BILL NUMBER: SB 956INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Senator Romero (Coauthors: Senators Alquist and Oropeza) FEBRUARY 5, 2010 An act to add Section 14025 to the Unemployment Insurance Code, relating to workforce development. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 956, as introduced, Romero. Workforce development: California School Paraprofessional Teacher Training Program. The federal Workforce Investment Act of 1998 makes funding available to states that offer training and workforce development services through the state and local workforce investment boards. The California Workforce Investment Board, which is the entity responsible for assisting the Governor in the development, oversight, and continuous improvement of California's workforce investment system, is required to recommend strategies to the Governor for strategic training investments of certain discretionary funding made available under the federal Workforce Investment Act of 1998. Existing law also establishes the California School Paraprofessional Teacher Training Program for the purpose of recruiting school paraprofessionals to encourage them to enroll in teacher training programs and to provide instructional service as teachers in the public schools. This bill would require the California Workforce Investment Board to allocate $5,000,000 of the federal Workforce Investment Act's 15% discretionary funds to the Commission on Teacher Credentialing to increase spending for the California School Paraprofessional Teacher Training Program. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 14025 is added to the Unemployment Insurance Code, to read: 14025. In accordance with the policies and purposes of the federal Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. Sec. 2801 et seq.), and its implementing regulations, and to the extent that federal funding is made available to the state under the act, the board shall allocate five million dollars ($5,000,000) of the federal Workforce Investment Act's 15-percent discretionary funds to the Commission on Teacher Credentialing to increase spending for the California School Paraprofessional Teacher Training Program (Article 12 (commencing with Section 44390) of Chapter 2 of Part 25 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Education Code).