BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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SENATE THIRD READING
SCR
161 (De León)
As Introduced August 2, 2016
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE: 38-0
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Jobs |9-0 |Eduardo Garcia, Kim, | |
| | |Achadjian, Brough, | |
| | |Brown, Chau, Chu, | |
| | |Gipson, Irwin | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY: Memorializes the California Legislature's support for
promoting the Los Angeles Basin as a bioscience hub and to
leverage these activities in a manner that provides educational
and economic opportunities for underserved areas, as specified.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Makes findings and declarations, which include, but are not
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limited to:
a) The 21st Century is often referred to as the "Bio
Century" because biosciences are at the forefront of both
creativity and innovation, representing a convergence point
for engineering, information technology, nanosciences,
communication, and media;
b) California has been and will continue to be at the
forefront of developing an innovative economy. The Los
Angeles bioscience industry has been a consistent growth
industry even during the recession and recovery years. In
bioscience industries, employment in Los Angeles County
rose from 37,759 jobs in 2001 to 42,211 in 2010, an 11.8%
increase;
c) The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) offers
81 science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM)
programs to its 1,100 elementary, middle, and high school
students. There is, however, still a need to expand access
to STEM programs to the thousands of students attending
public and private K-12 institutions within the region;
d) There are over 415,000 students within LAUSD that come
from low-income households. Students who attend schools in
the lowest socio-economic neighborhoods are being
overlooked for their potential to enter and succeed in
highly technical fields, including bioscience. To address
these challenges, there is a need for California's public
school system and the state's public and private
universities to collaborate to establish a pipeline that
provides concrete opportunities for low-income,
underrepresented students to pursue higher education in
scientific fields of study;
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e) Addressing the needs of Los Angeles' underserved areas
is important to meet the growing demand for STEM-skilled
workforce. The Public Policy Institute of California
(PPIC) reports the state will be short 1.1 million bachelor
degrees short by 2030. Currently, California ranks near
the bottom of all states, 47th, in the share of recent high
school graduates who enroll in four-year colleges or
universities;
f) For the majority of low-income, underrepresented
students, their access to a higher education remains their
passport to economic security. If these students earn a
STEM degree and are able to work in the bioscience
industry, they can break the cycle of income inequality;
g) The Los Angeles region has many unique resources and
opportunities to support a bioscience hub, including, but
not limited to, the ability of its academic medical centers
to attract nearly $1 billion in National Institutes of
Health funding; the skills of the 42,000 current biotech
employees; the ability of major research universities to
spur 1,118 invention disclosures and 43 startups in 2010;
a proposed biotech park, sponsored by the University of
California and supported by its surrounding communities,
that is estimated to create up to 3,000 new construction
jobs and nearly 4,000 permanent jobs; and the potential
plans at the Harbor-University of California Los Angeles
(UCLA) Medical Center, Olive View-UCLA Medical Center, and
Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center to support
other new economic, educational, and training
opportunities;
h) There is a need to address the fact that college
graduates are leaving the Los Angeles area to pursue
biotechnology job opportunities elsewhere. Annually,
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universities in the Los Angeles Basin produce over 5,000
college graduates in science, technology, and engineering.
Yet, the Los Angeles Basin ranks 14th nationwide in biotech
investment because many of these graduates leave to pursue
jobs in other cities, such as San Francisco and San Diego,
and in other states where biotech infrastructure has
already been developed; and
i) There is a need for the state and local governments to
move beyond the planning stages if the Los Angeles Basin is
to emerge as a bioscience hub. It is critical that
concrete actions be taken to promote and invest in
biosciences in order to improve the economic opportunity
for the Los Angeles Basin residents and businesses.
1)Resolves that the California Legislature agrees that promoting
the Los Angeles Basin as a bioscience hub will provide a new
economic engine for California and in particular for people in
underserved areas.
2)Resolves that it is the intent of the Legislature to develop
and encourage proposals that focus on this large,
fast-growing, and diverse industry; and to establish
manufacturing and research activities for the purpose of
providing high-quality jobs, while advancing public health.
FISCAL EFFECT: None
COMMENTS: Los Angeles is in the process of developing their
region into the next big biotech hub. Civic and business
leaders are collaborating on a number of initiatives that build
on the region's world class research institutions, healthy
business climate, and growing number of bioscience businesses.
As this alignment of interests deepens, questions arise as to
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what this innovation hub will mean to Los Angeles' historically
underserved populations. Without a focused effort on creating
an inclusive prosperity model, the economic benefits of a
biotech hub could be limited to a few.
This resolution supports Los Angeles' efforts to form a regional
biotechnology hub, while simultaneously calling on local
governments, academia, and the private sector to aggressively
take actions that result in greater economic opportunity for all
residents and businesses.
Biotechnology Career Pathways in Underserved Communities:
Typically, the focus of career pathways to biotechnology jobs
lead to Bachelor and higher level degrees in STEM-related
fields. While appropriate for some individuals, this approach
fails to recognize the overall workforce needs of the bioscience
industry. For a strong biotechnology hub, STEM workers are
needed at all education levels. Developing and implementing
bioscience career pathways that have multiple end points deepens
the region's comparative advantage while creating new employment
opportunities for underserved communities and populations.
A 2013 Brookings study, The Hidden STEM Economy, reported that
over 26 million jobs exist in the United States (U.S.) that
require STEM expertise developed through a high school or
two-year technical training certificate/degree. These workers
are sometimes referred to as the "technical" STEM workforce.
Advanced degree STEM employment is referred to as the
"professional" STEM workforce. The technical STEM workforce, as
compared to the professional STEM workforce is much more
diverse. Key features include:
1)Over 92% of the technical STEM workers are native born;
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2)Blacks and Hispanics comprised a significant percentage of the
technical STEM workforce; and,
3)Employment in the technical STEM areas is more geographically
dispersed than the professional STEM workforce opportunities,
which are focused around tech-heavy regions.
LAUSD recognizes these opportunities and currently offers a
range of linked learning career pathways in 11 industry sectors,
including those related to Health Science and Medical
Technology; Energy, Environmental and Utilities; and
Engineering. Through these programs, the LAUSD supports career
pathway programs at 15 middle and high school campuses with
curriculum focused on STEM subject matter.
This resolution calls on public and private sector stakeholders
to leverage these programs and address further gaps in linking
underserved communities and populations with bioscience
employment opportunities.
Economic Advantages of a Biotechnology Hub: Research shows that
workers within metro areas with high concentrations of STEM
businesses receive 11% higher wages than workers employed in the
same field and doing the same work in metro areas with low
concentrations. This means that as Los Angeles continues to
develop its bioscience hub, workers across the board will
benefit. Businesses will also benefit from re-gaining access to
the significant number of highly qualified professional STEM
workers who are now working in other regions, as well as hiring
from an increasing number of technical STEM works who are
graduating from well articulated bioscience career pathways with
certificates, licenses, and two- degrees.
The policy analysis includes a further discussion of bioscience
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industry and challenges facing the bioscience industry in Los
Angeles.
Analysis Prepared by: Toni Symonds /
J., E.D., & E. / (916) 319-2090 FN:
0004984