BILL NUMBER: AB 1098 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Romero
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Aroner, Firebaugh, Honda, and
Keeley)
FEBRUARY 25, 1999
An act to add Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 11500) to Part 1
of Division 3 of the Unemployment Insurance Code, relating to jobs.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1098, as introduced, Romero. Jobs.
Existing law contains programs for unemployment compensation and
job creation. Among other things, existing law provides for
employment and employability programs under the direction of the
Employment Development Department.
This bill would create the Communities First! Jobs Program to
create public service jobs. The program would be supervised by a
director employed by the Employment Development Department. The
director would enroll eligible workers to be employed by appropriate
state or local public agencies. The bill would establish various
requirements for the eligibility of workers, and provide for the
types of jobs, including wage and benefit requirements, that would be
made available to program workers. The bill would require annual
reports to the Legislature concerning the program's operation.
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. (a) The Legislature finds and declares as follows:
(1) California faces a jobs gap. While only 177,000 new jobs are
created every year in California, 1,000,100 Californians are
officially unemployed, and another 1,009,000 Californians are
underemployed. In most areas of the state, urban, rural, and
suburban, there is a severe shortage of entry-level positions
relative to the number of people seeking work.
(2) Many new jobs created leave households at poverty rate or
below.
(3) Unemployment is at depression era levels in many large areas
across the state, particularly among women and people of color.
(4) Welfare reform requires thousands of new jobs for those who
are required to work or lose welfare benefits and presents potential
risks to existing workers, especially other low-wage workers, who
face competition for jobs from new job seekers leaving welfare.
(5) Many of those who will need to make the transition from
welfare to work face serious barriers to successful employment,
including lack of education, work experience, affordable child care,
and transportation.
(6) At the same time that many new entrants to the job market will
be seeking employment, many of this state's economically depressed
communities are in need of the services and work that these job
seekers can provide. Employment in public service work will be an
investment both in human capital and in the vitality of local
communities.
(b) It is the purpose of this act to do all of the following:
(1) Establish a program of public service employment.
(2) Create 10,000 public jobs to meet pressing community needs.
(3) Target job creation to rural, suburban, and urban regions of
this state that are suffering from shortages in entry-level jobs.
(4) Direct this employment to the purpose of providing public
service to communities and individuals in need and to the maintenance
and improvement of public land and facilities.
(5) Address barriers to employment through effective assessment
and appropriate job training and support services.
(6) Protect existing workers from being displaced by welfare
reform or the jobs created by this act.
SEC. 2. Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 11500) is added to Part
1 of Division 3 of the Unemployment Insurance Code, to read:
CHAPTER 6. COMMUNITIES FIRST!
11500. As used in this chapter:
(a) "Communities First! Jobs Program" or "program" means the
Communities First! Jobs Program established under this chapter.
(b) "Communities First! Jobs" means jobs that involve any of the
following:
(1) The direct delivery of services to individual children,
elderly persons, persons with physical and developmental
disabilities, or persons with low incomes, such as child care
providers and home health care providers.
(2) The promotion of neighborhood or community well-being, such as
health educators, teachers' aids, youth mentors, or community
advocates.
(3) The conservation, improvement, or development of natural
resources or the enhancement, preservation, or maintenance of public
lands, water, schools, affordable housing, and other facilities.
(4) Other projects serving the public interest.
(c) "Employing agency" means the employer of a Communities First!
Jobs Program worker.
(d) "Department" means the Employment Development Department.
(e) "Director" means the director of the Communities First! Jobs
Program within the Employment Development Department.
11501. There is hereby established within the Employment
Development Department the Communities First! Jobs Program to create
public service jobs. The program shall be under the supervision of
the director, who shall be employed by the department.
11502. The director shall do all of the following:
(a) Enroll eligible workers pursuant to Section 11505.
(b) Employ staff necessary to implement the provisions of this
chapter.
(c) Develop a community needs assessment in each community for
which the director receives a proposal from a local agency pursuant
to subdivision (b) of Section 11504, which shall include the
participation of local public agencies, local government, community
members, and community-based organizations to determine community
needs and the types of jobs needed to fulfill those needs.
(d) Determine job training needs of workers and assess the ability
of current job training programs to provide training for workers.
(e) Execute contracts or cooperative agreements with appropriate
local public agencies for the provision of services to workers,
including assessment, education, training, case management, job
readiness, and job search and placement services.
11503. The employing agency shall do all of the following:
(a) Provide the program worker with a job that is comparable to
the work of the agency's other employees in terms of
responsibilities, training, and development of career opportunities
within the agency.
(b) Assess the program worker's skills and abilities, including
educational needs and prior work experience, and in consultation with
the program worker, provide appropriate on-the-job training that is
designed to enable the program worker to succeed in the job and to
develop new skills and abilities.
(c) Ensure the provision of support services in coordination with
county welfare departments and public and private service providers,
including child care and transportation, necessary for the program
worker to maintain successful employment.
11504. (a) Each program worker shall receive a full-time job in
the public sector and appropriate on-the-job supervision and child
care, and job search and placement assistance.
(b) The director shall seek and consider proposals from state or
local public agencies to operate Communities First! Jobs projects.
Projects shall be approved or denied based on the following criteria:
(1) Whether program workers will be engaged in activities that
provide a valuable work experience.
(2) Whether the created jobs produce a demonstrable public
benefit.
(3) Whether the project is within a geographic area with welfare
caseloads, unemployment, or poverty rates above the statewide
average. The director shall consider entry level job vacancies and
the job creation potential of each region.
(c) Program workers shall be assigned to projects that are within
reasonable commuting distances from their place of residence.
(d) Whenever available and appropriate, adult education, job
training, and placement services provided through other federal,
state, and locally funded programs shall be coordinated with projects
developed under this act to assist eligible program workers.
Coordinated services may include, but are not limited to, job
placement assistance, adult literacy training, job search skills, job
application skills, and ability assessments. Eligible workers
without a high school diploma shall receive coordinated services that
provide an opportunity to obtain an equivalent high school diploma.
(e) Program workers shall be considered employees for all
purposes, including, but not limited to, health and safety laws,
workers' compensation, antidiscrimination laws, unemployment
insurance, and collective bargaining laws.
(f) Workers' compensation benefits shall be provided to program
workers under the same standards applicable to other public and
private employees in this state.
(g) No work assignment under this program shall result in any of
the following:
(1) The displacement or partial displacement of any current
employee, a reduction in a current employee's hours of nonovertime
and overtime work, wages, or employment benefits, or the filling of a
vacant, established position.
(2) The filling of a position when any other individual is on
layoff from the same or any equivalent position, when the employer
has terminated the employment of any regular employee or otherwise
reduced its work force with the effect of filling the vacancy so
created with a program worker or without the prior approval of the
applicable labor union at a worksite employing union workers.
(3) Any infringement of the promotional opportunities of any
currently employed individual, or displacement of any current
employees, including, but not limited to, a reduction in their hours
of overtime and nonovertime work.
(4) The filling of a position created by a strike, lockout, or
other bonafide labor dispute or violation of any collective
bargaining agreement between employers and employees.
(5) The denial of employee protections afforded other workers on
the worksite by state and federal laws governing workplace health,
safety, and representation.
11505. Persons participating in the Communities First! Jobs
Program shall satisfy the following criteria:
(a) The participants shall be members of very low income
households. "Very low income households" means persons and families
whose incomes do not exceed 50 percent of the area median income. As
used in this section, "area median income" means the median family
income of a geographic area of the state.
(b) At least 50 percent of program workers in each geographic area
shall be current General Assistance, CalWORKS, or Supplemental
Security Income recipients or have been recipients within the last
three years.
11506. (a) Program workers shall receive an hourly wage no less
than ten dollars ($10) per hour, or the prevailing wage if higher.
(b) Program workers shall be entitled to the same benefits as
other employees of the employer doing comparable work.
(c) Program workers who have dependent children shall be provided
with quality child care that enables them to participate.
11507. The director, in developing and approving projects, shall
ensure that:
(a) In employment practices, no individual will be discriminated
against because of the individual's race, color, religious creed,
ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, immigration status, national
origin, marital status, age, or disability.
(b) No person shall make any payment to any other person as
compensation for referring an individual as a potential program
worker.
11508. At the completion of each year of the program's operation
the director shall prepare and submit a report to the appropriate
committees of the Legislature. The report shall include, but not be
limited to:
(a) The number of program workers enrolled.
(b) The average length of their enrollment.
(c) The type of job training provided to these program workers.
(d) The estimated savings by all levels of government as a result
of reductions in social service delivery and public assistance
benefits.
(e) The estimated tax revenues received by all levels of
government from Communities First! Jobs Program workers.
(f) An analysis of the impact of program participation on the
overall welfare of workers and their families, taking into
consideration factors such as family income, the attainment of new
skills or education levels, and other social benefits as reported by
workers. Tracking of program workers shall be for no less than five
years.
(g) The amount of appropriated funds expended on program
administration.