BILL NUMBER: SB 178 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 18, 1999
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 16, 1999
INTRODUCED BY Senator Polanco
JANUARY 12, 1999
An act to add Chapter 7.7 (commencing with Section 180)
to Division 1 of the Labor Code, relating to work force investment,
making an appropriation therefor, and declaring the urgency thereof,
to take effect immediately. An act to add Chapter 5
(commencing with Section 14460) to Part 5 of Division 3 of Title 2 of
the Government Code, relating to smart communities.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 178, as amended, Polanco. Work force investment :
Department of Transportation: smart communities .
Existing law contains various provisions for job training and
placement. The federal Workforce Investment Act of 1998 provides for
work force investment activities, including activities in which
states may participate.
This bill would, upon the availability of funds in the annual
Budget Act, require the Director of Transportation, in collaboration
with the California Institute for Smart Communities and the
California State University, San Diego, to establish a demonstration
Smart Communities Strategic Investment Program within the Department
of Transportation, as specified. The bill would provide financial
assistance to local governments, school districts, institutions of
higher education, community-based nonprofit organizations, or any
other public agency for funding under the demonstration program based
on certain criteria. The bill would create the 21st Century Smart
Communities Fund in the State Treasury for purposes of this bill.
This bill would create the Governor's Council on Workforce
Investment and Economic Development, with members appointed by the
Governor and Legislature, which would advise the Governor with regard
to preparation of the state's Workforce Investment Plan as required
by the federal act. The bill would appropriate $20,000 from the
General Fund to the Governor for startup costs relating to the
council, as specified.
The bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an
urgency statute.
Vote: 2/3 majority .
Appropriation: yes no . Fiscal
committee: yes. 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
SECTION 1. Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 14460) is added to
Part 5 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, to read:
CHAPTER 5. SMART COMMUNITIES STRATEGIC INVESTMENT PROGRAM
14460. The Legislature finds and declares the following:
(a) Information technology and telecommunications have been used
successfully by other states and nations to strengthen regional and
local community economies through increased access to information and
by facilitating the efficient delivery of government and community
services.
(b) The creation of community networks, or "smart communities,"
allows electronic access to numerous resources and services,
including, but not limited to, education, training, health and social
services, telemedicine, emergency response, and rapid electronic
transmittal of business operating tools, including, but not limited
to, permits, licenses, and registering documents.
(c) The department, in its "Smart Communities Guidebook" published
in January 1997, defined "smart communities" as a geographic region
ranging in size from a neighborhood to a multicounty area whose
residents, organizations, and governing institutions are using
information technology to transform a region in significant ways.
The department's publication recognizes that cooperation among
government, industry, educators, and its citizenry, instead of
individual groups acting in isolation, is preferred.
(d) As a component of the department's, "smart communities"
research, the department has established a Caltrans
Telecommunications mission designed to pioneer development of
telecommunications mobility as a component of the state's
transportation system, in a manner allowing more efficient movement
of not only vehicles, but to also allow increased mobility for
people, goods, information, and services.
(e) California has been investing in developing a system of
one-stop career centers for the integrated delivery of employment,
education, and training services. Under the federal Workforce
Investment Act of 1998 (P.L. 105-220), that replaces the federal Job
Training Partnership Act, one-stop career centers will be the
mandated delivery system. The "smart communities" model can be
effectively deployed to expand the capacity of one-stop career
centers to provide accessible employment and training resources to
underserved communities, including inner city urban and rural areas.
14661. The department shall establish a Smart Communities
Strategic Investment Program for purposes of enabling the department
to approach mobility fulfillment offered by "smart communities" in a
manner consistent with the state's energy conservation and air
pollution abatement objectives.
14662. (a) Upon the availability of funds in the annual Budget
Act, the director, in collaboration with the California Institute for
Smart Communities and the California State University, San Diego,
shall establish a demonstration Smart Communities Strategic
Investment Program within the department. The demonstration program
shall be designed to assist local governments, school districts,
institutions of higher education, community-based nonprofit
organizations, or any other public agency in planning and development
of community and regional telecommunications networks that support
work force training and education through the establishment of
telecommunications links to California's one-stop career centers.
The one-stop centers shall be designed to provide electronic delivery
of education and training to meet needs of business and industry for
a skilled work force with priority given for rural and inner city
locations.
(b) Applicants by those entities described in subdivision (a) for
funds under this section shall be required to provide a 50 percent
match in dollars or in-kind resources.
(c) Funds awarded under this section shall be utilized to enhance
the capacity of the state's one-stop career centers to provide the
following:
(1) Preemployment services designed to assist participants through
skills assessment, language and basic skill enhancement, work force
training and placement.
(2) Postemployment services providing employees with work-based
learning and skill enhancement support.
(3) Teleconferencing resources to create a cost-effective
mechanism to assist in one-stop career center administration,
coordination, and communication through technology enhancements
including, but not limited to, video conferencing, computer networks,
and satellite broadcasting.
14665. There is hereby created in the State Treasury the 21st
Century Smart Communities Fund. Money in that fund shall be used by
the department, upon appropriation, to carry out this chapter.
cited as the California Workforce Investment Act of 1999.
(b) (1) The federal Workforce Investment Act of 1998 provides for
work force investment activities, through statewide and local work
force 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 work force, 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 work force 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) Work force investment systems.
(2) Adult dislocated worker and youth activities.
(3) Adult education.
(4) Postsecondary vocational education.
(5) Work force 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) The federal Workforce Investment Act of 1998 requires the
Governor of each state to appoint an advisory board to assist the
Governor in the performance of various duties, including the
preparation of the state's initial Workforce Investment Plan, which
must be submitted to the United States Department of Labor no later
than April 1, 2000.
SEC. 2. Chapter 7.7 (commencing with Section 180) is added to
Division 1 of the Labor Code, to read:
CHAPTER 7. WORKFORCE INVESTMENT PLAN
180. (a) The Governor's Council on Workforce Investment and
Economic Development, hereinafter known as the "Governor's Council,"
is hereby created.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature that the Governor's
Council created by this section shall be in full compliance with
Sections 111 and 121 of the federal Workforce Investment Act of 1998
(P.L. 105-220), which require a state-level work force investment
board that is advisory to the Governor.
(c) All members of the Governor's Council shall be appointed by
the Governor, except for the legislative representatives. Senate
representatives shall be appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules.
Assembly representatives shall be appointed by the Speaker of the
Assembly.
(d) The composition of the Governor's Council shall be consistent
with the requirements of the federal Workforce Investment Act of
1998, and shall include representatives of advocacy groups for the
following target populations:
(1) Migrant and seasonal farmworkers.
(2) Native Americans.
(3) CalWORKs participants.
(4) The disabled.
(5) Youth entering the work force.
(6) The homeless.
(7) African-American males.
(8) Other underemployed populations, including veterans,
immigrants, prison inmates, and parolees.
(e) The Governor's Council shall also include academics and
researchers with expertise in economic development and work force
preparation.
(f) The initial duties of the Governor's Council shall be those
set forth in Section 111 of the federal Workforce Investment Act of
1998. The Governor shall otherwise establish the duties of the
council.
(g) Staff may be appointed to assist the Governor's Council in
carrying out its responsibilities. All staff shall be appointed by
the Governor.
(h) Commencing with the 1999-2000 fiscal year, funding for the
support of the Governor's Council shall be appropriated to the
Governor in the annual Budget Act.
SEC. 3. The sum of twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) is hereby
appropriated from the General Fund to the Governor for startup costs
for the Governor's Council on Workforce Investment and Economic
Development created by Section 180 of the Labor Code.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, if the funds appropriated
by this section are not expended in the 1998-99 fiscal year, those
funds shall be available for expenditure by the Governor for the
expenses of the council in the 1999-2000 fiscal year.
SEC. 4. 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.