BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 912
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Date of Hearing: August 8, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
SB 912 (Lieu) - As Amended: January 4, 2012
Policy Committee: Labor and
Employment Vote: 6-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill repeals an existing reporting requirement regarding
local Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs) expenditures and
replaces it with a new reporting requirement to include updated
local WIB expenditure information based on requirements in SB
734 (DeSaulnier), Chapter 498, Statutes of 2011. Specifically,
this bill:
1)Requires the Employment Development Department (EDD),
beginning with the 2012 program year, to report to the
governor, the Legislature, and the California Workforce
Investment Board (CWIB) the training expenditures made by
local WIBs in the prior two program years. Further specifies
the report be provided within six months after the end of the
second program year of the two-year period of availability for
expenditure of federal WIA funds.
2)Requires the report to specify the total amount of federal
funding provided to the state and to each local workforce
investment area for the adult and dislocated persons programs
and the amount within each program expended for training
services. Further requires the report to specify the amount
of leverages funds expended by local WIBs for training
services.
FISCAL EFFECT
Minor, absorbable costs to EDD to implement this measure.
Current law requires EDD to complete a similar report regarding
local CWIB expenditures. This bill repeals the existing report
and replaces it with the requirements in this measure. If this
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bill is implemented, EDD's costs would likely decrease because
the bill requires the report to be conducted according to WIA
program year not annually.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . SB 734 (DeSaulnier), Chapter 498, Statutes of 2011,
required specified minimum amounts of federal Workforce
Investment Act (WIA) funds provided to local WIBs to be spent
on workforce training programs, as specified. Chapter 498
also allowed the local WIBs to leverage up to 10% of specified
funds to meet this requirement, as specified.
The author contends job training programs have demonstrated
mixed results in terms of their ability to help individuals
find employment. As such, Chapter 498 was enacted to ensure
that a dedicated amount of federal WIA funds are being used to
support targeted workforce training programs.
According to the author, "This bill seeks to encourage the use
of job training programs by holding �local WIBs] accountable
to how they spend federal and leveraged funds."
2)Existing law requires EDD to annually report to the governor,
the Legislature, and CWIB, no later than November 30,
regarding the training expenditures made by local WIBs in the
prior fiscal year. Current law further requires EDD to
specify what expenditures qualify as training and the total
amount of federal funding provided to the state and to each of
the local Workforce Investment Areas for the adult and
dislocated persons programs, as specified.
By repealing the existing reporting requirement, this bill
also repeals EDD's authority to specify what expenditures
qualify as training. This provision is unnecessary due to the
enactment of SB 734 (DeSaulnier), Chapter 498, Statutes of
2011, which defines training for the purposes of WIA fund
expenditures by local CWIBs.
Statute also requires the current expenditure information to
be reported annually. Instead, this measure requires EDD to
report these expenditures within six months after the end of
the two-year period of availability for federal WIA funds.
3)The WIA was established by federal law in 1998 for purposes of
job training and workforce development. It requires states to
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form state workforce investment boards, and requires governors
to designate local workforce investment areas and oversee
local workforce investment boards to coordinate and distribute
job training funds.
In California, WIA funds are provided through the state
Workforce Investment Board (CWIB) and 49 local boards. The
state board receives 15% of the state's WIA allocation, and
the remaining 85% is allocated to the local boards. CWIB
works with the governor to provide policy guidance on how to
spend these funds. Likewise, each board determines how they
spend their funds in accordance with the workforce needs of
their areas. SB 734 (DeSaulnier), Chapter 498, Statutes of
2011, established minimum percentages local WIBs must expend
on training services.
4)Previous related legislation . SB 698 (Lieu), Chapter 497,
Statutes of 2011, required the Governor to establish standards
and certification of high-performance local CWIBs in
accordance with specified criteria.
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)
319-2081