP, as follows:
1)Adds six workforce principles as part of an overall strategy
to align all of the state's workforce programs.
2)Redefines EWDP's mission to implement sector strategies that
align with the labor market and ensure that resources are used
to keep programs current on information and training
techniques to keep incumbent workers more competitive in their
regional markets.
3)Enhances the role of the EWDP advisory committee to ensure
that funding can adapt to changing local markets.
4)Increases the accountability of regional programs.
5)Adds CTE to prompt more cooperation between CTE and EWDP for
career building and sector strategies and updates the
definitions in the programs.
Author's amendment . The author has agreed to the following
amendment to further refine the definition of stackable
credential:
On page 11, line 4: (t) "Stackable credentials" means a
sequence of modularized training or credentials, progression of
modularized training modules, credentials or and certificates
that build on one another and are linked to educational and
career advancement where each progression or stack has
employment or industry value .
Related and prior legislation . A companion bill, SB 1070
(Steinberg), approved by this Committee on June 19, extends the
sunset date for the Career Technical Education Pathways
Initiative component of the current EWDP. SB 1401 (Lieu),
pending in the Jobs, Economic Development and the Economy
Committee, requires the state's Workforce Investment Board to
assist the Governor in the alignment of the education and
workforce investment systems and creates a California Industry
Sector Initiative that will accomplish specified tasks,
including aligning and leveraging state and local Workforce
Investment Act funding streams.
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REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Aerospace Defense Coalition
Aerospace Dynamics International, Inc.
Barstow Community College
Bayless Engineering, Inc. President
Biotechnology Initiative of the California Community Colleges
Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges
Boston Scientific Neuromodulation Manager
Business & Entrepreneurship Center Director, Cuesta College
California Asian Pacific Chamber of Commerce
California Association for Local Economic Development
California Chapters of the National Electrical Contractors
Association
California Community College Association of Occupational
Education
California Hospital Association
California Chamber of Commerce
California Manufacturers & Technology Association
California State Association of Electrical Workers
California Workforce Association
Center of Excellence at Mt. San Antonio College Director
Cerritos College
Coachella Valley Economic Partnership
Coast Community College District
College of the Canyons
Community College League of California
Council of Goodwill Industries
Desert Community College District
Economic Workforce Development Training & Development Director,
Butte College
El Camino College
Envision Education
Faculty Association of California Community Colleges
Industry Advisory Board of the Southern California Biotechnology
Center, San Diego Miramar College
Long Beach City College
Los Angeles/Orange County Biotechnology Center
Los Rios Community College District
Mendocino College Nursing Program Director
Montclair Hospital Medical Center Chief Nursing Officer
Palomar Community Colelge District
Palomar Health Chief Nurse Executive
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Prosperity Research Institute
Regional Economic Association Leaders of California
Saddleback College
San Bernardino Community College District
Santa Clarita City Council
Santa Clarita Valley Economic Development Corporation President
Shasta-Tehama-Trinity Joint Community College District
Sierra College President
Silicon Valley Leadership Group
South Orange County Community College District
Southern California Regional Transit Training Consortium
State Building and Construction Trades Council of California
State Center Community College District
Valley Industry Association of Santa Clarita
Ventura County Community College District
Workplace Learning Resource Center Director
Yosemite Community College District
1 Individual
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Sandra Fried / HIGHER ED. / (916)
319-3960