87R11719 KJE-F
 
  By: Bettencourt S.B. No. 1622
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to measures to support workforce development in the state,
  including the establishment of the Tri-Agency Workforce Initiative
  and additional employer workforce data reporting.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Subtitle G, Title 10, Government Code, is
  amended by adding Chapter 2308A to read as follows:
  CHAPTER 2308A. TRI-AGENCY WORKFORCE INITIATIVE
         Sec. 2308A.001.  DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
               (1)  "Agency," unless the context requires otherwise,
  means the Texas Education Agency.
               (2)  "Career education and training program" means:
                     (A)  a career and technology education program
  offered by a public school or an institution of higher education; 
                     (B)  a program administered by the commission
  relating to jobs training, skills development, or adult education
  and literacy; and
                     (C)  a work-based learning program, such as an
  apprenticeship or internship program, that receives state funding
  or is administered by the commission.
               (3)  "Commission" means the Texas Workforce
  Commission.
               (4)  "Coordinating board" means the Texas Higher
  Education Coordinating Board.
               (5)  "Fund" means the Tri-Agency Workforce Initiative
  Fund established under Section 2308A.017.
               (6)  "Initiative" means the Tri-Agency Workforce
  Initiative.
               (7)  "Institution of higher education" has the meaning
  assigned by Section 61.003, Education Code.
               (8)  "State workforce development goals" means the
  state workforce development goals adopted under Section 2308A.006.
         Sec. 2308A.002.  PURPOSE. The Tri-Agency Workforce
  Initiative is established to coordinate and optimize information
  and other resources as necessary to:
               (1)  align career education and training programs to
  workforce demands;
               (2)  provide residents of the state with timely and
  accurate information needed to plan education and workforce
  pathways; and
               (3)  enable local and state policymakers to evaluate
  the effectiveness of career education and training programs and
  progress toward the state workforce development goals. 
         Sec. 2308A.003.  INTERAGENCY AGREEMENT AND STAFFING. (a)
  The agency, coordinating board, and commission shall enter into an
  interagency agreement establishing policies and processes for:
               (1)  sharing and cooperatively managing education and
  workforce information collected by each respective agency; and
               (2)  sharing staff, including colocation of staff
  assigned to the initiative on a full-time basis, and other
  resources necessary to effectuate the state workforce development
  goals and the strategies for achieving those goals adopted under
  Section 2308A.006.
         (b)  The policies and processes established in the agreement
  under Subsection (a) must ensure that data collected by the agency,
  coordinating board, or commission is matched at the student level
  and made available for use in accordance with this chapter.
         (c)  A full-time equivalent employee of the agency,
  coordinating board, or commission whose time and effort are
  dedicated exclusively to supporting the work of the initiative is
  not included in the calculation of the number of full-time
  equivalent employees allotted to the respective agency under other
  law.
         Sec. 2308A.004.  QUARTERLY MEETINGS. The agency,
  coordinating board, and commission shall meet at least once each
  quarter to conduct the business of the initiative.
         Sec. 2308A.005.  UNIFIED WORKFORCE DATA REPOSITORY. (a) The
  agency, coordinating board, and commission shall use the
  P-20/Workforce Data Repository established under Section
  1.005(j-1), Education Code, as the central repository of career and
  education data. After a comprehensive review of data collected by
  the respective agency, the agency, coordinating board, and
  commission shall incorporate into the repository all data
  determined by the executive officer of that agency to be integral to
  the state workforce development goals and the strategies for
  achieving those goals adopted under Section 2308A.006.
         (b)  Any data or reports made accessible to the public under
  the initiative must comply with rules adopted under Section 1.006,
  Education Code, to ensure the appropriate use of data in the
  repository, including compliance with applicable state and federal
  laws governing use of and access to the data. 
         (c)  The agency, coordinating board, and commission shall
  ensure that records deposited in the repository are automatically
  matched at the student level on a timely basis to ensure that the
  agency, the coordinating board, and the commission and each school
  district, institution of higher education, and workforce entity
  authorized to access the repository has timely information to
  support higher education and workforce application, entry, and
  success.
         Sec. 2308A.006.  STATE WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT GOALS AND
  STRATEGIES. (a) The agency, coordinating board, and commission
  jointly shall adopt and post in a prominent location on the
  initiative's and each respective agency's Internet website state
  workforce development goals and coordinated interagency strategies
  for achieving those goals.
         (b)  The goals adopted under Subsection (a) must:
               (1)  include goals for the attainment of employment in
  jobs that pay a living wage for all career education and training
  programs in the state;
               (2)  be disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and gender
  for each workforce development region; and
               (3)  provide for:
                     (A)  locally determined priorities consistent
  with state goals; and
                     (B)  collaborative planning and coordination with
  public schools, institutions of higher education, and local
  workforce development boards.
         (c)  The strategies adopted under Subsection (a) must:
               (1)  include strategies for expanding work-based
  learning;
               (2)  articulate the ways in which the state can best
  leverage federal funding; and
               (3)  be demonstrably guided by:
                     (A)  education and workforce data sets matched at
  the student level;
                     (B)  performance evaluation measures, including
  return on investment formulas; and
                     (C)  prioritized occupational classifications,
  including all target occupations and critical career pathways
  designated under Subsection (e).
         (d)  The agency, coordinating board, and commission jointly
  shall update the state workforce development goals and strategies
  adopted under Subsection (a) at least every four years, or more
  frequently if needed to reflect available data and circumstances.
         (e)  The agency, coordinating board, and commission shall
  designate and update every two years a list of career pathways that
  includes the following two priority categories:
               (1)  target occupations, which include current needs
  that exist in one or more regions of the state as reflected in
  regional workforce assessments that:
                     (A)  use the best available data and local
  employer requests; and
                     (B)  satisfy minimum federal standards for
  designations, such as a foundation for qualified use of federal
  workforce funding; and
               (2)  critical career pathways that reflect the best
  statewide data and forecasts of attractive skills and careers
  expected to grow in the state that may:
                     (A)  be associated with new emerging industries or
  new specialty occupations within an industry; or
                     (B)  reflect lateral pathways to better wages for
  workers with documented skills that provide promotional
  opportunities within or across occupations with targeted upskill
  training.
         (f)  Not later than June 1, 2022, the agency, coordinating
  board, and commission jointly shall make recommendations regarding
  the development of a modernized and expanded job skills inventory
  for the state that classifies and matches evolving skills in a
  rapidly changing economy to career education and training programs
  and career pathways designated under Subsection (e) that are most
  important to the state. This subsection expires September 1, 2022.
         Sec. 2308A.007.  CREDENTIAL LIBRARY. (a) The agency,
  coordinating board, and commission jointly shall establish a
  web-based library of credentials issued by any public or private
  entity that are:
               (1)  aligned with recognized skills and industry
  standards; 
               (2)  available to residents of the state; and
               (3)  used by employers in the state.
         (b)  The agency, coordinating board, and commission jointly
  shall designate a host agency or operating entity for the
  credential library. The host agency or operating entity shall
  perform trend and utilization analysis for each credential in the
  library to determine the credential's value in the state labor
  force.
         Sec. 2308A.008.  ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT. The Texas
  Workforce Investment Council shall provide administrative support,
  including resources and staff, for the initiative.
         Sec. 2308A.009.  INTERNET WEBSITE. (a) The agency,
  coordinating board, and commission shall cooperatively establish a
  central Internet website for the initiative that contains publicly
  accessible career and workforce information. The Internet website
  must include:
               (1)  a unified dashboard, updated on an annual or more
  frequent basis, that reports progress toward accomplishment of the
  state workforce development goals, both statewide and
  disaggregated by public school and public school campus,
  institution of higher education campus, workforce region, and
  county;
               (2)  data on the outcomes of students who participate
  in career education and training programs, disaggregated to the
  extent practicable by income, race, ethnicity, and gender,
  including data for the first, fifth, and tenth years after
  completing the program on:
                     (A)  degree and credential attainment;
                     (B)  employment status and industry of
  employment; and
                     (C)  median earnings;
               (3)  analytical tools and guidance supporting the use
  of data on the dashboard described by Subdivision (1) for greater
  accessibility for a wide range of public, practitioner, and
  legislative users;
               (4)  tools enabling residents of the state to:
                     (A)  explore careers that match the resident's
  education and skills and lead to a living wage;
                     (B)  identify and evaluate near-term education
  and training opportunities related to the resident's career
  interests;
                     (C)  engage in longer-term career planning; and
                     (D)  connect to available jobs through existing
  job matching websites;
               (5)  tools enabling the secure interagency sharing of
  information in order to seamlessly refer a website visitor at the
  visitor's election to tailored career navigation, support, and
  training resources;
               (6)  tools to support joint program planning,
  budgeting, and performance evaluation among:
                     (A)  the agency, coordinating board, and
  commission; and
                     (B)  public schools, institutions of higher
  education, local workforce development boards, and partnering
  entities; and
               (7)  data necessary to demonstrate return on investment
  for each career education and training program, including:
                     (A)  state and local costs;
                     (B)  costs to the student; and
                     (C)  student salary at the first, fifth, and tenth
  years after completing the program.
         (b)  The agency, coordinating board, and commission jointly
  shall:
               (1)  in September of each year, solicit public comment
  on the usefulness of the initiative's Internet website; and
               (2)  in December of each year, publish:
                     (A)  a summary of actions taken to address
  comments received under Subdivision (1); and
                     (B)  trend data regarding the use of the
  initiative's Internet website.
         Sec. 2308A.010.  PERFORMANCE REPORTING. (a) The agency,
  coordinating board, and commission shall coordinate data
  collection and matching necessary to evaluate career education and
  training programs, in accordance with progress measures jointly
  adopted by the agency, coordinating board, and commission, with
  respect to:
               (1)  the aggregate impact of the programs on the state
  workforce development goals; and
               (2)  return on investment for each program with respect
  to the program's discrete impact on the state workforce development
  goals, including a comparison of employment status, occupation, and
  salary for each student before participating in the program and at
  the first, fifth, and tenth years after completing the program.
         (b)  Not later than September 1 of each even-numbered year,
  the agency, coordinating board, and commission jointly shall
  prepare, submit to the legislature, and post on the initiative's
  and each respective agency's Internet website a report evaluating
  the impact of career and education training programs on the state
  workforce development goals with respect to the progress measures
  described by Subsection (a).
         Sec. 2308A.011.  PUBLIC COMMENT. At least 30 days before
  adopting state workforce development goals, strategies for meeting
  those goals under Section 2308A.006, or a performance report under
  Section 2308A.010, the agency, coordinating board, and commission
  jointly shall post on the initiative's and each respective agency's
  Internet website the proposed goals, strategies, or performance
  report and instructions for submitting public comment on those
  items.
         Sec. 2308A.012.  SECURE PORTAL. (a) For purposes of state
  and local planning, program evaluation, and continuous improvement
  of local and regional education and workforce practices, the
  agency, coordinating board, and commission jointly shall establish
  and support a secure portal through which authorized personnel of
  approved entities can view and analyze comprehensive longitudinal
  and the most currently available matched data related to the
  progression toward living-wage employment for residents of the
  state.
         (b)  The agency, coordinating board, and commission jointly
  shall adopt role-based security protocols that ensure the privacy
  and confidentiality of information made accessible through the
  secure portal in a manner that complies with any applicable state or
  federal law.
         Sec. 2308A.013.  EMPLOYER RECOGNITION. (a) The governor may
  award a Talent for Texas Champions Governor's Award to recognize
  leading employers in the state who are contributing to workforce
  improvement by supporting priority job training, reskilling, and
  upskilling programs and whose contributions align with strategic
  priorities for the state, including helping to meet regional
  workforce demands and enabling more residents of the state to
  attain jobs that pay a living wage.
         (b)  The agency, coordinating board, and commission jointly
  shall nominate employers for the award under this section.
         Sec. 2308A.014.  STATEWIDE CAREER INTERMEDIARY COUNCIL. (a)
  In this section, "council" means the statewide career intermediary
  council established under this section.
         (b)  The agency, coordinating board, and commission jointly
  shall establish a statewide career intermediary council to assist
  the initiative in achieving the purposes of this chapter.
         (c)  The council consists of three members, with one member
  appointed by the commissioner of education, one member appointed by
  the commissioner of higher education, and one member appointed by
  the chair of the commission. 
         (d)  In making appointments to the council, the appointing
  officers shall coordinate as necessary to ensure that at least one
  member is a representative of a nonprofit organization that
  provides support services to students transitioning from secondary
  to postsecondary education or to participants in job training
  programs.
         (e)  A vacancy on the council is filled in the same manner as
  the initial appointment.
         (f)  Chapters 2110 and 2254, Government Code, do not apply to
  the appointment of members to the council.
         (g)  The council shall:
               (1)  identify ways in which career education and
  training program providers and employers in the state can
  communicate more effectively with students, trainees, and
  employees, using common terminology and definitions of skills sets
  that match credentials required for attractive jobs;
               (2)  interpret how effectively labor market demand
  information is being used to help:
                     (A)  employers in the state to identify hire-ready
  credentials; and
                     (B)  job applicants to understand what skills they
  already have;
               (3)  suggest improvements to the state workforce
  development goals and the progress measures adopted under Section
  2308A.010; and
               (4)  examine existing regional workforce
  intermediaries for the purpose of recognizing successful efforts
  and scaling best practices of those intermediaries to regions
  across the state, using the following measures:
                     (A)  identifying and expanding lower-cost,
  shorter-term training opportunities;
                     (B)  providing simpler pathways for residents of
  the state to attain jobs that pay a living wage, with a focus on
  advising, apprenticeships, and internships; and
                     (C)  successfully recruiting and coordinating
  partners such as employers, workforce training programs,
  community-based organizations, postsecondary educational
  institutions, and public schools, to expand and align work-based
  learning efforts.
         (h)  Not later than September 1, 2022, the council shall
  submit to the legislature a report summarizing the additional value
  provided by the initiative's Internet website, including the
  dashboard, tools, secure portal, and guidance described by Section
  2308A.009, and any recommendations for legislative or other action
  to improve the usefulness of those resources. This subsection
  expires September 1, 2023.
         Sec. 2308A.015.  TARGETED FUNDING TO ADDRESS STATE GOALS.
  (a) A state agency that receives funding through the Carl D. Perkins
  Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 (20 U.S.C. Section 2301
  et seq.) or the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (Pub. L.
  No. 113-128) or any other federal funding for career education and
  training may combine with, transfer to, or delegate to another
  state agency that receives such funding the agency's management of
  workforce-related funding as necessary to implement the state
  workforce development goals.
         (b)  The agency, coordinating board, and commission jointly
  shall submit to the governor and the standing legislative
  committees with jurisdiction over state financial alignment
  efforts a biennial report on how federal and state funding for
  career education and training programs are being spent in
  accordance with the state workforce development goals.
         (c)  A state agency that receives federal or state funding
  for career education and training programs shall include in the
  agency's legislative appropriations request a description of how
  the agency's career education and training programs and
  expenditures align with the state workforce development goals.
         Sec. 2308A.016.  LIVING WAGE. The agency, coordinating
  board, and commission jointly shall determine for each county the
  wage that constitutes a living wage for purposes of this chapter.
  The determination must be based on a common standard that reflects
  the regionally adjusted minimum employment earnings necessary to
  meet a family's basic needs while also maintaining
  self-sufficiency.
         Sec. 2308A.017.  TRI-AGENCY WORKFORCE INITIATIVE FUND. (a)
  The Tri-Agency Workforce Initiative fund is a special fund in the
  state treasury outside the general revenue fund.
         (b)  The fund consists of:
               (1)  money appropriated by the legislature for deposit
  to the credit of the fund;
               (2)  gifts to the state for the purposes of the fund;
  and
               (3)  money directed by law for deposit to the credit of
  the fund.
         (c)  Money in the fund may be appropriated only for the
  purposes of:
               (1)  modernizing state data for the initiative;
               (2)  planning, staff, or organizational activities of
  the initiative; or
               (3)  any activities required or allowed under this
  chapter to implement the state workforce development goals.
         SECTION 2.  Subchapter A, Chapter 204, Labor Code, is
  amended by adding Section 204.0025 to read as follows:
         Sec. 204.0025.  ADDITIONAL WORKFORCE DATA REPORTING. (a)
  The commission shall request that each employer provide to the
  commission as part of the employer's routine wage filings under
  this subtitle or commission rule and consistent with federal law
  and regulations the following workforce data for each employee:
               (1)  the standard six-digit occupational
  classification code;
               (2)  the employee's status as full time or part time or
  the hours worked for the job;
               (3)  the start date of the employee's current role;
               (4)  remote work status;
               (5)  job title; and
               (6)  end date for an internal role change.
         (b)  The commission shall provide a public report on employer
  participation in the data reporting requested under Subsection (a)
  and a cost-benefit analysis on the data to the workforce planning
  process in the state.
         SECTION 3.  Not later than October 1, 2021, the Texas
  Education Agency, Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, and
  Texas Workforce Commission shall hold the initial meeting required
  under Section 2308A.004, Government Code, as added by this Act.
         SECTION 4.  (a) Not later than January 31, 2022, the Texas
  Education Agency, Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, and
  Texas Workforce Commission shall approve the initial state
  workforce development goals required under Section 2308A.006,
  Government Code, as added by this Act.
         (b)  Not later than April 30, 2022, the Texas Education
  Agency, Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, and Texas
  Workforce Commission shall adopt the initial strategies required
  under Section 2308A.006, Government Code, as added by this Act.
         SECTION 5.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.