Senate Bill No. 503
(By Senators Unger, Kessler, McCabe, Sprouse and Hunter)
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[Introduced February 11, 2004; referred to the Committee on
Economic Development; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §5B-2B-2, §5B-2B-4, §5B-2B-5 and §5B-
2B-9 of the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, all
relating to the West Virginia workforce investment act;
updating terms; outlining duties; and creating the workforce
investment interagency collaborative team.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §5B-2B-2, §5B-2B-4, §5B-2B-5 and §5B-2B-9 of the code
of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all
to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2B. WEST VIRGINIA WORKFORCE INVESTMENT ACT.
§5B-2B-2. Definitions.
As used in this article, the following terms have the
following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates
otherwise:
(1) "Commission" or "legislative oversight commission" means
the legislative oversight commission on workforce investment for
economic development created pursuant to section seven of this
article.
(2) "Council" means the West Virginia workforce investment
council.
(3) "Team" means the workforce investment interagency
collaborative team.
§5B-2B-4. Duties of the workforce investment council.
(a) The council shall assist the governor in the:
(1) Development and revision of a strategic five-year state
workforce investment plan, including the establishment of an
overall workforce investment public agenda with goals and
benchmarks of success for the state, state agencies and for
local workforce investment boards;
(2) Development and continuous improvement of a statewide
system of workforce investment activities including:
(A) Development of linkages in order to assure coordination
and nonduplication of services and activities of workforce
investment programs conducted by various entities in the state;
and
(B) The review of strategic plans created and submitted by
local workforce investment boards;
(3) Commenting at least annually on the measures taken by
the state pursuant to the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied
Technology Education Act, 20 U.S.C. §2323;
(4) Designation and revision of local workforce investment
areas;
(5) Development and revision of allocation formulas for the distribution of funds for adult employment and training
activities and youth activities to local areas;
(6) Development and continuous improvement of comprehensive
state performance measures, including state adjusted levels of
performance, to assess the effectiveness of the workforce
investment activities in the state;
(7) Preparation of the annual report to the secretary of
labor as required by the Workforce Investment Act, 29 U.S.C.
§2871;
(8) Development and continued improvement of a statewide
employment statistics system; and
(9) Development and revision of an application for workforce
investment incentive grants.
(b) The council shall make a report to the legislative
oversight commission on or before the first fifteenth day of
September January of each year detailing: (1) All the publicly
funded workforce investment programs operating in the state,
including the amount of federal and state funds expended by each
program, how the funds are spent and the resulting improvement to
the workforce; (2) its the council's recommendations concerning
future use of funds for workforce investment programs; (3) its
the council's analysis of operations of local workforce
investment programs; and (4) the council's recommendations for
the establishment of an overall workforce investment public
agenda with goals and benchmarks of success
for the state, state agencies and for local workforce investment boards
; and (5) any
other information the commission may require.
§5B-2B-5. State agencies.
On or before the first day of August November any state
agency that receives federal or state funding that may be has
been used for workforce investment activities for the past fiscal
year shall provide to the council a report, detailing the source
and amount of federal, state or other funds received; the
purposes for which the funds were provided; the services provided
in each regional workforce investment area; the measures used to
evaluate program performance, including current and baseline
performance data; and any other information requested by the
council. All reports submitted pursuant to this section are to be
in a form approved by the council.
§5B-2B-9. Coordination between agencies providing workforce
investment programs, local workforce investment boards and
the executive director of the West Virginia development
office.
(a) To provide on-going attention to addressing issues that
will build and continually improve the overall workforce
investment system, the workforce investment interagency
collaborative team is hereby created. The team shall be the
single state interagency source for addressing issues or concerns
related to building and maintaining the most effective and
efficient implementation of the federal workforce investment act and the overall workforce development system in West Virginia.
The team is to focus on how best to collaborate between and among
the state agencies directly involved in workforce investment
activities and shall develop a strategic plan to that end. The
team shall serve as a forum for the council to seek information
or recommendations in furtherance of its responsibilities under
this article. The West Virginia development office is the entity
which shall convene the team at least monthly and shall provide
administrative and other services to the team as the team
requires.
(b) The team shall consist of members from each agency
subject to the reporting provisions of section five of this
article. Each agency shall appoint two representatives to the
team consisting of the chief official of the department or
division and the official within that department or division who
is directly responsible for overseeing the workforce investment
program or activities at the state level. A designee may be
selected to represent a member appointed to the team: Provided,
That the designee has policy-making decision authority regarding
workforce investment activities including program and fiscal
issues. The team members are to have authority to make decisions
on behalf of the agency at the level required for the team to
address issues and advance system improvements.
(c) Beginning the first day of January, two thousand three,
in order to lawfully continue any workforce investment activities, any agency subject to the reporting provisions of
section five of this article shall enter into a memorandum of
understanding with the executive director of the West Virginia
development office and any local workforce investment board
representing an area of this state in which the agency is
engaged in workforce investment activities. To the extent
permitted by federal law, the agreements are to maximize
coordination of workforce investment activities and eliminate
duplication of services on both state and local levels.
(b) (d) No memorandum of understanding may be effective for
more than one year without annual reaffirmation by the parties.
(c) (e) Any state agency entering a memorandum of
understanding shall deliver a copy thereof to both the West
Virginia workforce investment council and the legislative
oversight commission.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to change certain
reporting requirements.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.
This is an interim bill that was proposed for introduction
in the 2004 Legislative Session by the Legislative Oversight
Commission on Workforce Investment for Economic Development.
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