Amended in Assembly August 23, 2016

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Joint ResolutionNo. 46


Introduced by Assembly Member Bonta

June 23, 2016


Assembly Joint Resolution No. 46—Relative to the Workforce Innovation and Opportunities Act.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AJR 46, as amended, Bonta. Unemployment: Workforce Innovation and Opportunities Act.

This measure would request that the United States Congressbegin insert modify the Workforce Innovation and Opportunities Act state allotment formula toend insert include unemployment rates by race andbegin delete ethnicity into the Workforce Innovation and Opportunities Act scoring criteria.end deletebegin insert ethnicity.end insert

Fiscal committee: no.

P1    1WHEREAS, The Legislature acknowledges that California’s
2economy has significantly improved since the Great Recession,
3with unemployment rates down to 5.4 percent in March 2016,
4according to the Employment Development Department. California
5has added 2,134,400 jobs since the recovery began in February
62010; and

7WHEREAS, The Legislative Analyst’s Office notes that while
8unemployment rates are improving, California still has the second
9highest unemployment rate in the United States, an indicator of
10the depth of job loss experienced during the great recession and
11the size of California’s economy; and

P2    1WHEREAS, The United States Department of Labor, in
2coordination with the United States Department of Education and
3Department of Health and Human Services, is working diligently
4to ensure that states, local areas, other grantees, and stakeholders
5are prepared for the implementation of the Workforce Innovation
6and Opportunities Act (WIOA), signed by President Obama on
7July 22, 2014; and

8WHEREAS, The Public Policy Institute of California also found
9that while jobs have been growing for five continuous years, 45
10percent of Californians believed economic bad times were likely
11in 2015, while only 44 percent predicted good times; and

12WHEREAS, Pew Charitable Trusts found that California ranked
13among the bottom 10 states in bringing people 25 through 54 years
14of age back to employment. In 2014, 73.6 percent of California’s
15prime working population had jobs compared with 77.9 percent
16in 2007; and

17WHEREAS, California’s economy generates jobs at a rate
18similar to the national rate, but it is not enough to keep up with
19the state’s fast-growing population; and

20WHEREAS, California has also had an uneven economic
21recovery, with the coastal regions rebounding with more economic
22vigor relative to inland areas of the state. However, employment
23disparities continue to persist at a city level even in counties that
24have high rates of economic and job growth; and

25WHEREAS, The San Francisco bay area as a region is closest
26to closing the employment gap since 2007, while county averages
27continue to hide persistent unemployment among certain
28populations. In Alameda County, where unemployment dropped
29to 4.3 percent in March 2016, African-American and Latino
30unemployment in the City of Oakland is still high at 18 percent
31and 16 percent, respectively; and

32WHEREAS, The Legislature recommends that the United States
33Congress implement a racial equity lens when structuring
34workforce investment proposal requirements under the WIOA to
35ensure that unemployment rates are analyzed from multiple
36perspectives and not only average unemployment rates; and

37WHEREAS, For every dollar of wealth a median Caucasian
38household has, a median Asian household has about 81 cents, a
39median Hispanic family has 7 cents, and a median
40African-American family has 6 cents. The disparity in employment
P3    1exists not just by region in California, but also by race; now,
2therefore, be it

3Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of
4California, jointly,
That the Legislature requests that the United
5States Congressbegin insert modify the WIOA state allotment formula toend insert
6 include unemployment rates by race andbegin delete ethnicity into the WIOA
7scoring criteria;end delete
begin insert ethnicity. In making this change, no community
8in California shall receive less funds under WIOA. This change is
9intended to better reflect the employment conditions in states with
10high levels of income inequality and bring more funding to address
11the real workforce needs of the population;end insert
and be it further

12Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies
13of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United
14States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the
15Majority Leader of the Senate, to each Senator and Representative
16from California in the Congress of the United States, and to the
17author for appropriate distribution.



O

    98