BILL REQ. #:  H-4772.1 

Read first time 01/24/08.   Referred to Committee on Higher Education.

     AN ACT Relating to a state comprehensive plan for workforce training and education; and amending RCW 28C.18.080.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 28C.18.080 and 1997 c 369 s 5 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) ((The state comprehensive plan for workforce training and education shall be updated every two years and presented to the governor and the appropriate legislative policy committees.)) The board shall develop a state comprehensive plan for workforce training and education for a ten-year time period. The board shall submit the initial ten-year state comprehensive plan to the governor and the appropriate legislative policy committees by December 1, 2008. Every four years by December 1st, beginning December 1, 2012, the board shall submit an update of the ten-year state comprehensive plan for workforce training and education to the governor and the appropriate legislative policy committees. Following public hearings, the legislature shall, by concurrent resolution, approve or recommend changes to the initial plan and the updates. The plan shall then become the state's workforce training policy unless legislation is enacted to alter the policies set forth in the plan.
     (2) The comprehensive plan shall include workforce training role and mission statements for the workforce development programs of operating agencies represented on the board and sufficient specificity regarding expected actions by the operating agencies to allow them to carry out actions consistent with the comprehensive plan.
     (3) Operating agencies represented on the board shall have operating plans for their workforce development efforts that are consistent with the comprehensive plan and that provide detail on implementation steps they will take to carry out their responsibilities under the plan. Each operating agency represented on the board shall provide an annual progress report to the board.
     (4) The comprehensive plan shall include recommendations to the legislature and the governor on the modification, consolidation, initiation, or elimination of workforce training and education programs in the state.
     (5) The comprehensive plan shall address how the state's workforce development system will meet the needs of employers hiring for industrial projects of statewide significance.
     (6) The board shall report to the appropriate legislative policy committees by December 1 of each year on its progress in implementing the comprehensive plan and on the progress of the operating agencies in meeting their obligations under the plan.