By: Anchia H.B. No. 3856
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to building workforce skills to compete for trade-related
jobs, business opportunities and investment.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 61.022, Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec.61.022(a). The board shall consist of nine members
appointed by the governor so as to provide representation from all
areas of the state with the advice and consent of the senate, and as
the constitution provides. Members of the board serve staggered
six-year terms. The terms of one-third of the members expire August
31 of each odd-numbered year.
(b) A board member may not be employed professionally for
remuneration in the field of education during the member's term of
office.
(c) One board member shall have over ten years of experience
in a multinational corporation, export business, international
investment business, or senior management position an
international transportation, logistics, export or trade industry,
or have occupied an executive role in a trade related government
agency of the federal government or the state.
SECTION 2. Section 301.001, Labor Code, is amended to read
as follows:
Sec. 301.001. PURPOSE; AGENCY GOALS; DEFINITIONS. (a) The
Texas Workforce Commission is a state agency established to operate
an integrated workforce development system in this state, in
particular through the consolidation of job training, employment,
and employment-related educational programs available in this
state, and to administer the unemployment compensation insurance
program in this state.
(b) The commission shall meet the needs of:
(1) the businesses of this state for the development
of a highly skilled and productive workforce;
(2) the workers of this state for education, skills
training, and labor market information to enhance their
employability, earnings, and standard of living and for an
efficient unemployment compensation system;
(3) the people of this state who are making a
transition into the workforce, particularly persons receiving
public assistance, displaced homemakers, and students making the
transition from school to work;
(4) the communities of this state to provide economic
incentive programs for job creation, attraction, and expansion; and
(5) the taxpayers of this state to ensure that tax
revenues for workforce development are spent efficiently and
effectively.
(c) Current funding allocations to commission programs
shall be subject to annual review to ensure they are responsive to
the workforce demands of the marketplace, including emerging
markets for value-added services and products, particularly those
trades and professions related to international exports, foreign
direct investment, trade-related transportation and logistics, and
allied professions.
SECTION 3. Section 301.002, Labor Code, is amended to read
as follows:
Sec. 301.002(a). The commission is composed of three
members:
(1) one member who is a representative of labor;
(2) one member who is a representative of employers;
and
(3) one member who is a representative of the public.
(b) The governor shall appoint the members and make the
appointments without regard to the race, color, disability, sex,
religion, age, or national origin of the appointees.
(c) The member who is a representative of employers shall
have over ten years of experience in a multinational corporation,
export business, international investment business, or senior
management position an international transportation, logistics,
export or trade industry, or have occupied an executive role in a
trade related government agency of the federal government or the
state.
SECTION 4._Section 301.041, Labor Code, is amended to read as
follows:
Sec. 301.041. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR; AGENCY PERSONNEL. (a)
The commission shall appoint an executive director to administer
the daily operations of the commission in compliance with federal
law.
(b) A reference in this code or another law to the "agency
administrator" of the commission means the executive director.
(c) The executive director may:
(1) appoint and prescribe the powers and duties of all
commission staff, including officers, accountants, attorneys,
experts, and other persons as necessary in the performance of the
commission's duties;
(2) delegate authority to a person appointed under
this section as the executive director considers reasonable and
proper for the effective administration of this title;
(3) employ and terminate the employment of commission
staff members; and
(4) bond any person that handles money or signs checks
under this title.
(d) The executive director or a person designated by the
executive director shall develop a system of annual performance
evaluations based on measurable job tasks. All merit pay for
commission employees must be based on the system established under
this subsection.
(e) The member who is a representative of employers shall
have over ten years of experience in a multinational corporation,
export business, international investment business, or senior
management position an international transportation, logistics,
export or trade industry, or have occupied an executive role in a
trade related government agency of the federal government or the
state.
SECTION 4. Subchapter A, Chapter 302, Labor Code, is
amended by adding section 302.018 to read as follows:
Section 302.018. TEXAS GLOBAL WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT TASK
FORCE. (a) In this section, "task force" means the Texas Global
Workforce Development Task Force.
(b) An interagency task force is created to:
(1) develop or update a process to allow agencies to
work together to identify the key emerging global markets for Texas
manufactured goods, intellectual property, artisanal and craft
industries, and other Texas products, and for potential new foreign
direct investment in Texas educational, research and development,
high-technology, energy and environmental, biopharmaceutical,
logistics and transportation, tourism and recreational, and Texas'
other priority industry sectors; and formulate a strategy to be
entitled the "Texas Global Workforce Strategy;"
(2) consult with local governments, educational
institutions, economic development and metropolitan planning
organizations, workforce development agencies, small business
agencies, chambers of commerce, trade associations, and other
stakeholders, to elicit recommendations on a statewide strategy for
training a new generation of Texas workers and small business
owners to compete for jobs in Texas' export-related industries; and
(3) develop regulatory and legislative
recommendations to eliminate duplication and combine program
services.
(c) The task force is composed of the heads of the following
agencies or their designees, and other state and local entities to
be designated as necessary or appropriate:
(1) the Texas Department of Rural Affairs;
(2) the Texas Department of Transportation;
(3) the Texas Workforce Commission;
(4) the General Land Office;
(5) the Texas Economic Development and Tourism Office;
(6) the Office of State-Federal Relations;
(7) the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board;
(8) the secretary of state's office; and
(9) the Railroad Commission of Texas.
(d) The task force shall meet at least once quarterly in
Austin to report on results of their studies, to invite successful
international businesses to share insight into their workforce
development needs, to conduct public consultations on key workforce
development challenges and opportunities, and to showcase best
practices and case studies from other states, provinces and
nations.
(e) The task force will also invite experts from government
and academia to report on illicit forms of trade-related
employment, including human trafficking and narcotics trade.
(f) No later than December 31, 2014, the Task Force shall
publish its findings and strategic recommendations, including
selected case studies from other nations, and a strategic plan to
boost jobs related to exports and foreign direct investment by 20%
by the year 2025; and
(g) In fulfilling its duties, the task force shall consider
opportunities to collaborate with the federal government,
including trade promotion and finance programs of the U.S.
Department of Commerce, U.S. Department of Agriculture and other
federal government departments, and the effect of federal policies,
including trade agreements, upon Texas' business opportunities in
the global marketplace.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2013.