2005 California Unemployment Insurance Code Sections 15000-15003.5 CHAPTER 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS

15000.  The Legislature finds and declares that many economically
disadvantaged persons, including heads of welfare families and
out-of-school youths, are unable to take their place in the
mainstream of our economy because they lack the preparation and
training necessary to obtain and retain productive private sector
jobs.  Recognizing that government-sponsored job preparation,
training and placement services form a unique juncture of public
sector responsibilities with private sector interests, it is only
with the proper alignment of these responsibilities and interests
that there will be achieved the critical goals of economic growth,
improved work force productivity and deterrence of family dependency
on public funds.  Therefore, in order for economically disadvantaged
persons to obtain and retain private sector employment, it is
essential that government and the  private sector enlist in a
cooperative partnership to provide such persons with appropriate job
training to the extent that there are a reasonable number of jobs
available in the community.  To be successful, such training must be
designed and administered at the local level in close cooperation
with local private sector employers, labor unions, vocational
educators, recipient organizations, legal service organizations for
the poor, and other officials, and in accordance with the unique
economic conditions and employment needs of each locality.
   The Legislature further recognizes that existing state and federal
programs addressing the employment needs of the economically
disadvantaged have proved to be multiple, uncoordinated responses to
these needs.  A successful program will require a comprehensive,
unified set of services designed and administered at the local level
and organized to address local conditions.  It will also require that
such a program be an integral part of the state's overall business
and economic development and employability improvement strategies.
15001.  It is the purpose of this division to establish a program of
job preparation, training, and placement services which enable
economically disadvantaged persons to participate fully in the
mainstream of our economy and thereby promote the economic security
of families they now head or will in the future head, and which
carries out the objectives, purposes and provisions of the Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program established pursuant to
Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11200) of Part 3 of Division 9 of
the Welfare and Institutions Code. To achieve these purposes, it is
the intent of the Legislature that a service system be implemented
which incorporates the following elements:
   (a) Integration of benefits and services under the Aid to Families
with Dependent Children program with employment services, including
the following:
   (1) Application and screening of eligible participants.
   (2) Assessment of each participant's employment potential and
training needs.
   (3) Immediate job search assistance and imparting of self-help job
search skills for employment in unsubsidized jobs.
   (4) Placement in appropriate training programs for those
participants not otherwise job-ready.
   (b) Integration of those state and federal job training programs
now authorized by law and designed to serve persons eligible under
this division.
   (c) Overall program direction by the department whose functions
under this division shall include:
   (1) Overall direction, under the policies established by the State
Job Training Coordinating Council, of the statewide programs
administered in service delivery areas under this division, including
establishment of basic program standards consistent with the
provisions of this division and the provisions of Chapter 2
(commencing with Section 11200) of Part 3 of Division 9 of the
Welfare and Institutions Code, review of service delivery area plans,
allocation and distribution to grant recipients selected within
service delivery areas of funds from the block grant established
pursuant to Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 15080), and assessment
of service delivery area performance based on standards that measure
results rather than process.
   (2) Administration, either directly or by contract with another
entity, of these statewide programs in service delivery areas that
request the state to assume this function.
   (3) Administration of demonstration programs testing innovative
approaches to assisting clients eligible under this division to find
unsubsidized employment.
   (4) Administration of special assistance programs to areas facing
urgent employment and training needs that cross jurisdictional lines
or that result from major plant closures, arrival and resettlement of
a significant number of refugees, or comparable circumstances.
   (d) Local administration and operation of the statewide programs
under this division, in accordance with an approved service delivery
area plan.
   (e) Planning, design, and local oversight by local private
industry councils pursuant to this division to ensure that the
service delivery area plan responds appropriately to local economic
conditions, local employment needs, and business and economic
development strategies planned or being implemented within the area,
as well as complies with the basic standards and provisions of this
division.
   (f) Streamlining of the funding for programs authorized under this
division, in accordance with the following principles:
   (1) Consolidation of funds in the Consolidated Work Program Fund
pursuant to Section 15082, for distribution to the grant recipients
selected within the service delivery areas to carry out the approved
plans, of:
   (A) Those federal and state funds heretofore appropriated on a
categorical basis for various programs authorized to provide job
preparation, training, and placement services, which programs are
integrated by this division into the locally operated statewide
programs.
   (B) Other funds that the federal government may make available or
the Legislature may appropriate for the statewide programs.
   (2) Retention by the department of the following funding sources:
   (A) The service delivery area's share of block grant funds
distributed under paragraph (1), to support provision of services to
service delivery area residents eligible under this division, in
those service delivery areas where the state assumes this function in
accordance with paragraph (2) of subdivision (c).
   (B) Federal and state funds received for the operation of
demonstration and special assistance programs serving persons
eligible under this division. When a demonstration program and its
funding level become suitable for statewide institutionalization,
local administrative responsibility for the program shall be assigned
to the administrative entity within the service delivery area and
its funding shall be moved to the Consolidated Work Program Fund
established under paragraph (1).
15002.  The following definitions shall govern the construction of
this division:
   (a) "Director" means the Director of the department selected by
the Governor to administer the provisions of this division.
   (b) "Department" means the department selected by the Governor to
administer the provisions of this division.
   (c) "Local council" means the private industry council established
in accordance with the provisions of this division.
   (d) "State council" means the State Job Training Coordinating
Council established under Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 15035)
of Division 8.
   (e)   "Service delivery area plan" means that plan prepared for
the service delivery area which satisfies the requirements of a Job
Training Plan under the provisions of the federal Job Training
Partnership Act and the additional requirements of this division.
15003.  The Legislature finds and declares that Section 126 of the
federal Job Training Partnership Act allows the enactment of state
legislation to implement the federal Job Training Partnership Act
programs, provided the state legislation is consistent with that
federal act.
15003.3.  Economically disadvantaged women and minorities shall be
served with federal Job Training Partnership Act funds, with respect
to Title I and Title II of the act, at a rate that approximates their
rate of representation and need for job training among the
economically disadvantaged within each service delivery area.
15003.4.  It is the intent of the Legislature that, beginning
January 1, 1998, welfare recipients shall be served with federal Job
Training Partnership Act funds under Title II and Title III of that
act to the maximum extent permitted under federal law within each
service delivery area.
15003.5.  It is the intent of the Legislature that the Governor
request a waiver from the United States Department of Labor on
restrictions under regulations adopted pursuant to the federal Job
Training Partnership Act that prevent the provision of training and
post termination services for the year after placement on a job and
prevent the use of stand-alone job search, job club, job search
assistance, and work experience activities, as appropriate, to
prepare individuals for employment.