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Budget Recommendations
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Outside Section 50
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Reunification of Labor and Workforce Development
SECTION 50.
Chapter 23 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting at the end thereof the following new sections:-
Section 25. (a) The director of labor and workforce development shall administer the system of free public employment offices established in sections 160 through 168A of chapter 149, through the division of career services.
(b) Said division shall have control of the establishment, maintenance and operation of free public employment offices of the commonwealth. The Massachusetts rehabilitation commission shall cooperate with the division in the placement of handicapped persons under the provisions of section 81 of chapter 6.
(c) The department shall be the state agency for co-operation with the United States Employment Service under chapter 49 of the acts of the 73rd Congress, session I, known as the Wagner-Peyser Act, and shall have all the powers of such an agency as specified in said act. The director shall assure that all information secured as an incident to the public employment service program is used solely for the purpose of administering the commonwealth system of public employment offices as part of a national system of public employment offices, except that such information may be disclosed for other purposes in accordance with policies promulgated by the deputy director of employment security, provided that such disclosure will not impede the operation of or be inconsistent with the purposes of the public employment service program, or where such disclosure is otherwise authorized or required by law. Whoever discloses such information other than as required or authorized by law shall be subject to the penalty set forth in section 46 of chapter 151A.
(d) The director, in consultation with the secretary, shall divide the commonwealth into employment districts. Subject to appropriation, he may establish and maintain such additional free public employment offices as he may find necessary. The director may contract with one-stop operators, certified in accordance with the provisions of Public Law 105-220, to provide such offices and shall have all the powers of such an agency as specified in said act. In addition, the director shall consult with the deputy director of the division of unemployment assistance to determine the share of the capital and operating expenses of said offices necessary or convenient for the proper administration of chapter 151A. The division of unemployment assistance shall reimburse the department for said share. Said offices shall be available for the payment of benefits, presentation of claims, registration of the unemployed, action to procure employment for the unemployed, and for the proper administration of chapter 151A.
Section 26. (a) Subject to appropriation, the director of labor and workforce development shall make expenditures on workforce training grants for the following purposes:
(1) To provide grants to employers, employer groups, labor organizations and training providers for projects to provide education and training to existing employees and newly hired workers. In determining who shall receive grants, the director shall consider the following criteria:
(i) whether the project will increase the skills of low-wage, low-skilled workers;
(ii) whether the project will create or preserve jobs at wages sufficient to support a family;
(iii) whether the project will have a positive economic impact on a region with high levels of unemployment or a high concentration of low-skilled workers;
(iv) whether the employer has made a commitment to provide significant private investment in training during the duration of the grant and after the grant has expired;
(v) whether the project will supplement, rather than replace, private investments in training;
(vi) whether the employer is a small business that lacks the capacity to provide adequate training without such assistance;
(vii) whether the project will provide residents of the commonwealth with training for jobs that could otherwise be filled only by residents of other nations; and
(viii) whether the project is consistent with the workforce development blueprint prepared by the regional employment board.
Such grants shall be for amounts not to exceed $1,000,000 until June 30, 2005 and thereafter shall be for amounts not to exceed $250,000. Grants shall be for a term not to exceed 2 years.
(2) To provide technical assistance to increase training opportunities available to employees. The director may provide this direct technical assistance by using existing institutions such as workforce investment boards, community colleges, labor organizations, administrative entities under the federal Workforce Investment Act, Public Law 105-220, and other entities that have expertise in providing technical assistance regarding employee training or with employees of the department of labor and workforce development or of the corporation for business, work and learning. Such expenditures shall not exceed $3,000,000 each year and the director shall demonstrate that each $1 expended generates not less than $5 in private investment in job training.
(b) The director shall adopt regulations, with the approval of the secretary, pursuant to chapter 30A to carry out this section.
(c) Not later than September 1 of each year, the director shall file a report in writing with the joint committee on commerce and labor and the house and senate committees on ways and means concerning the grants made in the fiscal year ending on the preceding June 30, together with such recommendations and additional information as the director considers appropriate.
(d) Documentary materials or data made or received by an employee of the department, to the extent that such materials or data consist of trade secrets or commercial or financial information regarding the operation of a business conducted by an applicant for a grant from the fund established by this section, shall not be public records and shall not be subject to section 10 of chapter 66.
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