BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1378
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 21, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON JOBS, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND THE ECONOMY
V. Manuel Perez, Chair
AB 1378 (V. Manuel Perez) - As Introduced: February 27, 2009
SUBJECT : California Workforce Investment Board: veterans'
workforce program.
SUMMARY : Establishes the Veterans Workforce Program (Veterans
Program) within the California Workforce Investment Board (CWIB)
for the purposes of providing a comprehensive workforce
development program to assist veterans with the transition to
civilian work. Specifically, this bill :
1)Establishes the Veterans Program within the CWIB for the
purposes of providing a targeted workforce training assessment
and a job referral program for veterans.
2)Requires the CWIB to work with the California Employment
Training Panel and representatives of the California
Department of Veterans Affairs (CDVA) to implement and
administer the Veterans Program.
3)Provides that a consortium of state workforce entities, lead
by the CWIB shall develop program objectives, timelines for
action and program evaluation criteria.
4)Specifies that the Veterans Program shall include:
a) Outreach to the veterans community;
b) Assessment of job skills acquired during military
service that may be used or adapted for civilian purposes;
c) Referrals to specific training opportunities and
prospective jobs; and
d) Information on ways to finance training opportunities.
5)Requires an annual report to the Governor and the appropriate
policy and budget committees in the Legislature on the
program's effectiveness with respect to the provisions of
enhanced job skills, and employment opportunities for
transitioning veterans.
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6)Provides that this program shall only be implemented to the
extent that the sum of $250,000 are available to the state
under the federal Workforce Investment Act of 1998.
7)Sunsets the Veterans Program on January 1, 2012.
EXISTING LAW:
1)The federal Workforce Investment Act of 1998, offers a
comprehensive range of workforce development moneys to finance
activities through statewide and local organizations.
Eligible clients include, but are nor limited to, people
looking for jobs, laid off workers, youth, or persons just
entering the job market, veterans and persons with
disabilities.
2)Establishes the CWIB for the purpose of assisting the state in
meeting the requirements of the federal Workforce Investment
Act of 1998 (WIA), as well as assisting the Governor in the
development, oversight, and continuous improvement of
California's workforce investment system.
3)Requires each local workforce investment board to establish at
least one full service one-stop career center in the local
workforce investment area. One-Stop career centers are
required to include a specified group of job search related
entities and provide jobseekers with integrated employment,
education, training, and job search services. Employers can
also be provided with access to career and labor market
information, job placement assistance, and other such services
as the businesses in the community may require.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose : According to the author, over the years, our nation
has called on our service men and women in the Armed Forces to
protect and serve Americans at home and abroad. Upon their
honorable completion of service and their return home,
veterans face tremendous challenges transitioning back into
civilian life. In fact many desperately struggle to find jobs,
housing, health services, and other needed social services. In
some cases, recovery from physical and psychological injuries
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makes the transition into civilian life even more challenging.
Without adequate employment opportunities or workforce
training, American veterans have little options for their
futures outside of reenlistment for military service or
unemployment and potentially homelessness.
Every veteran should be afforded the opportunity for a bright
future and all the tools and resources necessary to achieve
success in their lives as civilians. Upon returning home,
veterans should not have to suffer a diminished quality of
life as a result of their service to the nation. AB 1378 would
help ensure that veterans obtain competitive workforce skills
for the new green economy and thus the opportunity to obtain
good paying jobs that are sustainable.
2)California Veterans: The California Department of Veterans
Affairs (CDVA) is responsible for administering a number of
special programs, benefits and services for California
veterans and their families. The US Department of Veterans
Affair (USDVA), estimates the National Veteran Population as
of 2007 was 23,442,000. In California there are roughly
2,078,000 veterans, which make up 8.8% of the national
population. While most veterans are men, 8% of the veteran
population are women.
Veterans are facing a tremendous challenge transitioning back
into civilian life. After having served in the armed forces,
veterans returning to the California civilian workforce find
that the jobs they once had are now gone. A USDVA study
found that 18% of the veterans who sought jobs within one to
three years of discharge are unemployed, while one out of
four who did find jobs earned less than $21,840 a year.
3)How well are veterans being served ? Although federal and
state law provides for a variety of workforce development
programs, the needs of veterans seem to be continually
overlooked or overshadowed by other workforce development
priorities.
The Economic Development Department (EDD) annually receives
federal funding to support veteran outreach professionals in
Sacramento and also located in the EDD One-Stop Career Centers
throughout the state. Concerns have been raised that these
workforce development professionals may not be used to their
maximum potential. Additionally, the federal stimulus will be
providing significant new dollars for California workforce
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development programs. If the state takes a business as usual
approach, it is not clear that our veterans will be best
served.
Other states have faced similar challenges some have made
small changes in program delivery and others have taken very
dramatic changes. As an example, in 2005, Texas passed H.B.
2604, which reorganized all the veteran focused programs under
one entity, and named it the "Texas Veterans Commission."
Under this new bill, the Texas Veterans Commission became the
central administering entity for all veteran related programs.
According to the US Department of Labor, the hiring rate for
veterans in Texas increased from 57% in 2006 to a 85% success
rate in 2008.
By comparison, California's success rate for helping veterans
obtain jobs was 52% in 2006 and remained there through 2008.
AB 1378 provides for a more integrated approach for the state
to provide veteran services, including outreach, skill
assessments, training, and help with job placement.
4)Workforce Investment Board (WIB) : The role of the WIB is to
assist the Governor in designing a statewide plan and
establishing appropriate policy for workforce development
programs. WIA funding is distributed to states based on a set
formula which includes specified economic and demographic
data. California's share has declined over the years from a
high of $630 million in 2000-01 to an estimated $427 million
2009-10.
Pursuant to federal WIA requirements, 85% of funding flowing
to the states are reallocated to the local workforce
investment boards. Resources used to carry out CWIB
activities are derived from the Governor's 15% WIA
Discretionary funds. The 2009-10 estimated WIA allocation to
local workforce investment boards is $363 million, while the
state will receive about $63 million in discretionary moneys.
Recent budget actions, however, redirected portions of state
discretionary moneys to offset General Fund employment and
training costs at the California Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation or the California Conservation Corp.
Under the $787 billion federal stimulus package, California is
expected to receive $480 million in supplemental funding
through three WIA funding streams: Youth formula grants,
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dislocated worker funding, and adult services grants. The
chart below outlines the expected WIA funding for California.
--------------------------------------------------------------
| WIA Funding in the 2009 Federal Stimulus Package |
--------------------------------------------------------------
|-------------+---------------------+--------------------------|
| |Funding Available |Funding Available in |
| |Nationally |California |
|-------------+---------------------+--------------------------|
|Youth | $1,188,000,000| $186,622,034|
|Activities | | |
|-------------+---------------------+--------------------------|
|Adult | $495,000,000| $80,117,954|
|Activities | | |
|-------------+---------------------+--------------------------|
|Dislocated | $1,435,500,000|$221,906,888 |
|Worker | | |
--------------------------------------------------------------
Of the $480 million in WIA moneys targeted for California, the
CWIB is expected to receive approximately $70 million to carry
out supplemental activities related to the federal stimulus
programs. These moneys are required to be fully expended in
24 months. The dislocated worker and adult activities moneys
are distributed to the state under existing Workforce
Investment Act formulas.
5)One Stop Service Centers and Wagner-Peyser Funding : Among the
Economic Development Department's (EDD) most important
missions is to ensure that California's workforce has the
skills that employers need to manage their businesses. EDD's
major workforce investment programs include the California
One-Stop Career Centers, the California Jobs Service Program
(CalJOBS), Employment Training Panel, and the Workforce
Investment Program.
The One-Stop Career Center system is a statewide network of
centers that provide employment, education, and training
services all in one location. The One-Stop Centers work with
public and private non-profit partners to provide their
services. The One-Stop Centers include programs such as Job
Services, Unemployment Insurance, Vocational Education, and
Vocational Rehabilitation. The One-Stop Centers provide their
services in English and Spanish, and are organized around a
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locally determined set of priorities, which are designed to
meet the unique employment needs in each community. All but
two of California's 58 counties have a One-Stop Center, with
many counties having multiple one-stop locations.
The federal Wagner-Peyser Act (WPA) funds employment training
programs administered through EDD, most specifically, the
employment services through the One-Stop Career Center service
delivery structure. The state currently receives about $80
million in WPA funds. Services funded with WPA moneys
include: job search assistance, job referral, placement
assistance for job seekers, reemployment services to
unemployment insurance (UI) claimants, and recruitment
services to employers with job openings.
The Recovery Act provides an additional $47 million in WPA
funds for state employment services. Of this amount,
approximately, $29 million is required to be used for
reemployment services to Unemployed Insurance claimants.
State Total Allotment RES Other
Total $396,000,000 $247,500,000
$148,500,000
California 46,970,564 29,356,604
17,613,960
6)California Employment Training Panel: The Employment Training
Panel (ETP) was created in 1983, it assists employers in
strengthening their competitive edge by providing funds to
off-set the costs of job skills training necessary to maintain
high-performance workplaces. ETP is governed by an 8 member
panel of which 7 are appointed by the Governor and the
Assembly and Senate leadership the last the Secretary of
Business, Transportation and Housing.
The ETP has made service to veterans a priority and has
included a new pilot program for veterans as part of their
Strategic plan for FY 2008-09 and plan to award the program $2
million for the current fiscal year. The veterans pilot
program, was created with the intent to recruit, train, and
place unemployed veterans in jobs as full-time employees.
7)California Economic Development Recovery Strategy: In
anticipation of the enactment of the $787 billion federal
stimulus package, Assemblyman P?rez, Chairman of the Assembly
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Economic Development Committee, called for the preparation of
a statewide 24 month blueprint on how to most effectively use
federal stimulus funds to address the state's most immediate
economic and workforce needs while still serving as a catalyst
for advancing the state's long-term economic growth. In March
2009, the Recovery Strategy was published and is currently out
for public comment.
The Recovery proposed to use the broadest set of community,
economic, and workforce development tools to link these new
federal resources with the people and organizations they are
designed to serve. In order to accomplish this important
task, the Recovery Strategy recommends that the state serve as
a facilitator to support and enhance each community's
individual initiative to design and implement policies and
programs which best its their needs. The recommended actions
in the Recovery Strategy are organized around five community
development goals. The five goals are to:
a) Goal 1 - Improve business access to business capital
b) Goal 2 - Target infrastructure projects that link to
economic development
c) Goal 3 - Expedite workforce services and training
opportunities
d) Goal 4 - Enhance local and regional community
development capacity
e) Goal 5 - Ensure that the state's recovery strategy is a
plan for all Californians
This bill implements recommended actions to accomplish goal 5
from the California Economic Development Recovery Strategy to
ensure that the state's recovery strategy is a plan for all
Californians.
8) Related legislation: Below are bills related to the
Workforce Investment Board.
a) AB 165 (Carter) : Requires the CWIB to make
recommendations and provide technical assistance on
entrepreneurial training opportunities that could be made
available through local workforce investment boards. The
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bill makes other related changes to the definition of
microenterprise, as well as deleting requirements from the
duties of the CWIB. The bill will be heard in Assembly
Committee on Jobs, Economic Development and the Economy on
April 21, 2009.
b) AB 1567 (Committee on Veterans Affairs): This bill
would require that the Employment Training Panel Plan
include a statement detailing the employment training
goals, objectives, and strategies that may be implemented
to support target populations in need of employment
training, including military veterans. Status: The bill
is in Assembly Committee on Veteran Affairs.
c) AB 2998 (Carter) : This bill would have required the
California Workforce Investment Board to develop guidelines
for entrepreneurial training by January 1, 2010. The bill
also adds legislative intent on the importance of all
Californians having access to training related to self
employment and entrepreneurship. The bill was held in the
Senate Appropriations Committee in 2008.
d) SB 293 (Duchney): This bill replaces the Family
Economic Security Act in the California Unemployment
Insurance Code with provisions that generally implement the
Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998 in California. Even
though a majority of the provisions in the bill are taken
from the federal WIA, there are new, California provisions
which will require substantive changes in the workforce
system.
There are also re-articulations of some federal
requirements that will require interpretation and guidance
to Local WIB's, as well as minor adjustments in the way
that the state and Local WIBs conduct business. The first
is the requirement that the California WIB create a
strategic workforce plan for the State. The State Plan is
intended to serve as a framework for the Strategic Two-Year
Plan for the WIA. It will also serve as a framework for
the development of workforce policy and fiscal investment,
and for the operation of California's labor exchange,
workforce education, and training programs. Status: Signed
into law, Chapter 630, Statutes of 6006
9)Double Referral : The Assembly Rules Committee referred this
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bill to two policy committees. Should this measure pass the
Assembly Committee on Jobs, Economic Development and the
Economy, it will be referred to the Assembly Committee on
Veterans Affairs.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Assembly Jobs, Economic Development and the Economy
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Toni Symonds / Mercedes Flores / J.,
E.D. & E. / (916) 319-2090