BILL NUMBER: SB 956	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 21, 2010
	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 7, 2010
	AMENDED IN SENATE  MARCH 17, 2010

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Romero
   (Coauthors: Senators Alquist and Oropeza)

                        FEBRUARY 5, 2010

   An act to add Section 14025 to the Unemployment Insurance Code,
relating to workforce development.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 956, as amended, Romero. Workforce development: California
School Paraprofessional Teacher Training Program.
   The federal Workforce Investment Act of 1998 makes funding
available to states that offer training and workforce development
services through the state and local workforce investment boards. The
California Workforce Investment Board, which is the entity
responsible for assisting the Governor in the development, oversight,
and continuous improvement of California's workforce investment
system, is required to recommend strategies to the Governor for
strategic training investments of certain discretionary funding made
available under the federal Workforce Investment Act of 1998.
   This bill would require the California Workforce Investment Board,
upon appropriation by the Legislature, to allocate $5,000,000 of the
Workforce Investment Act state reserve, as provided for by federal
law, to local workforce investment boards to allocate to school
districts, county offices of education, or charter schools to provide
intensive examination preparation courses for the purpose of
retraining laid off and out-of-field teachers to meet subject matter
competency requirements, in accordance with specified procedures.
   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 14025 is added to the Unemployment Insurance
Code, to read:
   14025.  (a) In accordance with the policies and purposes of the
federal Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. Sec. 2801 et
seq.), and its implementing regulations, and to the extent that
federal funding is made available to the state under the act, the
board, upon appropriation by the Legislature, shall allocate five
million dollars ($5,000,000) of the Workforce Investment Act state
reserve provided pursuant to Section 2853 of Title 29 of the United
States Code to local workforce investment boards to allocate to
school districts, county offices of education, or charter schools to
provide intensive examination preparation courses pursuant to Section
44401 of the Education Code for the purpose of retraining laid off
and out-of-field teachers to meet subject matter competency
requirements for teaching science, mathematics, or industrial and
technology education.
   (b) (1) Preferences for examination preparation courses, as
prescribed in subdivision (a), shall be based on the following
priority system:
   (A) First priority shall be for retraining laid off teachers in
order to prepare them for obtaining subject matter credentials in
science or mathematics.
   (B) Second priority shall be for retraining teachers who have been
displaced and are currently working out of their field-of-expertise
or competency area.
   (2) School districts, county offices of education, and charter
schools that receive funding from a local workforce investment board
pursuant to this section shall reimburse each teacher who
successfully passes  his or her examination for the cost of
that examination.   all relevant sections of a subject
matter examination and attains an authorization to teach science,
mathematics, or industrial and technology education for the cost of
that examination and any fees charged by the Commission on Teacher
Credentialing to add the authorization. 
   (c) Notwithstanding any other law, any Workforce Investment Act
funds allocated or expended by local workforce investment boards
pursuant to this section shall be expended for the purposes of
statewide employment and training activities, and shall not be
allocated or expended in any manner inconsistent with the Workforce
Investment Act.