Legislature(2001 - 2002)
04/25/2002 02:35 PM Senate L&C
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
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+ teleconferenced
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SB 252-EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING PROGRAM/BOARD
CHAIRMAN STEVENS announced SB 252 to be up for consideration.
SENATOR TORGERSON moved to adopt amendment #1.
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A M E N D M E N T
OFFERED IN THE SENATE BY SENATOR TORGERSON
TO: CSSB 252( ), Draft Version "F"
Page 15, lines 13 - 23:
Delete all material.
Renumber the following bill sections accordingly.
Page 30, line 14:
Delete "sec. 57"
Insert "sec. 56"
Page 30, line 16:
Delete "secs. 1 - 47"
Insert "secs. 1 - 46"
Page 31, line 7:
Delete "48" in two places
Insert "47" in two places
Page 31, line 8:
Delete "sec. 48"
Insert "sec. 47"
Page 31, line 9:
Delete "Section 48"
Insert "Section 47"
Page 31, line 10:
Delete "Section 52(a)"
Insert "Section 51(a)"
Page 31, line 11:
Delete "secs. 55 and 56"
Insert "secs. 54 and 55"
He explained that it deletes the language that has lapsed since
the Alaska Technical and Vocational Education Fund. A legal
opinion says it's problematic if they keep it. He explained that
basically the money is available for them to take whenever they
want and they can't dedicate it to another source.
CHAIRMAN STEVENS asked if the lapsed funds automatically go back
into the general fund.
SENATOR TORGERSON answered, "It doesn't do anything. It leaves
them right there."
There were no objections and amendment #1 was adopted.
SENATOR TORGERSON asked his staff, Mary Jackson, to explain
amendment #2.
MS. MARY JACKSON, Staff to Senator Torgerson, said this
references subsection 6 in the study.
The department says that they are going to be able to
respond to the questions that were posed by this
committee previously. If in fact, that is the case,
then you would be able to go forward and delete item 6
from your study. The same applies for the next
amendment. That next amendment references the study,
section 8.
She referred to page 29 of the CS, line 14.
The department believes essentially that the reports
that they are providing on an annual basis encompasses
this and already gives you that information. What the
audit suggested was that a review of this program in
the context of the new federal legislation should be
undertaken. And that, frankly, was the intent of #6 and
it may just be that some tweaking of the language is
necessary so the department has a comfort level with
what is necessary. There is a new federal program; it
needs to be reviewed in the context of what the STEP
currently provides and that was the intent of #6 - is
that they provide facts that support the need for the
State Training and Employment Program.
SENATOR TORGERSON moved amendment #2.
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Craver
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A M E N D M E N T
OFFERED IN THE SENATE BY SENATOR TORGERSON
TO: CSSB 252( )
Page 29, line 14:
Delete all material.
Renumber the following paragraphs accordingly.
There were no objections and it was adopted.
SENATOR TORGERSON moved amendment #3.
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A M E N D M E N T
OFFERED IN THE SENATE BY SENATOR TORGERSON
TO: CSSB 252( )
Page 29, line 14, following "program;":
Insert "and"
Page 29, line 17:
Delete "; and "
Insert "."
Page 29, lines 18 - 19:
Delete all material.
SENATOR LEMAN asked why this language was being deleted.
MS. JACKSON said the Department would give them information today
that would answer his question on #8.
MS. REBECCA GAMEZ, Deputy Commissioner, Department of Labor, said
she Mr. Mike Shiffer, Program Coordinator for the Workforce
Investment Office that administers the State Training and
Employment Program (STEP), would explain the amendments that
would delete 6 and 8.
MR. SHIFFER explained:
Regarding the decision to request that we delete #6, we
feel that the annual report that is produced in
coordination between the Department of Labor and the
Alaska Human Resource Investment Council, that details
the performance of the STEP program on an annual basis,
speaks to the issues about the on-going need for
supporting the State Training Employment Program. It is
the state's most successful job training program. It's
the only program that the state actually contributes
dollars towards the job-training program. So, all other
job training dollars are federal funds. Between the
two, as well as the fact that the program has funded
over the last 10 years over 10,000 people in receiving
training services, we feel that there is clear and
ample evidence that there is a need for the STEP
program. We have the most recent draft of the FY2001,
which continues to demonstrate that the STEP program
continues to meet the performance measures that have
been laid out for it. We would, therefore, move that
item 6 is not necessary given all this other work that
is going on.
MS. GAMEZ said they have draft copies of the most recent STEP
report that had not officially been adopted by the Human Resource
Investment Council.
MR. SHIFFER continued to explain item 8.
The question relates to the issue about the difference
between public institution funding and the apparent
increase in union training. We have recently completed
our report to you, Senator, in which you asked us last
week about that. We believe that report satisfactorily
explains how the funds have been distributed between
FY'97 and FY'00. It demonstrates that while there was
an increase in FY 2000, that reflected an anomaly and
when we compare across all of the years, you don't see
a typical shift to the union programs. It just happened
significantly in one year.
MS. GAMEZ said that is covered under question #1 in the
April 24 letter that was delivered to the committee.
CHAIRMAN STEVENS asked if there were any objections to amendment
#3. There were none and it was adopted.
SENATOR TORGERSON moved amendment #4.
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2/10/03
A M E N D M E N T
OFFERED IN THE SENATE BY SENATOR TORGERSON
TO: CSSB 252( ), Draft Version "F"
Page 28, line 31:
Delete "2003"
Insert "2004"
He was reluctant to offer it, however, because he wasn't sure
that he agreed with the Department that this is the best program
we have in the state.
It needs to be looked at. We do this every year - go
into this program and we find problems with it. It's
not the only general fund money that we spend in the
state on training. It's far from it. As a matter of
fact, it's not even general fund money that we're
spending on the training program. Their total
allocation is $3 million or $3.4 or something. So,
there's a lot more money besides this. But at any rate,
the audit clearly brought out some problems within the
program that need to be looked at and they need to be
looked at in the shortest time frame possible…
CHAIRMAN STEVENS asked if there were any further objections to
amendment #4. There were no further objections and amendment 4
was adopted.
CHAIRMAN STEVENS said another technical amendment was needed to
delete the word "Investment" throughout the bill wherever it says
"Alaska Workforce Investment Board".
SENATOR TORGERSON asked why.
CHAIRMAN STEVENS said that it was requested by the Department.
MS. GAMEZ explained:
As I spoke with you last week, under the Workforce
Investment Act, the protocol of names has changed. So,
instead of having service delivery areas, they now have
local workforce investment boards and the Human
Resource Investment Council (HRIC) voted in one of
their meetings that it be changed to the Alaska
Workforce Board. They thought the acronym could have
been a little too interesting…
SENATOR AUSTERMAN asked if the federal act has now dropped the
word "Investment".
MS. GAMEZ replied:
No, the federal act is still the Workforce Investment
Act, but the local areas, so there's the
Anchorage/MatSu Local Workforce Investment Board and
then there is the balance of State Goal Workforce
Investment Board and the HRIC Council thought the
Alaska Workforce Board would be a better acronym than
the Alaska Workforce Investment Board because of some
of the plays on the acronym.
SENATOR AUSTERMAN objected. SENATORS TORGERSON, AUSTERMAN, and
STEVENS voted nay; SENATORS DAVIS and LEMAN voted yea; and the
amendment failed.
CHAIRMAN STEVENS said they would take testimony from the public
now.
MR. JAMES WAKEFIELD, Juneau realtor, said he supported the STEP
program.
I am taking this time away from my business to testify
because I believe that job training is an integral part
of economic development and a healthy economy. I also
serve as the Chair of the Balance of State Workforce
Investment Board for the same reason. I am here
representing the Board today. In fact, we're somewhat
frustrated that we're even here discussing this issue.
STEP has trained 13,000 Alaskans since 1989 and we
believe it should have become a permanent program some
time ago. If there are occasional issues to be
addressed, it can always be tweaked without having to
go through a complete reauthorization every couple of
years. If you do not make it a permanent program, at
least reauthorize it for four years as recommended in
your audit. We work under limited administrative
dollars and when staff has to spend expensive time
continually defending the program, that is time taken
away from providing those services. Providers and
businesses are always wondering if that program will be
around for another year and if this is the vehicle to
commit their energies towards if it is going to be gone
next year.
Alaska is facing a problem, as is the rest of the
nation, of a graying of the workforce, especially in
our construction and resource industries. STEP has a
good track record of training in these industries. We
are also facing the rapid changes in technology that
requires that businesses today need to continually
retrain incumbent workers to remain competitive. STEP
does not require expenditure from the general fund, as
you are aware. It comes from employee contributions to
the U.I. trust fund. Using U.I. funds to get people
back to work where they contribute rather than draw
down on unemployment insurance resources always makes
good business sense. Employers must have skilled
applicants to choose from in filling their jobs.
Incumbent worker training is a big issue in the private
sector and if businesses can retain employees rather
than laying them off, it not only benefits the
businesses, it benefits the local economy and the trust
fund.
STEP has been a vehicle for increased outreach by
apprentice programs in rural areas giving the local
residents opportunities for higher paying construction
jobs that used to go to outsiders. You have already
heard a couple of the success stories, like Hyder,
where over half of the eligible workforce in town has
been trained and is working in their new bottling plant
and Nome where locals are being trained and employed to
assemble fuel storage plants for rural Alaska. There
are numerous stories like this involving not only major
corporations, but small mom and pop businesses.
As we talk to other entities across the nation on what
they're doing in employment training, we tell them
about the program that we're doing here and some of the
stories and we've been encouraged to apply for national
recognition on some of these - because they are so well
received.
Our Board did a customer survey this year - the Balance
of State Workforce Investment Board survey, with a
mailing of over 900 surveys to STEP participants all
over our area, which encompasses the entire state
within exclusion of Anchorage and the MatSu. These
Alaskans confirmed an extremely high level of
satisfaction with STEP services. Over 87% of them
indicated that they were satisfied on a level of 7 or
better on a 10 point scale and 70% marked in 9 or 10 on
the satisfaction of the services. Over 94% of these
Alaskans said they would recommend STEP to family and
friends. STEP works and the people who have
participated in the program are satisfied with the
services.
The only concern our Board has at this time, and we are
working with staff to address this issue, and that is
the process - we in the private sector become easily
frustrated with paperwork. The Board has asked the
staff to try and streamline the process to minimalize
the paperwork and still have the oversight that is
necessary for publicly funded funds. I thank you for
your time and ask you to strongly consider these issues
I have addressed today.
CHAIRMAN TORGERSON said they took out the lapsed funding language
and it's still in the title so that needs to be taken out. He
moved on page 1, line 3, to delete "providing that lapsing
employment assistance and training program account funds may be
appropriated to the Alaska Technical and Vocational Education
Program." There were no objections and it was so adopted.
CHAIRMAN TORGERSON moved to pass CSSB 252(L&C) from committee
with individual recommendations and accompanying fiscal note.
There were no objections and it was so ordered.
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