Senate Bill No. 342

Introduced by Senator Jackson

February 23, 2015

An act to amend Sections 14000 and 14013 of the Unemployment Insurance Code, relating to unemployment insurance.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 342, as introduced, Jackson. California Workforce Investment Board: responsibilities.

Under existing law, 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 requires the board to assist the Governor in targeting resources to specified industry sectors and providing guidance to ensure that services reflect the needs of those sectors.

This bill would additionally require the board to assist the Governor in helping individuals with barriers to employment achieve economic security and upward mobility by implementing policies that encourage the attainment of marketable skills relevant to current labor market trends.

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 finds and declares that the following
principles shall guide the state’s workforce investment system:

(1) Workforce investment programs and services shall be
responsive to the needs of employers, workers, and students by
accomplishing the following:

(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, entrepreneurship training programs, where appropriate,
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 begin insert sector-focused end insert local and regional training and
education strategies begin insert which include workplace-based programs end insert 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 and businesses of all sizes, including large,
medium, small, and microenterprises, 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.

(6) Programs and services shall be accessible to employers, the
self-employed, 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 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 competitive and emerging industry
sectors 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 needs 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 and via other programs and services supported by funding
from the federal Workforce Investment Act of 1998, including:

(1) Developing linkages in order to ensure coordination and
nonduplication among workforce programs and activities.

(2) Reviewing local workforce investment plans.

(3) 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 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 49l-2 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.

(o) (1) Developing a workforce metrics dashboard, to be
updated annually, that measures the state’s human capital
investments in workforce development to better understand the
collective impact of these investments on the labor market. The
workforce metrics dashboard shall be produced using existing
available data and resources that are currently collected and
accessible to state agencies. The board shall convene workforce
program partners to develop a standardized set of inputs and
outputs for the workforce metrics dashboard. The workforce
metrics dashboard shall do all of the following:

(A) Provide a status report on credential attainment, training
completion, degree attainment, and participant earnings from
workforce education and training programs. The board shall publish
and distribute the final report.

(B) Provide demographic breakdowns, including, to the extent
possible, race, ethnicity, age, gender, veteran status, wage and
credential or degree outcomes, and information on workforce
outcomes in different industry sectors.

(C) Measure, at a minimum and to the extent feasible with
existing resources, the performance of the following workforce
programs: community college career technical education, the
Employment Training Panel, Title I and Title II of the federal
Workforce Investment Act of 1998, Trade Adjustment Assistance,
and state apprenticeship programs.

(D) Measure participant earnings in California, and to the extent
feasible, in other states. The Employment Development Department
shall assist the board by calculating aggregated participant earnings
using unemployment insurance wage records, without violating
any applicable confidentiality requirements.

(2) The State Department of Education is hereby authorized to
collect the social security numbers of adults participating in adult
education programs so that accurate participation in those programs
can be represented in the report card. However, an individual shall
not be denied program participation if he or she refuses to provide
a social security number. The State Department of Education shall
keep this information confidential and shall only use this
information for tracking purposes, in compliance with all applicable
state and federal law.

(3) (A) Participating workforce programs, as specified in clause
subparagraph (C) of paragraph (1), shall provide participant data
in a standardized format to the Employment Development
Department.

(B) The Employment Development Department shall aggregate
data provided by participating workforce programs and shall report
the data, organized by demographics, earnings, and industry of
employment, to the board to assist the board in producing the
annual workforce metrics dashboard.

begin insert

(p) Helping individuals with barriers to employment, including
low-skill, low-wage workers, the long-term unemployed, and
members of single-parent households, achieve economic security
and upward mobility by implementing policies that encourage the
attainment of marketable skills relevant to current labor market
trends.

end insert