BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
956 (Romero)
Hearing Date: 5/27/2010 Amended: 4/21/2010
Consultant: Bob Franzoia Policy Vote: L&IR 4-2 Ed 5-2
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BILL SUMMARY: SB 956 would require the California Workforce
Investment Board (CWIB), upon appropriation by the Legislature,
to allocate $5 million of federal Workforce Investment Act (WIA)
state reserve funds to local workforce investment boards (WIBs)
to allocate to school districts, county offices of education, or
charter schools (LEAs) to provide intensive examination
preparation courses. These courses would be for retraining laid
off and put of field teachers to meet subject matter competency
requirements for teaching science, mathematics, or industrial
and technology education. The first priority for the courses
shall be for retraining laid off teachers in order to prepare
them for obtaining subject matter credentials in science or
mathematics and the second priority shall be for retraining
teachers who have been displaced and are currently working out
of their field of expertise or competency area. The LEAs would
be required to reimburse teachers who pass their exam and attain
an authorization to teach science, mathematics, or industrial
and technology education for the cost of that exam and any fees
charged by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 Fund
Statutory allocation $5,000*
Federal**
* The date of the appropriation is not specified
** Workforce Investment Act (Item 7100-001-0869)
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STAFF COMMENTS: SUSPENSE FILE.
Section 2853 (a) (1) of Title 29 of the United States Code
states:
The Governor of a State shall reserve not more than 15 percent
of each of the amounts allocated to the State under Section 2852
(b) (1) (C) of this title and paragraphs (1) (B) and (2) (B) of
section 2862 (b) of this title for a fiscal year for statewide
workforce investment activities.
For support of state programs under the Workforce Investment Act
administered by the Employment Development Department (EDD),
payable from the Consolidated Work Program Fund (7100-001-0869),
the proposed 2010-11 Governor's Budget fully allocates the
Workforce Investment Act 15 percent discretionary funds. Any
appropriation of these funds for the purposes of this bill would
result in a reduction of funding for one or more programs,
assuming the appropriation is made in the budget year. A
similar, though unknown, fiscal impact would occur in whatever
budget year the funds are appropriated.
Page 2
SB 956 (Romero)
Within this Item, Provision 1.5, Schedules 2 and 3 appropriate
$7,700,000 for WIA Growth Industries (Schedule 2) and
$18,200,000 for WIA Industries with a Statewide Need (Schedule
3).
How the funds are appropriated affects the availability of the
funds. For example, non capital outlay appropriations made in
the Budget Act are available and must be
encumbered within the fiscal year (Section 1.80 (a) of the
Budget Act). Appropriations made in legislation outside the
Budget Act are available and must be encumbered within three
years pursuant to Government Code 16304. These encumbrances
must be liquidated within two years from the last date an
appropriation is available and may be encumbered, except in the
case of federal funds (Government Code 16304.1). For federal
funds, the encumbrances must be liquidated within four years
(also Government Code 16304.1).
The appropriation of federal funds generally is by majority vote
because there are usually restrictions on the use of the money,
making the funds in the nature of a trust fund and equivalent to
a special fund, which only requires a majority vote. If the use
of federal funds is unrestricted, then a 2/3 vote is required.
Staff notes that neither the CWIB nor WIBs allocate funding;
instead EDD administers the WIA for WIBs based on an existing
formula. In order to make the allocation of WIA funds more
efficient, staff recommends this bill be amended to make the
appropriation to EDD from Schedule 3, as noted above, and
require LEAs to apply on a competitive basis to EDD.