AN
ACT Relating to a worker retraining program; amending RCW 28C.04.410 and
28C.04.420; adding new sections to chapter 28C.04 RCW; and repealing RCW
28C.04.430, 28C.04.440, 28C.04.450, 28C.04.460, and 28C.04.480.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE
LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 1. A
new section is added to chapter 28C.04 RCW to read as follows:
(1)
The college board worker retraining program funds shall be used for training
programs and related support services, including financial aid, counseling,
referral to training resources, job referral, and job development that:
(a)
Are consistent with the unified plan for work force development;
(b)
Provide increased enrollments for dislocated workers;
(c)
Provide customized training opportunities for dislocated workers; and
(d)
Provide increased enrollments and support services, including financial aid for
those students not receiving unemployment insurance benefits, that do not
replace or supplant any existing enrollments, programs, support services, or
funding sources.
(2)
The college board shall develop a plan for use of the worker retraining program
funds in conjunction with the work force training customer advisory committee
established in subsection (3) of this section. In developing the plan the
college board shall:
(a)
Provide that applicants for worker retraining program funds shall solicit
financial support for training programs and give priority in receipt of funds
to those applicants which are most successful in matching public dollars with
financial support;
(b)
Provide that applicants for worker retraining program funds shall develop training
programs in partnership with local businesses, industry associations, labor,
and other partners as appropriate and give priority in receipt of funds to
those applicants who develop customized training programs in partnership with
local businesses, industry associations, and labor organizations;
(c)
Give priority in receipt of funds to those applicants serving rural areas;
(d)
Ensure that applicants receiving worker retraining program funds gather
information from local work force development councils on employer work force
needs, including the needs of businesses with less than twenty-five employees;
and
(e)
Provide for specialized vocational training at a private career school or
college at the request of a recipient eligible under subsection (1)(b) of this
section. Available tuition for the training is limited to the amount that
would otherwise be payable per enrolled quarter to a public institution.
(3)
The executive director of the college board shall appoint a work force training
customer advisory committee by July 1, 1999, to:
(a)
Assist in the development of the plan for the use of the college board worker
retraining program funds and recommend guidelines to the college board for the
operation of worker retraining programs;
(b)
Recommend selection criteria for worker retraining programs and grant
applicants for receipt of worker retraining program grants;
(c)
Provide advice to the college board on other work force development activities
of the community and technical colleges;
(d)
Recommend selection criteria for job skills grants, consistent with criteria
established in this chapter and this act. Such criteria shall include a
prioritization of job skills applicants in rural areas;
(e)
Recommend guidelines to the college board for the operation of the job skills
program; and
(f)
Recommend grant applicants for receipt of job skills program grants.
(4)
Members of the work force training customer advisory committee shall consist of
three college system representatives selected by the executive director of the
college board, three representatives of business selected from nominations
provided by state-wide business organizations, and three representatives of
labor selected from nominations provided by a state-wide labor organization
representing a cross-section of workers in the state.
Sec.
2. RCW
28C.04.410 and 1983 1st ex.s. c 21 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
Unless
the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this section apply
throughout section 1 of this act and RCW ((28C.04.040 and))
28C.04.420 ((through 28C.04.480)).
(1)
"Applicant" means an educational institution which has made
application for a job skills grant under section 1 of this act and RCW
28C.04.420 ((through 28C.04.480)).
(2)
"Business and industry" means a private corporation, institution,
firm, person, group, or association concerned with commerce, trades,
manufacturing, or the provision of services within the state, or a public or
nonprofit hospital licensed by the department of social and health services.
(3)
"Dislocated worker" means an individual who meets the definition
of dislocated worker contained in P.L. 105-220, Sec. 101 on the effective date
of this act.
(4)
"Educational institution" means a public secondary or postsecondary
institution ((or)), an independent institution, or a private
career school or college within the state authorized by law to provide a
program of skills training or education beyond the secondary school level. Any
educational institution receiving a job skills grant under RCW 28C.04.420
through 28C.04.480 shall be free of sectarian control or influence as set forth
in Article IX, section 4 of the state Constitution.
(((4)))
(5) "Equipment" means tangible personal property which will
further the objectives of the supported program and for which a definite value
and evidence in support of the value have been provided by the donor.
(((5)))
(6) "Financial support" means any thing of value which is
contributed by business ((and)), industry, and others to
an educational institution which is reasonably calculated to support directly
the development and expansion of a particular program under section 1 of
this act and RCW 28C.04.420 ((through 28C.04.480)) and represents an
addition to any financial support previously or customarily provided to such
educational institutions by the donor. "Financial support" includes,
but is not limited to, funds, equipment, facilities, faculty, and scholarships
for matriculating students and trainees.
(((6)))
(7) "Job skills grant" means funding that is provided to an
educational institution by the commission for the development or significant
expansion of a program under section 1 of this act and RCW 28C.04.420 ((through
28C.04.480)).
(((7)))
(8) "Job skills program" means a program of skills training or
education separate from and in addition to existing vocational education
programs and which:
(a)
Provides short-term training which has been designated for specific industries;
(b)
Provides training for prospective employees before a new plant opens or when
existing industry expands;
(c)
Includes training and retraining for workers already employed by an existing
industry or business where necessary to avoid dislocation or where upgrading of
existing employees would create new vacancies for unemployed persons;
(d)
Serves areas with high concentrations of economically disadvantaged persons and
high unemployment;
(e)
Serves areas with new and growing industries;
(f)
Serves areas where there is a shortage of skilled labor to meet job demands; or
(g)
Promotes the location of new industry in areas affected by economic
dislocation.
(((8)))
(9) "Technical assistance" means professional and any other
assistance provided by business and industry to an educational institution,
which is reasonably calculated to support directly the development and
expansion of a particular program and which represents an addition to any
technical assistance previously or customarily provided to the educational
institutions by the donor.
(((9)
"Commission" or "commission for vocational education" shall
mean the commission for vocational education or any successor agency or
organization.))
(10)
"College board" means the state board for community and technical
colleges under chapter 28B.50 RCW.
Sec.
3. RCW
28C.04.420 and 1983 1st ex.s. c 21 s 4 are each amended to read as follows:
The
((commission)) college board may, subject to appropriation from
the legislature or from funds made available from any other public or private
source and pursuant to rules adopted by the ((commission)) college
board with the advice of the work force training customer advisory committee
established in section 1 of this act, provide job skills grants to
educational institutions. The job skills grants shall be used exclusively for
programs which are consistent with the job skills program. ((A job skills
grant may be awarded only after:
(1)
Receipt of an application from an educational institution which contains a
proposal for a program of skills training and education, including a
description of the program, the type of skills training or education to be
provided, a statement of the total cost of the program and a breakdown of the
costs associated with equipment, personnel, facilities, and materials, a
statement of the employment needs for the program and evidence in support
thereof, demonstrates that the program does not unnecessarily duplicate
existing programs in the area and is provided at a reasonable cost, a statement
of the technical assistance and financial support for the program received or
to be received from business and industry, and such other information as the
commission requests; and
(2)
The commission, based on the application submitted by the educational
institution and such additional investigation as the staff of the commission
shall make, finds that:
(a))) The
college board shall work in collaboration with the work force training customer
advisory committee established in section 1 of this act to assure that:
(1)
The program is within the scope of the job skills program under this chapter
and may reasonably be expected to succeed and thereby increase employment
within the state;
(((b)))
(2) Provision has been made to use any available alternative funding
from local, state, and federal sources;
(((c)))
(3) The job skills grant will only be used to cover the costs associated
with the program;
(((d)))
(4) The program will not unnecessarily duplicate existing programs and
could not be provided by another educational institution more effectively or
efficiently;
(((e)))
(5) The program involves an area of skills training and education for
which there is a demonstrable need;
(((f)))
(6) The applicant has made provisions for the use of existing federal
and state resources for student financial assistance;
(((g)))
(7) The job skills grant is essential to the success of the program as
the resources of the applicant are inadequate to attract the technical
assistance and financial support necessary for the program from business and
industry;
(((h)))
(8) The program represents a collaborative partnership between business,
industry, labor, educational institutions, and other partners, as appropriate;
(9)
The commitment of financial support from business and industry shall be equal
to or greater than the amount of the requested job skills grant;
(((i)))
(10) Binding commitments have been made to the commission by the
applicant for adequate reporting of information and data regarding the program
to the commission, particularly information concerning the recruitment and
employment of trainees and students, and including a requirement for an annual
or other periodic audit of the books of the applicant directly related to the
program, and for such control on the part of the commission as it considers
prudent over the management of the program, so as to protect the use of public
funds, including, in the discretion of the commission and without limitation,
right of access to financial and other records of the applicant directly
related to the programs; and
(((j)))
(11) A provision has been made by the applicant to work, in cooperation
with the employment security department, to identify and screen potential
trainees, and that provision has been made by the applicant ((of))
for the participation as trainees of low-income persons ((who are
victims of economic dislocation)) including temporary assistance for
needy families recipients, dislocated workers, and persons from minority
and economically disadvantaged groups to participate in the program((; and
(k)
Binding commitments have been made to the commission by the applicant for
compliance with the monitoring and evaluation rules of the commission)).
Beginning
October 1, 1999, and every two years thereafter, the college board shall
provide the legislature and the governor with a report describing the
activities and outcomes of the state job skills program.
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 4. The
following acts or parts of acts are each repealed:
(1) RCW
28C.04.430 (Job skills program--Notification of approval of grant
to employment security department--Contents) and 1983 1st ex.s. c 21 s 5;
(2) RCW
28C.04.440 (Job skills program--Interagency agreement by
commission and the department of community, trade, and economic development and
the employment security department) and 1995 c 399 s 32, 1985 c 466 s 40, &
1983 1st ex.s. c 21 s 6;
(3) RCW
28C.04.450 (Job skills program--Duties of employment security
department) and 1983 1st ex.s. c 21 s 7;
(4) RCW
28C.04.460 (Job skills program--Duties of department of community,
trade, and economic development) and 1995 c 399 s 33, 1985 c 466 s 41, &
1983 1st ex.s. c 21 s 8; and
(5) RCW
28C.04.480 (Job skills program--Participant deemed to be in
training for purposes of RCW 50.20.043) and 1983 1st ex.s. c 21 s 10.
