AN ACT Relating to the adoption of the 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 2014 c 112 s 104 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) The board shall develop a state comprehensive plan for workforce training and education for a ten-year time period. The board shall submit the ten-year state comprehensive plan to the governor and the appropriate legislative policy committees. 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)) may hold public hearings and, 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 identify the strategic industry clusters targeted by the workforce development system. In identifying the strategic clusters, the board shall consult with the department of commerce to identify clusters that meet the criteria identified by the working group convened by the department of commerce and the workforce training and education coordinating board under RCW 43.330.280.

(6) The board shall report to the appropriate legislative policy committees by December 1st 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.

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