| Washington State House of Representatives Office of Program Research |
BILL ANALYSIS |
| Higher Education Committee | |
SB 5613
This analysis was prepared by non-partisan legislative staff for the use of legislative members in
their deliberations. This analysis is not a part of the legislation nor does it constitute a
statement of legislative intent.
Brief Description: Concerning entrepreneurial training opportunities.
Sponsors: Senators Kilmer, Kastama, Kauffman, Shin, Delvin, Brown and McAuliffe.
Brief Summary of Bill |
|
Hearing Date: 3/19/07
Staff: Jennifer Thornton (786-7111).
Background:
The Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board (WTECB) was created by the
Legislature in 1991 in an effort to make the state's workforce education and training system better
coordinated, more efficient, more responsive to the needs of business, workers and local
communities, and more accountable for its performance.
Congress passed into law the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998 (PL 105-220) to
prepare youth, dislocated workers, and adults for entry into the labor force, and to provide for the
planning, implementation, and ongoing oversight of a comprehensive state workforce
development system. Executive Order 99-02 established the WTECB as the state Workforce
Investment Board for the federal WIA of 1998, and created 12 local Workforce Development
Councils as the local workforce investment boards.
On February 23, 2005, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a memo titled "Training and
Employment Guidance Letter No. 16-04." This memo requested that states "encourage local
workforce investment boards to consider entrepreneurial training programs for the WIA
customers as part of their menu of services and to explore the appropriate partnerships to support
these training programs." Entrepreneurial training is a permitted training service under the WIA,
and self-employment is an allowable employment outcome. Entrepreneurial training and related
education are not listed among the WTECB's current list of duties.
Summary of Bill:
The WTECB is to develop policy objectives for the WIA in the state and ensure that
entrepreneurial training opportunities are available through programs of each local workforce
investment board. The WTECB is to facilitate the development of school-to-work transition
programs including entrepreneurial education and training. In the planning requirements for
local workforce investment boards, the WTECB must include a requirement that local workforce
boards specify how entrepreneurial training will be offered.
Appropriation: None.
Fiscal Note: Available.
Effective Date: The bill takes effect 90 days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.