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ENGROSSED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 638
(By Senator Plymale)
____________
[Originating in the Committee on Education;
reported February 24, 2006.]
____________
A BILL to amend and reenact §18B-3D-2, §18B-3D-3,
§18B-3D-4 and
§18B-3D-5
of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, all
relating to Workforce Development Initiative Program; program
continuation under West Virginia Council for Community and
Technical College Education; appointment of advisory committee
members; requiring report to Legislative Oversight Commission
on Education Accountability; requiring plan as part of
institutional compact; requiring promulgation of legislative
rule; providing for continuation of current rule; and
making
technical corrections
.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §18B-3D-2, §18B-3D-3,
§18B-3D-4 and §18B-3D-5
of the Code
of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all
to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3D. WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE.
§18B-3D-2. Workforce Development Initiative Program continued;
purpose; program administration; rule required.
(a) For the purposes of this article, "development office"
means the West Virginia development office provided in article two,
chapter five-b of this code.
(b) (a) There is under the development office a The Workforce
Development Initiative Program is continued under the supervision
of the council. The purpose of the program is to administer and
oversee grants to community and technical colleges to achieve the
purposes implement the provisions of this article in accordance
with legislative intent. The primary responsibility of the
development office as it relates to the workforce development
initiative program is
(b) It is the responsibility of the council to administer the
state fund for community and technical college and workforce
development, including setting criteria for grant applications,
receiving applications for grants, making determinations on
distribution of funds and evaluating the performance of workforce
development initiatives.
(c) The Executive Director of the Development Office
chancellor, under the direction of the council, shall review and
approve the expenditure of all grant funds, including development
of application criteria, the review and selection of applicants for
funding and the annual review and justification of applicants for grant renewal.
(1) To aid in decisionmaking, the Executive Director of the
Development Office appoints chancellor appoints an advisory
committee consisting of the chancellor of the West Virginia council
for community and technical college education Executive Director of
the West Virginia Development Office or designee; the Secretary of
Education and the Arts or designee; the Assistant State
Superintendent for Technical and Adult Education; the Chair of the
West Virginia Council for Community and Technical College
Education; and the Chair of the West Virginia Workforce Investment
Council, the Executive Director of Workforce West Virginia, two
members representing business and industry and one member
representing labor. The advisory committee shall review all
applications for workforce development initiative grants and make
a report including recommendations for distributing grant funds to
the Executive Director of the Development Office council. The
advisory committee also shall make recommendations on methods to
share among the community and technical colleges any curricula
developed as a result of a workforce development initiative grant.
(2) When determining which grant proposals will be funded, the
Executive Director of the Development Office council shall give
special consideration to proposals by community and technical
colleges that involve businesses with fewer than fifty employees.
(3) The Executive Director of the Development Office council
shall weigh each proposal to avoid awarding grants which will have
the ultimate effect of providing unfair advantage to employers new to the state who will be in direct competition with established
local businesses.
(d) The Executive Director of the Development Office council
may allocate a reasonable amount, not to exceed five percent up to
a maximum of fifty thousand dollars of the funds available for
grants on an annual basis, for general program administration.
(e) The Executive Director of the Development Office council
shall report to the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education
Accountability and the Legislative Oversight Commission on
Workforce Investment for Economic Development on the status of the
Workforce Development Initiative Program annually by the first day
of December.
(f)
Moneys
appropriated or otherwise available for the
Workforce Development Initiative Program shall be allocated by line
item to an appropriate account. Any moneys remaining in the fund
at the close of a fiscal year are carried forward for use in the
next fiscal year.
(g) Nothing in this article requires a specific level of
appropriation by the Legislature.
§18B-3D-3. Mission of the Workforce Development Initiative
Program.
(a) The statewide mission of the Workforce Development
Initiative Program is to develop a strategy to strengthen the
quality of the state's workforce by linking the existing
post-secondary education capacity to the needs of business,
industry and other employers. Available funding will be used to provide explicit incentives for partnerships between employers and
community and technical colleges to develop comprehensive workforce
development services. Funds will be granted on the basis of
proposals developed according to criteria established by the
development office council.
(b) The mission of any community and technical college
accepting a workforce development initiative grant is to:
(1) Become client-focused and develop programs that meet
documented employer needs;
(2) Involve and collaborate with employers in the development
of programs;
(3) Develop customized training programs that provide for the
changing needs of employers and that are offered at flexible times
and locations to accommodate employer scheduling;
(4) Develop partnerships with other public and private
providers, including small business development centers and
vocational, technical and adult education centers, and, with
business and labor, to fulfill the workforce development needs of
the service area;
(5) Establish cooperative arrangements with the public school
system for the seamless progression of students through programs of
study that begin at the secondary level and conclude at the
community and technical college level, particularly with respect to
career and technical education certificates, associate of applied
science and selected associate of science degree programs for
students seeking immediate employment, individual entrepreneurship skills, occupational development, skill enhancement and career
mobility; and
(6) Assist in the on-going assessment of the workforce
development needs of the service area. and
(7) Serve as a visible point of contact and referral for
services to meet the workforce development needs of the service
area.
§18B-3D-4. Grant application procedures.
(a) In order to participate in the workforce development
initiative grant program, a community and technical college must
shall meet the following conditions:
(1) Participate in a community and technical college consortia
planning district as required by article three-c of this chapter.
Consortia representatives shall participate in the development of
and approve applications for funding grants under the provisions of
this article and shall approve the workforce development initiative
budget;
(2) Develop, as a component of its institutional compact, a
plan to achieve measurable improvements in the quality of the
workforce within its service area over a five-year period the
period covered by the compact. The plan must be is developed in
partnership with employers, local vocational schools and other
workforce education providers; and
(3) Establish a special revolving fund under the jurisdiction
of the community and technical college consortia dedicated solely
to workforce development initiatives for the purposes provided in this article. Any fees or revenues generated from workforce
development initiatives funded by a competitive grant shall be are
deposited into this fund.
(b) To be eligible to receive a workforce development
initiative grant, a community and technical college must shall
provide at least the following information in its application:
(1) Identification of the specific business or business sector
training needs that will be met if a workforce development
initiative grant is received;
(2) A commitment from the private or public sector partner or
partners to provide a match of one dollar, cash and in-kind, for
each dollar of state grant money received except:
(A) In cases where the community and technical college can
demonstrate in the grant application that it would be a hardship
for the private sector partner or partners being served to provide
the match. In those cases only, the commitment to provide a match
may be reduced to one dollar provided by the private sector partner
or partners, cash and in-kind, for every three dollars of state
grant money provided. In the case of awards for the modernization
of procurement of equipment, the development office may establish
a separate match requirement of up to one dollar, cash and in-kind,
for each dollar of state grant money received to provide a
dollar-to-dollar match, the match may be reduced to one dollar for
each three dollars of state funding.
(B) In cases where the grant award is to be used to modernize
equipment, the council may establish a separate match requirement not to exceed one dollar, cash or in-kind, for each state dollar
awarded.
(C) Beginning in fiscal year 2006, the commitment required by
this subdivision may be provided by a public sector partner using
state or federal dollars to provide the required match Provided,
That no public sector partner using state or federal dollars to
provide the required match is eligible for a grant under the
provisions of this section unless the amount of funding provided by
the Legislature for the workforce development initiative in that
fiscal year exceeds six hundred fifty thousand dollars: Provided,
however, That if the amount of funding provided by the Legislature
for the workforce investment initiative in a fiscal year exceeds
six hundred fifty thousand dollars, only one half of that amount
exceeding six hundred fifty thousand dollars may be granted to a
qualified applicant whose commitment of the required match is from
a public sector partner using state or federal dollars to provide
the match if funding for this initiative in the fiscal year exceeds
six hundred fifty thousand dollars in which case, one-half the
amount exceeding six hundred fifty thousand dollars may be granted
using a public sector match;
(3) An agreement to share with other community and technical
colleges any curricula developed using funds from a workforce
development initiative grant;
(4) A specific plan showing how the community and technical
college will collaborate with local post-secondary vocational
institutions to maximize the use of existing facilities, personnel and equipment; and
(5) An acknowledgment that acceptance of a grant under the
provisions of this article commits the community and technical
college and its consortia committee to such terms, conditions and
deliverables as is specified by the development office council in
the request for applications, including, but not limited to, the
measures by which the performance of the workforce development
initiative will be evaluated.
(c) Applications submitted by community and technical colleges
may be awarded funds for programs which meet the requirements of
this article that are operated on a collaborative basis at
facilities under the jurisdiction of the public schools and
utilized by both secondary and post-secondary students.
§18B-3D-5. Legislative rules.
The Executive Director of the Development Office council shall
propose a legislative rule pursuant to article three-a, chapter
twenty-nine-a of this code to implement the provisions of this
article and shall file the rule with the legislative oversight
commission on education accountability no later than the first day
of September, two thousand five six.
Any rule promulgated by the West Virginia Development Office
pursuant to previous enactments of this section and in effect as of
on the effective date of the amendment and reenactment of this
section in the year two thousand five will remain six remains in
effect until amended, modified, repealed or replaced by the
council.