BILL NUMBER: AB 2147 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 3, 2008
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Swanson
FEBRUARY 20, 2008
An act to add Division 8 (commencing with Section 15000) to
the Unemployment Insurance Code, relating to worker training
programs.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2147, as amended, Swanson. Worker training programs.
Existing law creates various programs designed to train workers in
specified emerging industries.
This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to
enact legislation establishing an energy efficiency and renewable
energy worker training program targeted at-risk youth and formerly
incarcerated individuals establish the Green Jobs
Corps Act of 2008 to provide financial assistance to energy
efficiency and renewable energy worker training programs for
individuals, including at-risk youth and formerly incarcerated
individuals, seeking employment pathways out of poverty and into
economic self-sufficiency. This bill would establish the Green Jobs
Corps Grant Program, which would be administered by the
Labor and Workforce Development Agency for purposes of awarding
grants to community-based organizations, local agencies, and service
providers, or partnerships of those entities, to establish and
operate energy efficiency and renewable energy worker training
programs for those individuals, as provided .
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no
yes . State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Division 8 (commencing with Section
15000) is added to the Unemployment Insurance Code
, to read:
DIVISION 8. Green Jobs Corps Act of 2008
15000. This division shall be known and may be cited as the
"Green Jobs Corps Act of 2008." The purpose of this division is to
provide financial assistance to energy efficiency and renewable
energy worker training programs for individuals, including at-risk
youth and formerly incarcerated individuals, seeking employment
pathways out of poverty and into economic self-sufficiency.
15002. The Green Jobs Corps Grant Program, which is hereby
established, shall be administered by the Labor and Workforce
Development Agency. The agency shall do all of the following:
(a) Develop application criteria and procedures for the awarding
of Green Jobs Corps grants pursuant to this division.
(b) Award grants to community-based organizations, local agencies,
and service providers, or partnerships of those entities, to
establish and operate energy efficiency and renewable energy worker
training programs for the individuals specified in Section 15000.
(c) Evaluate the effectiveness of the funded programs.
(d) Report biennially to the Governor and Legislature on the
results of the grant program.
15003. (a) Green Jobs Corps grants shall be awarded by the Labor
and Workforce Development Agency on a competitive basis to
community-based organizations, local agencies, and service providers
working in collaboration to fulfill the purposes of this division, as
follows:
(1) Grants shall be awarded to community-based organizations,
local agencies, and service providers that have demonstrated all of
the following:
(A) A readiness to begin operation of a program or to expand an
existing program.
(B) Ties to employers in the energy efficiency and renewable
energy industries or other high-growth industries that contribute
measurably to greenhouse gas emissions reductions.
(C) The ability to place trainees with stable, long-term
employment.
(2) Grants shall be awarded in an amount not exceeding five
hundred thousand dollars ($500,000).
(3) Grants shall be funded from either federal and state workforce
development and job training funds, to the extent authorized by the
federal Workforce Investment Act (29 U.S.C. Sec. 30), or from funds
from the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation allocated for
rehabilitation and treatment of prison inmates and parolees, or both.
(4) Grants under this division shall be awarded only to the extent
funds are available, and only upon appropriation of those funds by
the Legislature. Grants shall be used to supplement, and not
supplant, existing programs.
(b) Except as otherwise provided, all grants awarded under this
division shall be matched by the community-based organization, local
agency, service provider, or its program partners with one dollar
($1) for each four dollars ($4) in grant money awarded. The match
shall be contributed in cash or as services or resources of
comparable value. It is the intent of the Legislature that grant
recipients seek and utilize additional outside funding for this
purpose. The Labor and Workforce Development Agency may waive the
match requirement upon verification that the community-based
organization, local agency, or service provider made a substantial
effort to secure funds in satisfaction of this subdivision, but was
unable to secure the required match amount.
(c) Grants shall be awarded only to community-based organizations,
local agencies, and service providers in urban, suburban, and rural
areas of northern, central, and southern California.
(d) Grants shall be awarded only to applicants that demonstrate
the greatest need and meet the program requirements specified in this
division. The Labor and Workforce Development Agency shall consider
demographic data, including unemployment rates and recidivism rates,
for the intended target population and the geographic location of the
program in determining need.
SECTION 1. It is the intent of the Legislature
to enact legislation establishing an energy efficiency and renewable
energy worker training program, specifically targeted at individuals,
including at-risk youth and formerly incarcerated individuals,
seeking employment pathways out of poverty and into economic
self-sufficiency.