BILL REQ. #:  S-0053.1 

Read first time 01/12/09.   Referred to Committee on Labor, Commerce & Consumer Protection.

     AN ACT Relating to creating an energy efficiency worker training program; adding a new section to chapter 43.330 RCW; creating a new section; providing an effective date; and providing an expiration date.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that as more requirements are put in place for buildings to be more energy efficient, the more work there will be retrofitting those buildings with solar panels, insulation, and other weatherizing materials. The legislature further finds that blue collar, stepping-stone jobs are leaving the economy without being replaced with equivalent jobs. Therefore, the legislature intends to create a green collar jobs training program that focuses on underprivileged youth.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 43.330 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) The Washington energy efficiency worker training program is created within the department. The program shall help individuals, including at-risk youth, seeking employment pathways out of poverty and into economic self-sufficiency prepare for jobs in the energy-efficient building, construction, and retrofit industries. The program must provide occupational skills training in the energy-efficient building, construction, and retrofit industries. The occupational skills training may include curriculum development, on-the-job training, classroom training, and safety and health training. The program may include internship programs in fields related to energy efficiency and renewable energy. The department, in collaboration with the workforce training and education coordinating board, shall adopt rules to implement the program.
     (2) The board shall provide an interim report to the appropriate committees of the legislature by December 1, 2011, and a final report by December 1, 2013, detailing the effectiveness and any recommendations for the energy efficiency worker training program established in subsection (1) of this section.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   This act takes effect August 1, 2009.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   This act expires June 30, 2014.