BILL NUMBER: SB 178	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Polanco

                        JANUARY 12, 1999

   An act relating to workforce investment, and declaring the urgency
thereof, to take effect immediately.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 178, as introduced, Polanco.  Workforce investment.
   Existing law contains various provisions for job training and
placement. The federal Workforce Investment Act of 1998 provides for
workforce investment activities, including activities in which states
may participate.
   This bill would express intent to consolidate, coordinate, and
improve employment, training, literacy, and vocational rehabilitation
programs, and to coordinate these programs with programs required by
the federal Workforce Investment Act of 1998.
   The bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an
urgency statute.
   Vote:  2/3.  Appropriation:  no.  Fiscal committee:  no.
State-mandated local program:  no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  (a) This act shall be known and may be cited as the
California Workforce Investment Act of 1999.
   (b) (1) The federal Workforce Investment Act of 1998 provides for
workforce investment activities, through statewide and local
workforce investment systems, that increase the employment,
retention, and earnings of participants, and increase occupational
skill attainment by participants, and, as a result, improve the
quality of the workforce, reduce welfare dependency, and enhance the
productivity and competitiveness of the nation.  That act requires
the participation of the state in these programs and the coordination
of federal and state workforce investment activities.
   (2) The federal Workforce Investment Act of 1998 represents the
first major reform of the nation's job training system in over 15
years.  The act is the culmination of a four-year bipartisan effort
on the part of the administration and Congress of the United States
to design, with states and local communities, a revitalized system
that provides workers with the information, advice, job search
assistance, and training they need to get and keep good jobs, and
provides employers with skilled workers.
   (c) Existing state law contains various programs in the following
areas, that need to be modified to coordinate with, and build upon,
the federal Workforce Investment Act of 1998.
   (1) Workforce investment systems.
   (2) Adult dislocated worker and youth activities.
   (3) Adult education.
   (4) Postsecondary vocational education.
   (5) Workforce investment-related activities.
   (6) Welfare-to-work programs.
   (7) Vocational rehabilitation.
   (8) Older Americans programs.
   (9) Trade adjustment assistance.
   (10) NAFTA assistance.
   (11) Veterans employment and training programs.
   (12) Community services block grants.
   (13) Unemployment assistance.
   (d) It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this act to
consolidate, coordinate, and improve employment, training, literacy,
and vocational rehabilitation programs, and to coordinate these
programs with programs required by the federal Workforce Investment
Act of 1998.
  SEC. 2.  This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect.  The facts constituting the necessity are:
   In order to implement the federal Workforce Investment Act of 1998
in a timely manner, it is necessary for this act to take effect
immediately.