(1) The department and the workforce board must:

(a) Coordinate efforts across the state to ensure that federal training and education funds are captured and deployed in a focused and effective manner in order to support green economy projects and accomplish the goals of the evergreen jobs initiative;

(b) Accelerate and coordinate efforts by state and local organizations to identify, apply for, and secure all sources of funds, particularly those created by the 2009 American recovery and reinvestment act, and to ensure that distributions of funding to local organizations are allocated in a manner that is time-efficient and user-friendly for the local organizations. Local organizations eligible to receive support include but are not limited to:

(i) Associate development organizations;

(ii) Workforce development councils;

(iii) Public utility districts; and

(iv) Community action agencies;

(c) Support green economy projects at both the state and local level by developing a process and a framework to provide, at a minimum:

(i) Administrative and technical assistance;

(ii) Assistance with and expediting of permit processes; and

(iii) Priority consideration of opportunities leading to exportable green economy goods and services, including renewable energy technology;

(d) Coordinate local and state implementation of projects using federal funds to ensure implementation is time-efficient and user-friendly for local organizations;

(e) Emphasize through both support and outreach efforts, projects that:

(i) Have a strong and lasting economic or environmental impact;

(ii) Lead to a domestically or internationally exportable good or service, including renewable energy technology;

(iii) Create training programs leading to a credential, certificate, or degree in a green economy field;

(iv) Strengthen the state's competitiveness in a particular sector or cluster of the green economy;

(v) Create employment opportunities for veterans, members of the national guard, and low-income and disadvantaged populations;

(vi) Comply with prevailing wage provisions of chapter 39.12 RCW;

(vii) Ensure at least fifteen percent of labor hours are performed by apprentices;

(f) Identify emerging technologies and innovations that are likely to contribute to advancements in the green economy, including the activities in designated innovation partnership zones established in RCW 43.330.270;

(g) Identify barriers to the growth of green jobs in traditional industries such as the forest products industry;

(h) Identify statewide performance metrics for projects receiving agency assistance. Such metrics may include:

(i) The number of new green jobs created each year, their wage levels, and, to the extent determinable, the percentage of new green jobs filled by veterans, members of the national guard, and low-income and disadvantaged populations;

(ii) The total amount of new federal funding secured, the respective amounts allocated to the state and local levels, and the timeliness of deployment of new funding by state agencies to the local level;

(iii) The timeliness of state deployment of funds and support to local organizations; and

(iv) If available, the completion rates, time to completion, and training-related placement rates for green economy postsecondary training programs;

(i) Identify strategies to allocate existing and new funding streams for green economy workforce training programs and education to emphasize those leading to a credential, certificate, or degree in a green economy field;

(j) Identify and implement strategies to allocate existing and new funding streams for workforce development councils and associate development organizations to increase their effectiveness and efficiency and increase local capacity to respond rapidly and comprehensively to opportunities to attract green jobs to local communities;

(k) Develop targeting criteria for existing investments that are consistent with the goals of this section and RCW * 28C.18.170, 28B.50.281, and 49.04.200; and

(l) Make and support outreach efforts so that residents of Washington, particularly members of target populations, become aware of educational and employment opportunities identified and funded through the evergreen jobs act.

(2) The department and the workforce board must provide semiannual performance reports to the governor and appropriate committees of the legislature on:

(a) Actual statewide performance based on the performance measures identified in subsection (1)(h) of this section;

(b) How the state is emphasizing and supporting projects that lead to a domestically or internationally exportable good or service, including renewable energy technology;

(c) A list of projects supported, created, or funded in furtherance of the goals of the evergreen jobs initiative and the actions taken by state and local organizations, including the effectiveness of state agency support provided to local organizations as directed in subsection (1)(b) and (c) of this section;

(d) Recommendations for new or expanded financial incentives and comprehensive strategies to:

(i) Recruit, retain, and expand green economy industries and small businesses; and

(ii) Stimulate research and development of green technology and innovation, which may include designating innovation partnership zones linked to the green economy;

(e) Any information that associate development organizations and workforce development councils choose to provide to appropriate legislative committees regarding the effectiveness, timeliness, and coordination of support provided by state agencies under this section and RCW * 28C.18.170, 28B.50.281, and 49.04.200; and

(f) Any recommended statutory changes necessary to increase the effectiveness of the evergreen jobs initiative and state responsiveness to local agencies and organizations.

(3) The definitions, designations, and results of the employment security department's broader labor market research under RCW 43.330.010 shall inform the planning and strategic direction of the department, the state workforce training and education coordinating board, the state board for community and technical colleges, and the student achievement council.

*Reviser's note: RCW 28C.18.170 was repealed by 2023 c 231 s 8.

Effective date—2012 c 229 ss 101, 117, 401, 402, 501 through 594, 601 through 609, 701 through 708, 801 through 821, 902, and 904: See note following RCW 28B.77.005.

Findings—2010 c 187: "(1) The legislature finds that:

(a) Washington's forest products industry plays a critical economic and environmental role in the state. The industry provides a wide range of services and goods both to Washingtonians and people around the world and is vital to the well-being and lifestyle of the people of the state of Washington; and

(b) It is in the best interest of the state to support and enhance the forest products industry.

(2) The legislature further finds that the state's forest practices are sustainably managed according to some of the most stringent riparian growing and harvest rules of any state in the nation or in the world, and that the state of Washington has received fifty-year assurances from the federal government that the state's forest practices satisfy the requirements of the federal endangered species act for aquatic species. As part of their environmental stewardship, forestland owners in Washington have repaired or removed nearly three thousand fish passage barriers, returned nearly twenty-five hundred miles of forest roads to their natural condition, and opened up nearly fifteen hundred miles of riparian salmonid habitat.

(3) The legislature further finds that Washington's forests naturally create habitat for fish and wildlife, clean water, and carbon storage; all environmental benefits that are lost when land is converted out of working forestry into another use. In recognition of forestry's benefits, the international panel on climate change has reported that a sustainable forest management strategy aimed at maintaining or increasing forest carbon stocks, while producing an annual sustained yield of timber, fiber, wood products, or energy from the forest, will generate the largest sustained carbon mitigation benefit.

(4) The legislature further finds that the forest products industry is a seventeen billion dollar industry, making it Washington's second largest manufacturing industry. The forest products industry alone provides nearly forty-five thousand direct jobs and one hundred sixty-two thousand indirect jobs, many located in rural areas.

(5) The legislature further finds that working forests help generate wealth through recreation and tourism, the retention and creation of green jobs, and through the production of wood products and energy, a finding supported by the United States secretary of agriculture." [ 2010 c 187 s 1.]

Short title—2009 c 536: See note following RCW 43.330.370.