Separate job and education panels OK ‘sector strategy’ bills to improve job-training, preparation
Measures address skill shortages, meeting employer needs
SACRAMENTO – In separate morning and afternoon hearings, two job-improvement bills pushed by Sen. Ted W. Lieu today on bipartisan votes cleared policy reviews and are a step closer to votes on the Assembly floor.
“In an era of limited resources, it is imperative that California implement a coordinated approach to workforce and economic development,” Lieu, D-Torrance, said after the votes by the Assembly Jobs, Economic Development and Economy Committee and the Assembly Higher Education Committee. “By implementing a sector strategy approach, the state can prioritize workforce investments in California’s competitive and emerging industry needs.”
Known as Senate Bills 1401 and 1402, the measures comprise an ongoing plan by Lieu, chair of the Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee, to help improve California’s economy and approach to job training. ‘Sector strategies’ are policy initiatives designed to promote the economic growth and development of a state's competitive industries using strategic workforce investments to boost labor productivity.
SB 1401 would require the state to develop an Industry Sector Initiative to serve as the cornerstone of the state’s workforce investment plan.
SB 1402, identified and labeled as a “job creator” by the California Chamber of Commerce, would extend the California Community College’s Economic and Workforce Development Program and implements a sector strategies approach, making the program better able to respond to changing economic conditions and more accountable for investments and performance by strengthening evaluations.
Together, the package of Lieu bills would help start transforming California government to focus on the state’s comparative advantages and is consistent with his longtime advocacy of more aggressive state efforts to create jobs, including the return of a unified state trade and commerce agency.
Both bills next face review by the Assembly Appropriations Committee. No dates have yet been set.
For more, including Fact Sheets on SB 1401 and SB 1402, please visit Lieu’s Web site at the address below.
Ted W. Lieu chairs the Senate Labor Committee and represents nearly 1 million residents of Senate District 28, which includes the cities of Carson, El Segundo, Hermosa Beach, Lomita, Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach and Torrance, as well as portions of Long Beach, Los Angeles and San Pedro. For more, visit www.senate.ca.gov/lieu
CONTACT:
Ray Sotero
Communications Director
Sen. Ted Lieu, Senate District 28
Capitol Building, Room 4090
Sacramento, Calif. 95814
(916) 651-4028
www.sen.ca.gov/Lieu
