BILL NUMBER: AB 2726 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Bonnie Lowenthal
FEBRUARY 19, 2010
An act to amend Section 14230 of the Unemployment Insurance Code,
relating to employment development.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2726, as introduced, Bonnie Lowenthal. Employment Development
Department: one-stop career centers: training: apprenticeship.
The federal Workforce Investment Act of 1998 provides for
workforce investment activities, including activities in which states
may participate. Existing law contains various programs for job
training and employment investment, including work incentive and
employment training outreach programs. Existing law, the California
Workforce Investment Act declares the Legislature's intent to deliver
comprehensive workforce services to jobseekers, students, and
employers through a system of one-stop career centers that, among
other things, make job outreach, intake, job search and placement
assistance, and other related services available in one location.
Existing law also requires each local workforce investment board to
establish at least one full service one-stop career center in the
local workforce investment area and to provide specified job
placement services.
This bill would specify that entrance into on-the-job training
through an apprenticeship program approved by the Division of
Apprenticeship Standards shall be considered placement into a job.
The bill would further require the State Workforce Investment Board
and local boards to ensure that programs and services funded by the
Workforce Investment Act directed to apprenticeable occupations,
including preapprenticeship training, are connected with one or more
apprenticeship programs approved by the Division of Apprenticeship
Standards. By imposing new duties on local government with respect to
the implementation of these local programs, the bill would impose a
state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates
determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state,
reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these
statutory provisions.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 14230 of the Unemployment Insurance Code is
amended to read:
14230. (a) It is the intent of the Legislature that:
(1) California deliver comprehensive workforce services to
jobseekers, students, and employers through a system of one-stop
career centers.
(2) Services and resources target high-wage industry sectors with
career advancement opportunities.
(3) Universal access to core services shall be available to adult
residents regardless of income, education, employment barriers, or
other eligibility requirements. Core services shall include, but not
be limited to:
(A) Outreach, intake, and orientation to services available
through the one-stop delivery system.
(B) Initial assessment of skill levels, aptitudes, abilities, and
supportive service needs.
(C) Job search and placement assistance.
(D) Career counseling, where appropriate.
(E) Provision of labor market information.
(F) Provision of program performance and cost information on
eligible providers of training services and local area performance
measures.
(G) Provision of information on supportive services in the local
area.
(H) Provision of information on the filing of claims for
unemployment compensation benefits and unemployment compensation
disability benefits.
(I) Assistance in establishing eligibility for welfare-to-work
activities pursuant to Section 11325.8 of the Welfare and
Institutions Code, and financial aid assistance.
(4) State and federally funded workforce education, training, and
employment programs shall be integrated in the one-stop delivery
system to achieve universal access to the core services described in
paragraph (3).
(5) Intensive services shall be available to individuals who have
completed at least one core service, have been unable to obtain
employment, and who have been determined, by the one-stop operator,
as being in need of more intensive services, or who are employed but
in need of intensive services to obtain or retain employment to
achieve self-sufficiency. Intensive services may include
comprehensive and specialized assessments of skill levels and service
needs, including learning disability screening, the development of
individual employment plans, counseling, career planning, and
short-term prevocational services to prepare an individual for
training and employment.
(6) Training services shall be made available to individuals who
have met the requirements for intensive services, have been unable to
obtain or retain employment through these services, and who, after
an interview, evaluation, or assessment, are determined to be in need
of training, and have selected a program of services directly linked
to occupations in demand in the local or regional area. Training
services may include:
(A) Occupational skill training including training for
nontraditional employment.
(B) On-the-job training.
(C) Programs that combine workplace training with related
instruction.
(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, including vocational
English as a second language, provided in combination with
subparagraphs (A) through (G), inclusive.
(I) Customized training conducted by an employer or a group of
employers or a labor-management training partnership with a
commitment to employ an individual upon completion of the training.
(7) As prescribed in the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, when
funds are limited, priority for intensive services and training
services shall be given to adult recipients of public assistance and
other low-income adults, such as CalWORKs participants.
(b) Each local workforce investment board shall establish at least
one full service one-stop career center in the local workforce
investment area. Each full service one-stop career center shall have
all entities specified in Section 14231 as partners and shall provide
jobseekers with integrated employment, education, training, and job
search services. Additionally, employers will
shall be provided with access to comprehensive career and
labor market information, job placement, economic development
information, performance and program information on service
providers, and other such services as the businesses in the community
may require.
(c) Entrance into on-the-job training through an apprenticeship
program approved by the Division of Apprenticeship Standards shall be
considered placement into a job.
(d) The State Workforce Investment Board and local boards shall
ensure that programs and services funded by the Workforce Investment
Act of 1998 directed to apprenticeable occupations, including
preapprenticeship training, are connected with one or more
apprenticeship programs approved by the Division of Apprenticeship
Standards.
(c)
(e) Local boards may also establish affiliated and
specialized centers, as defined in the Workforce Investment Act of
1998, which shall act as portals into the larger local one-stop
system, but are not required to have all of the partners specified
for full service one-stop centers.
(d)
(f) Each local board shall develop a policy for
identifying individuals who, because of their skills or experience,
should be referred immediately to training services. This policy,
along with the methods for referral of individuals between the
one-stop operators and the one-stop partners for appropriate services
and activities, shall be contained in the memorandum of
understanding between the local board and the one-stop partners.
(e)
(g) In light of California's diverse population, each
one-stop career center should have the capacity to provide the
appropriate services to the full range of languages and cultures
represented in the community served by the one-stop career center.
SEC. 2. If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this
act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local
agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant
to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of
the Government Code.