LRB-1248/P7
MDE:emw
2023 - 2024 LEGISLATURE
DOA:......Kirschbaum, BB0246 - Worker Advancement Initiative
For 2023-2025 Budget -- Not Ready For Introduction
An Act ... relating to: the budget.
Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
employment
Worker advancement initiative
This bill requires DWD to establish and maintain a worker advancement initiative, through which DWD offers subsidized employment and skills training with local employers, targeted to individuals in sectors of the workforce that have not recovered from the loss of employees due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This program includes targeted subprograms related to the following: 1) health-care workforce opportunities; 2) training opportunities for jobs that require a commercial driver license; and 3) reengaging out-of-work, barriered, and underserved individuals through system transformation, through which DWD must find methods to more effectively reach and serve population groups that are underserved and disconnected from the labor force.
For further information see the state fiscal estimate, which will be printed as an appendix to this bill.
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows:
Section
1. 20.445 (1) (cm) of the statutes is created to read:
20.445 (1) (cm) Worker advancement initiative. As a continuing appropriation, the amounts in the schedule for the worker advancement initiative under s. 106.145.
****Note: This Section
involves a change in an appropriation that must be reflected in the revised schedule in s. 20.005, stats.
Section
2. 106.145 of the statutes is created to read:
106.145 Worker advancement initiative. (1) Worker advancement initiative. The department shall, from the appropriation under s. 20.445 (1) (cm), establish and administer a worker advancement initiative to offer participants subsidized employment and skills training opportunities with local employers. The department shall target the subsidized employment and skills training opportunities to individuals in sectors of the workforce that have not recovered from the loss of employees due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
(2) Worker advancement initiative; health-care workforce opportunity grants. (a) The department shall, from the appropriation under s. 20.445 (1) (cm), establish and administer a program to do all of the following:
1. Make grants to local workforce development boards established under
29 USC 3122 to assist individuals whose employment status was negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and whose employment status has not improved. The department shall prioritize connecting individuals to health-care-related employment opportunities.
2. Make grants to technical colleges and nursing schools to implement strategies to increase the number of graduates who go on to work in health-care-related fields.
3. Provide solutions to reduce barriers to employment in health-care-related fields and create ways to attract individuals to employment in health-care-related fields. Solutions to reduce barriers to employment may include services to fulfill clinical requirements, career navigation services, transportation services, and the provision of supplies.
(b) During the 2023-25 fiscal biennium, of the moneys in the appropriation under s. 20.445 (1) (cm), the department shall allocate $2,500,000 in each fiscal year of the 2023-25 fiscal biennium for establishing and administering the program under par. (a).
(3) Worker advancement initiative; local CDL training grants. The department shall, from the appropriation under s. 20.445 (1) (cm), make grants to local workforce development boards established under
29 USC 3122 to provide sector-based training programs related to increasing the number of individuals obtaining commercial driver licenses, as defined in s. 340.01 (7m).
(4) Worker advancement initiative; ROBUST program. (a) The department shall, from the appropriation under s. 20.445 (1) (cm), establish and administer a program for reengaging out-of-work, barriered, and underserved individuals through system transformation. Through the program, the department shall find methods to more effectively reach and serve population groups that are underserved and disconnected from the labor force.
(b) During the 2023-25 fiscal biennium, of the moneys in the appropriation under s. 20.445 (1) (cm), the department shall allocate $4,500,000 in fiscal year 2023-24 for establishing and administering the program under par. (a).
(5) Implementation. (a) Duties. To implement this section, the department shall receive and review applications for grants under subs. (2) and (3) and prescribe the form, nature, and extent of the information that must be contained in an application for a grant under sub. (2) or (3).
(b) Powers. In addition to the duties described in par. (a), the department shall have all other powers necessary and convenient to implement this section, including the power to audit and inspect the records of grant recipients.
(End)
