BILL NUMBER: SB 118 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Senator Lieu
JANUARY 17, 2013
An act to amend Sections 14000, 14005, 14010, 14013, and 14020 of
the Unemployment Insurance Code, relating to unemployment insurance.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 118, as introduced, Lieu. Unemployment insurance: education and
workforce investment systems.
Existing law provides that the California Workforce Investment
Board is responsible for assisting the Governor in the development,
oversight, and continuous improvement of California's workforce
investment system. Existing law further provides that the board must
assist the Governor in targeting resources to specified high-wage
industry sectors and providing guidance to ensure that services
reflect the needs of those sectors.
This bill would provide that the board is also responsible for
assisting the Governor in the alignment of the education and
workforce investment systems to the needs of the 21st century
workforce and the promotion and development of a well-educated and
highly skilled 21st century economy and workforce. This bill would
require the board to assist the Governor in targeting resources to
specified industry clusters that provide economic security and
leverage state and federal funds to ensure that resources are
invested in activities that meet the needs of specified industry
sectors and advance the education and employment of students and
workers so they can meet the specified needs of the state, its
regional economies, and leading industry sectors.
Existing law requires the board, in collaboration with specified
state and local partners, and the local workforce investment boards
to develop a specified strategic workforce plan, updated at least
every 5 years, to address the state's economic, demographic, and
workplace needs and to meet the single state plan requirement of the
Workforce Investment Act of 1998.
This bill would require, as part of the strategic workforce plan,
the creation of a California Industry Sector Initiative that will
accomplish specified tasks, including aligning and leveraging
federal, state, and local Workforce Investment Act funding streams,
identifying specified industry sectors and clusters, providing
skills-gap analysis, and establishing specified eligibility criteria
for the Workforce Investment Act eligible training provider list.
This bill would also make related changes.
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 14000 of the Unemployment Insurance Code is
amended to read:
14000. (a) The Legislature finds and declares that, in order for
California to remain prosperous and globally competitive, it needs to
have a well-educated and highly skilled workforce.
(b) The Legislature recognizes all of the following:
finds and declares that the following principles shall
guide the state's workforce investment system:
(1) California must transform its current job training, job
placement, and vocational education programs into an integrated,
accessible, and accountable workforce investment system that can
effectively serve job seekers, students, and employers.
(1) Workforce investment programs and services shall be responsive
to the needs of employers, workers, and students by accomplishing
the following:
(2) California's workforce investment system must provide lifelong
learning for all Californians, promote self-sufficiency, link
education and training to economic development, and prepare
California
(A) Preparing California's students and
workers with the skills necessary to successfully compete in
the global economy.
(B) Producing greater numbers of individuals who obtain
industry-recognized certificates and degrees in competitive and
emerging industry sectors and filling critical labor market skills
gaps.
(C) Adapting to rapidly changing local and regional labor markets
as specific workforce skill requirements change over time.
(D) Preparing workers for good-paying jobs that foster economic
security and upward mobility.
(2) State and local workforce investment boards are encouraged to
collaborate with other public and private institutions, including
businesses, unions, nonprofit organizations, kindergarten and grades
1 to 12, inclusive, career technical education programs, adult career
technical education and basic skills programs, community college
career technical education and basic skills programs, the California
Community Colleges Economic and Workforce Development Program, and
the Employment Training Panel, to better align resources across
workforce education and training service delivery systems and build a
well-articulated workforce investment system by accomplishing the
following:
(A) Adopting local and regional training and education strategies
that build on the strengths and fill the gaps in the education and
workforce development pipeline in order to address the needs of job
seekers, workers, and employers within regional labor markets by
supporting sector strategies.
(B) Leveraging resources across education and workforce training
delivery systems to build career pathways and fill critical skills
gaps.
(3) Workforce investment programs and services shall be data
driven and evidence based when setting priorities, investing
resources, and adopting practices.
(4) Workforce investment programs and services shall develop
strong partnerships with the private sector, ensuring industry
involvement in needs assessment, planning, and program evaluation.
(A) Workforce investment programs and services shall encourage
industry involvement by developing strong partnerships with an
industry's employers and the unions that represent the industry's
workers.
(B) Workforce investment programs and services may consider the
needs of employers of all sizes, including large, medium, small, and
microenterprise employers, when setting priorities, investing
resources, and adopting practices.
(5) Workforce investment programs and services shall be outcome
oriented and accountable, measuring results for program participants,
including, but not limited to, outcomes related to program
completion, employment, and earnings.
(3) The programs described in paragraphs (1) and (2) must
(6) Programs and services shall
be accessible to all Californians, including
employers, workers, and students who may benefit from their
operation, including individuals with employment barriers, such as
persons with economic, physical, or other barriers to
employment.
SEC. 2. Section 14005 of the Unemployment Insurance Code is
amended to read:
14005. For purposes of this division:
(a) "Board" shall mean the California Workforce Investment Board.
(b) "Agency" means the Labor and Workforce Development Agency.
(c) "Workforce Investment Act of 1998" means the federal act
enacted as Public Law 105-220.
(c) "Career pathways," "career ladders," or "career lattices" mean
an identified series of positions, work experiences, or educational
benchmarks or credentials with multiple access points that offer
occupational and financial advancement within a specified career
field or related fields over time.
(d) "Cluster-based sector strategies" means methods of focusing
workforce and economic development on those sectors that have
demonstrated a capacity for economic growth and job creation in a
particular geographic area.
(e) "Data driven" means a process of making decisions about
investments and policies based on systematic analysis of data, which
may include data pertaining to labor markets.
(f) "Economic security" means, with respect to a worker, earning a
wage sufficient to support a family adequately, and, over time, to
save for emergency expenses and adequate retirement income, based on
factors such as household size, the cost of living in the worker's
community, and other factors that may vary by region.
(g) "Evidence-based" means making use of policy research as a
basis for determining best policy practices. Evidence-based
policymakers adopt policies that research has shown to produce
positive outcomes, in a variety of settings, for a variety of
populations over time. Successful, evidence-based programs deliver
quantifiable and sustainable results. Evidence-based practices differ
from approaches that are based on tradition, belief, convention, or
anecdotal evidence.
(h) "High-priority occupations" mean occupations that have a
significant presence in a targeted industry sector or industry
cluster, are in demand by employers, and pay or lead to payment of a
wage that provides economic security.
(i) "Individual with employment barriers" means an individual with
any characteristic that substantially limits an individual's ability
to obtain employment, including indicators of poor work history,
lack of work experience, or access to employment in nontraditional
occupations, long-term unemployment, lack of educational or
occupational skills attainment, dislocation from high-wage and
high-benefit employment, low levels of literacy or English
proficiency, disability status, or welfare dependency.
(j) "Industry cluster" means a geographic concentration or
emerging concentration of interdependent industries with direct
service, supplier, and research relationships, or independent
industries that share common resources in a given regional economy or
labor market. An industry cluster is a group of employers closely
linked by common product or services, workforce needs, similar
technologies, and supply chains in a given regional economy or labor
market.
(k) (1) "Industry or sector partnership" means a workforce
collaborative that organizes key stakeholders in a targeted industry
cluster into a working group that focuses on the workforce needs of
the targeted industry cluster. An industry or sector partnership
organizes the stakeholders connected with a specific local or
regional industry--multiple firms, labor groups, education and
training providers, and workforce and education systems--to develop
workforce development strategies within the industry. Successful
sector partnerships leverage partner resources to address both
short-term and long-term human capital needs of a particular sector,
including by analyzing current labor markets and identifying barriers
to employment within the industry, developing cross-firm skill
standards, curricula, and training programs, and developing
occupational career ladders to ensure workers of all skill levels can
advance within the industry.
(2) Industry or sector partnerships include, at the appropriate
stage of development of the partnership, all of the following:
(A) Representatives of multiple firms or employers in the targeted
industry cluster, including small-sized and medium-sized employers
when practicable.
(B) One or more representatives of state labor organizations,
central labor coalitions, or other labor organizations, except in
instances where no labor representations exists.
(C) One or more representatives of local workforce investment
boards.
(D) One or more representatives of kindergarten and grades 1 to
12, inclusive, and postsecondary educational institutions or other
training providers, including, but not limited to, career technical
educators.
(E) One or more representatives of state workforce agencies or
other entities providing employment services.
(3) An industry or sector partnership may also include
representatives from the following:
(A) State or local government.
(B) State or local economic development agencies.
(C) Other state or local agencies.
(D) Chambers of commerce.
(E) Nonprofit organizations.
(F) Philanthropic organizations.
(G) Economic development organizations.
(H) Industry associations.
(I) Other organizations, as determined necessary by the members
comprising the industry or sector partnership.
(l) "Industry sector" means those firms that produce similar
products or provide similar services using somewhat similar business
processes, and are closely linked by workforce needs, within a
regional labor market.
(d)
(m) "Local labor federation" means a central labor
council that is an organization of local unions affiliated with the
California Labor Federation or a local building and construction
trades council affiliated with the State Building and Construction
Trades Council.
(n) "Sector strategies" means methods of prioritizing investments
in competitive and emerging industry sectors and industry clusters on
the basis of labor market and other economic data indicating
strategic growth potential, especially with regard to jobs and
income, and exhibit the following characteristics:
(1) Focus workforce investment in education and workforce training
programs that are likely to lead to jobs providing economic security
or to an entry-level job with a well-articulated career pathway into
a job providing economic security.
(2) Effectively boost labor productivity or reduce business
barriers to growth and expansion stemming from workforce supply
problems, including skills gaps and occupational shortages by
directing resources and making investments to plug skills gaps and
provide education and training programs for high-priority
occupations.
(3) May be implemented using articulated career pathways or
lattices and a system of stackable credentials.
(4) May target underserved communities, disconnected youths,
incumbent workers, and recently separated military veterans.
(5) Frequently are implemented using industry or sector
partnerships.
(6) Typically are implemented at the regional level where sector
firms, those employers described in subdivisions (j) and (l), often
share a common labor market and supply chains. However, sector
strategies may also be implemented at the state or local level
depending on sector needs and labor market conditions.
(o) "Workforce Investment Act of 1998" means the federal act
enacted as Public Law 105-220.
SEC. 3. Section 14010 of the Unemployment Insurance Code is
amended to read:
14010. The California Workforce Investment Board is the body
responsible for assisting the Governor in the development, oversight,
and continuous improvement of California's workforce investment
system system and the alignment of the
education and workforce investment systems to the needs of the 21st
century economy and workforce .
SEC. 4. Section 14013 of the Unemployment Insurance Code is
amended to read:
14013. The board shall assist the Governor in the following:
(a) Promoting the development of a well-educated and highly
skilled 21st century workforce.
(b) Developing the State Workforce Investment Plan.
(c) Developing guidelines for the continuous improvement and
operation of the workforce investment system, including:
(1) Developing policies to guide the one-stop system.
(2) Providing technical assistance for the continuous improvement
of the one-stop system.
(3) Recommending state investments in the one-stop system.
(4) Targeting resources to high-wage
competitive and emerging industry sectors that
and industry clusters that provide economic security
and are either high-growth sectors or critical to California's
economy, or both. These industry sectors and clusters shall have
significant economic impacts on the state and its regional and
workforce development neds, and have documented career
opportunities.
(5) To the extent permissible under state and federal laws,
recommending youth policies and strategies that support linkages
between kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, and community
college educational systems and youth training opportunities in order
to help youth secure educational and career advancement. These
policies and strategies may be implemented using a sector strategies
framework and should ultimately lead to placement in a job providing
economic security or job placement in an entry-level job that has a
well-articulated career pathway or career ladder to a job providing
economic security.
(6) To the extent permissible under state and federal law,
recommending adult and dislocated worker training policies and
investments that offer a variety of career opportunities while
upgrading the skills of California's workforce. These may include
training policies and investments pertaining to any of the following:
(A) Occupational skills training, including training for
nontraditional employment.
(B) On-the-job training.
(C) Programs that combine workplace training with related
instruction, which may include cooperative education programs.
(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 provided in
combination with any of the services described in this paragraph.
(I) Customized training conducted with a commitment by an employer
or group of employers to employ an individual upon successful
completion of the training.
(d) Developing and continuously improving the statewide workforce
investment system as delivered via the one-stop delivery
system, system and via other programs and services
supported by funding from the federal Workforce Investment Act of
1998, including:
(1) Developing linkages in order to assure
ensure coordination and nonduplication among workforce
programs and activities.
(2) Reviewing local workforce investment plans.
(3) Providing guidance to ensure services reflect the
needs of high-wage Leveraging state and federal funds
to ensure that resources are invested in activities that meet the
needs of the state's competitive and emerging industry
sectors and advance the education and employment needs of students
and workers so they can keep pace with the education and skill needs
of the state, its regional economies, and leading industry
sectors.
(e) Commenting, at least once annually, on the measures taken
pursuant to the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology
Education Act Amendments of 1990 ( Public
(Public Law 101-392; 20 U.S.C. Sec. 2301 et seq.).
(f) Designating local workforce investment areas within the state
based on information derived from all of the following:
(1) Consultations with the Governor.
(2) Consultations with the chief local elected officials.
(3) Consideration of comments received through the public comment
process, as described in Section 112(b)(9) of the federal Workforce
Investment Act of 1998.
(g) Developing and modifying allocation formulas, as necessary,
for the distribution of funds for adult employment and training
activities, for youth activities to local workforce investment areas,
and dislocated worker employment and training activities, as
permitted by federal law.
(h) Coordinating the development and continuous improvement of
comprehensive state performance measures, including state adjusted
levels of performance, to assess the effectiveness of the workforce
investment activities in the state.
(i) Preparing the annual report to the United States Secretary of
Labor.
(j) Recommending policy for the development of the statewide
employment statistics system, including workforce and economic data,
as described in Section 15 of Title 29 of the United States Code, and
using, to the fullest extent possible, the Employment Development
Department's existing labor market information systems.
(k) Recommending strategies to the Governor for strategic training
investments of the Governor's 15-percent discretionary funds.
(l) Developing and recommending waivers, in conjunction with local
workforce investment boards, to the Governor as provided for in the
federal Workforce Investment Act of 1998.
(m) Recommending policy to the Governor for the use of the
25-percent rapid response funds, as authorized under the federal
Workforce Investment Act of 1998.
(n) Developing an application to the United States Department of
Labor for an incentive grant under Section 9273 of Title 20 of the
United States Code.
SEC. 5. Section 14020 of the Unemployment Insurance Code is
amended to read:
14020. (a) The California Workforce
Investment Board, in collaboration with state and local partners,
including the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, the
State Department of Education, other appropriate state agencies, and
local workforce investment boards, shall develop a strategic
workforce plan to serve as a framework for the development of public
policy, fiscal investment, and operation of all state labor exchange,
workforce education, and training programs to address the state's
economic, demographic, and workforce needs. The strategic workforce
plan shall also serve as the framework for the single state plan
required by the federal Workforce Investment Act of 1998.
The plan shall be updated at least every five years.
(b) The state shall develop a California Industry Sector
Initiative that will serve as the cornerstone of the state plan and
provide a framework for state workforce investments and support for
sector strategies.
(c) The California Workforce Investment Board shall work
collaboratively with state and local partners to identify ways to
eliminate systemwide barriers and better align and leverage federal,
state, and local Workforce Investment Act funding streams and
policies to develop, support, and sustain regional alliances of
employers and workforce and education professionals who are working
to improve the educational pipeline, establish well-articulated
career pathways, provide industry-recognized credentials and
certificates, and address the career advancement needs of current and
future workers in competitive and emergent industry sectors and
clusters. The California Workforce Investment Board and its partners
shall work collaboratively to maximize state and local investments
and pursue other resources to address the skills-gap needs identified
pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (d).
(d) In order to support the requirement of the plans in
subdivision (a), the California Workforce Investment Board shall do
the following:
(1) Annually identify industry sectors and industry clusters that
have a competitive economic advantage and demonstrated economic
importance to the state and its regional economies. In developing
this analysis, the California Workforce Investment Board shall
consider the expertise of local workforce investment boards in the
state's respective regional economies and shall encourage the local
workforce investment boards to identify industry sectors and industry
clusters that have a competitive economic advantage and demonstrated
economic importance in their respective local workforce investment
areas.
(2) Annually identify new dynamic emergent industry sectors and
industry clusters with substantial potential to generate new jobs and
income growth for the state and its regional economies. In
developing this analysis, the California Workforce Investment Board
shall consider the expertise of local workforce investment boards in
the state's respective regional economies and shall encourage the
local workforce investment boards to identify new dynamic emergent
industry sectors and industry clusters with substantial potential to
generate new jobs and income growth in their respective local
workforce investment areas.
(3) Provide an annual skills-gap analysis enumerating occupational
and skills shortages in the industry sectors and industry clusters
identified as having strategic importance to the state's economy and
its regional economies. In developing this analysis, the California
Workforce Investment Board shall consider the expertise of local
workforce investment boards in the state's respective regional
economies and shall encourage the local workforce investment boards
to conduct skills-gap analysis for their respective local workforce
investment areas. Skills-gap analysis for the state and its regional
economies shall use labor market data to specify a list of
high-priority, in-demand occupations for the state and its regional
economies. This list shall be used to inform investment decisions and
eligible training provider policies.
(4) Establish, with input from local workforce investment boards
and other stakeholders, initial and subsequent eligibility criteria
for the federal Workforce Investment Act of 1998 eligible training
provider list that effectively directs training resources into
training programs leading to employment in high-demand,
high-priority, and occupations that provide economic security,
particularly those facing a shortage of skilled workers. The
subsequent eligibility criteria, to the extent feasible, shall use
performance and outcome measures to determine whether a provider is
qualified to remain on the list. At a minimum, initial and subsequent
eligibility criteria shall consider the following:
(A) The relevance of the training program to the workforce needs
of the state's strategic industry sectors and industry clusters.
(B) The need to plug skills gaps and skills shortages in the
economy, including skills gaps and skills shortages at the state and
regional level.
(C) The need to plug skills gaps and skills shortages in local
workforce investment areas.
(D) The likelihood that the training program will lead to job
placement in a job providing economic security or job placement in an
entry-level job that has a well-articulated career pathway or career
ladder to a job providing economic security.
(E) The need for basic skills and bridge training programs that
provide access to occupational skills training for individuals with
barriers to employment and those who would otherwise be unable to
enter occupational skills training.
(F) To the extent feasible, utilize criteria that measure training
and education provider performance, including, but not limited to,
the following:
(i) Measures of skills or competency attainment.
(ii) Measures relevant to program completion, including measures
of course, certificate, degree, licensure, and program of study rate
of completion.
(iii) For those entering the labor market, measures of employment
placement and retention.
(iv) For those continuing in training or education, measures of
educational or training progression.
(v) For those who have entered the labor market, measures of
income, including wage measures.
(G) The division of labor for making initial and subsequent
eligibility determinations under this division shall be modeled on
the division of labor envisioned in the federal Workforce Investment
Act of 1998 in that the state board shall establish, with input from
local workforce investment boards and other stakeholders, the initial
and subsequent eligibility procedures and criteria utilized by local
workforce investment boards to assess training provider performance.
The local boards shall have the authority to place and retain
training providers on the list, and shall provide relevant
performance data pertaining to the training provider criteria
established pursuant to this division to a state agency designated by
the Governor. The relevant state agency shall also have the
authority to remove training providers for nonperformance, provided
they do not meet the performance criteria established pursuant to
this division.
(H) If the state receives a waiver from the federal subsequent
eligibility provisions specified in the federal Workforce Investment
Act of 1998, the state workforce investment board shall establish its
own subsequent eligibility criteria that take into account all of
the criteria specified in subparagraphs (A) to (G), inclusive.