BILL REQ. #:  S-1106.1 

Read first time 01/27/09.   Referred to Committee on Economic Development, Trade & Innovation.

     AN ACT Relating to connecting business expansion and recruitment to customized training; amending RCW 28B.67.020, 28B.67.030, and 82.04.449; adding a new section to chapter 28B.67 RCW; and declaring an emergency.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 28B.67.020 and 2006 c 112 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The Washington customized employment training program is hereby created to provide training assistance to employers locating or expanding in the state.
     (2)(a) Application to receive funding under this program shall be made to the board in a form and manner as specified by the board. Successful applicants shall receive a training allowance from the board to cover the costs of training at a qualified training institution. Employers may not receive an allowance for training costs which exceed the maximum annual training cost per employee, as established by the board, and are not eligible to receive an allowance or allowances of over five hundred thousand dollars per calendar year.
     (b) Allowances shall be granted for applicants who meet the following criteria:
     (i) The employer must have entered into an agreement with a qualified training institution to engage in customized training and the employer must agree to: (A) Upon completion of the training, make a payment to the employment training finance account created in RCW 28B.67.030 in an amount equal to one-quarter of the amount of the training allowance; and (B) over the subsequent eighteen months, make monthly or quarterly payments, as specified in the agreement, to the employment training finance account created in RCW 28B.67.030 in an amount equal to three-quarters of the amount of the training allowance. During calendar years 2009 and 2010, participants may delay payments due under this section for up to eighteen months. The payments into the employment training finance account provided for in this section do not constitute payment to the institution.
     (ii) ((The employer must ensure that the number of employees an employer has in the state during the calendar year following the completion of the training program will equal the number of employees the employer had in the state in the calendar year preceding the start of the training program plus seventy-five percent of the number of trainees.)) When hiring, the employer must make good faith efforts, as determined by the board, to hire from trainees in the participant's training program. The agreement with the qualified training institution provided for in (b)(i) of this subsection shall specify terms for reimbursement or additional payment to the employment training finance account by the employer if the ((employment criterion of this subsection is not met)) participant does not, when hiring, make good faith efforts to hire from trainees in the participant's training program.
     (iii) The training ((grant)) allowance may not be used to train workers who have been hired as a result of a strike or lockout.
     (c) Preference shall be given to employers with fewer than fifty employees.
     (3) Qualified training institutions may enter into agreements with four-year institutions of higher education, as defined in RCW 28B.10.016, in accordance with the interlocal cooperation act, chapter 39.34 RCW.
     (4) The board and qualified training institutions may solicit and receive gifts, grants, funds, fees, and endowments, in trust or otherwise, from tribal, local, federal, or other governmental entities, as well as private sources, for the purpose of providing training allowances under chapter 112, Laws of 2006. All revenue thus solicited and received shall be deposited into the employment training finance account created in RCW 28B.67.030.
     (5) Qualified training institutions must make good faith efforts to develop training programs using trainers preferred by participants.
     (6) The board may adopt rules to implement this section.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 28B.67 RCW to read as follows:
     During calendar years 2009 and 2010, employers who have qualified for training under the job skills program created under chapter 28C.04 RCW, but are not able to participate in the job skills program because the funds have all been committed, may become a participant, be provided a training allowance, and be eligible for the credit allowed participants under RCW 82.04.449, subject to the payment provisions of RCW 28B.67.020. The maximum available during calendar year 2009 from the employment training finance account for the purposes of this section is two million dollars. The maximum available during calendar year 2010 from the employment training finance account for the purposes of this section is one million five hundred thousand dollars.

Sec. 3   RCW 28B.67.030 and 2006 c 112 s 8 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) All payments received from a participant in the Washington customized employment training program created in RCW 28B.67.020 shall be deposited into the employment training finance account, which is hereby created in the custody of the state treasurer. Only the state board for community and technical colleges may authorize expenditures from the account and no appropriation is required for expenditures. The money in the account must be used solely for training allowances under the Washington customized employment training program created in RCW 28B.67.020 and for providing up to seventy-five thousand dollars per year for training, marketing, and facilitation services to increase the use of the program. The deposit of payments under this section from a participant shall cease when the board specifies that the participant has met the monetary obligations of the program.
     (2) All revenue solicited and received under the provisions of RCW 28B.67.020(4) shall be deposited into the employment training finance account to provide training allowances.
     (3) The definitions in RCW 28B.67.010 apply to this section.

Sec. 4   RCW 82.04.449 and 2006 c 112 s 5 are each amended to read as follows:
     In computing the tax imposed under this chapter, a credit is allowed for participants in the Washington customized employment training program created in RCW 28B.67.020. The credit allowed under this section is equal to fifty percent of the value of a participant's payments to the employment training finance account created in RCW 28B.67.030. If a participant in the program does not meet the ((qualifications in)) requirements of RCW 28B.67.020(2)(b)(ii), the participant must remit to the department the value of any credits taken plus interest. The credit earned by a participant in one calendar year may be carried over to be credited against taxes incurred in a subsequent calendar year. No credit may be allowed for repayment of training allowances received from the Washington customized employment training program on or after July 1, 2016.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 5   This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and takes effect immediately.