BILL NUMBER: AB 2726ENROLLED BILL TEXT PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 23, 2010 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 24, 2010 AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 21, 2010 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Bonnie Lowenthal FEBRUARY 19, 2010 An act to amend Section 14230 of the Unemployment Insurance Code, relating to employment development. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 2726, Bonnie Lowenthal. Employment Development Department: one-stop career centers: training: apprenticeship. The federal Workforce Investment Act of 1998 provides for workforce investment activities, including activities in which states may participate. Existing law contains various programs for job training and employment investment, including work incentive and employment training outreach programs. Existing law, the California Workforce Investment Act, declares the Legislature's intent to deliver comprehensive workforce services to jobseekers, students, and employers through a system of one-stop career centers that, among other things, make job outreach, intake, job search and placement assistance, and other related services available in one location. Existing law also requires each local workforce investment board to establish at least one full service one-stop career center in the local workforce investment area and to provide specified job placement services. This bill would specify that entrance into on-the-job training through an apprenticeship program approved by the Division of Apprenticeship Standards shall be considered placement into a job. The bill would further require the State Workforce Investment Board and local boards to ensure that programs and services funded by the Workforce Investment Act and directed to apprenticeable occupations, including preapprenticeship training, work in coordination with one or more apprenticeship programs approved by the Division of Apprenticeship Standards, as provided. By imposing new duties on local government with respect to the implementation of these local programs, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 14230 of the Unemployment Insurance Code is amended to read: 14230. (a) It is the intent of the Legislature that: (1) California deliver comprehensive workforce services to jobseekers, students, and employers through a system of one-stop career centers. (2) Services and resources target high-wage industry sectors with career advancement opportunities. (3) Universal access to core services shall be available to adult residents regardless of income, education, employment barriers, or other eligibility requirements. Core services shall include, but not be limited to: (A) Outreach, intake, and orientation to services available through the one-stop delivery system. (B) Initial assessment of skill levels, aptitudes, abilities, and supportive service needs. (C) Job search and placement assistance. (D) Career counseling, where appropriate. (E) Provision of labor market information. (F) Provision of program performance and cost information on eligible providers of training services and local area performance measures. (G) Provision of information on supportive services in the local area. (H) Provision of information on the filing of claims for unemployment compensation benefits and unemployment compensation disability benefits. (I) Assistance in establishing eligibility for welfare-to-work activities pursuant to Section 11325.8 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, and financial aid assistance. (4) State and federally funded workforce education, training, and employment programs shall be integrated in the one-stop delivery system to achieve universal access to the core services described in paragraph (3). (5) Intensive services shall be available to individuals who have completed at least one core service, have been unable to obtain employment, and who have been determined, by the one-stop operator, as being in need of more intensive services, or who are employed but in need of intensive services to obtain or retain employment to achieve self-sufficiency. Intensive services may include comprehensive and specialized assessments of skill levels and service needs, including learning disability screening, the development of individual employment plans, counseling, career planning, and short-term prevocational services to prepare an individual for training and employment. (6) Training services shall be made available to individuals who have met the requirements for intensive services, have been unable to obtain or retain employment through these services, and who, after an interview, evaluation, or assessment, are determined to be in need of training, and have selected a program of services directly linked to occupations in demand in the local or regional area. Training services may include: (A) Occupational skill training including training for nontraditional employment. (B) On-the-job training. (C) Programs that combine workplace training with related instruction. (D) Training programs operated by the private sector. (E) Skill upgrading and retraining. (F) Entrepreneurial training. (G) Job readiness training. (H) Adult education and literacy activities, including vocational English as a second language, provided in combination with subparagraphs (A) through (G), inclusive. (I) Customized training conducted by an employer or a group of employers or a labor-management training partnership with a commitment to employ an individual upon completion of the training. (7) As prescribed in the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, when funds are limited, priority for intensive services and training services shall be given to adult recipients of public assistance and other low-income adults, such as CalWORKs participants. (b) Each local workforce investment board shall establish at least one full service one-stop career center in the local workforce investment area. Each full service one-stop career center shall have all entities specified in Section 14231 as partners and shall provide jobseekers with integrated employment, education, training, and job search services. Additionally, employers shall be provided with access to comprehensive career and labor market information, job placement, economic development information, performance and program information on service providers, and other such services as the businesses in the community may require. (c) Entrance into on-the-job training through an apprenticeship program approved by the Division of Apprenticeship Standards shall be considered placement into a job. (d) The State Workforce Investment Board and local boards shall ensure that programs and services funded by the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 and directed to apprenticeable occupations, including preapprenticeship training, work in coordination with one or more apprenticeship programs approved by the Division of Apprenticeship Standards, when an applicable program is available within the geographic area. (e) Local boards may also establish affiliated and specialized centers, as defined in the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, which shall act as portals into the larger local one-stop system, but are not required to have all of the partners specified for full service one-stop centers. (f) Each local board shall develop a policy for identifying individuals who, because of their skills or experience, should be referred immediately to training services. This policy, along with the methods for referral of individuals between the one-stop operators and the one-stop partners for appropriate services and activities, shall be contained in the memorandum of understanding between the local board and the one-stop partners. (g) In light of California's diverse population, each one-stop career center should have the capacity to provide the appropriate services to the full range of languages and cultures represented in the community served by the one-stop career center. SEC. 2. If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.