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TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, BY ADDING CHAPTER 47 TO TITLE 41 SO AS TO ENACT THE "SOUTH CAROLINA JOB PREPARATION AND RETENTION TRAINING ACT" WHICH ESTABLISHES PROCEDURES FOR PROVIDING SKILLS AND OTHER TRAINING TO INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE WELFARE RECIPIENTS IN PREPARATION FOR MAKING TRANSITIONS TO EMPLOYMENT.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. The General Assembly finds that:
(1) a need exists for skills training to enable individuals who are welfare recipients to make transitions into unsubsidized employment that provides career potential and enables the individuals to achieve economic self-sufficiency;
(2) current law does not address adequately the tremendously deleterious effect of unfavorable environmental and cultural factors on the ability of those individuals to obtain and retain gainful employment;
(3) a need exists for a commitment to the development of pre-vocational training programs for individuals who are welfare recipients that focus on:
(a) improving their job readiness;
(b) preparing them psychologically and attitudinally for employment;
(c) teaching them learning and other appropriate skills;
(d) placing them in:
( i) permanent unsubsidized employment; or
(ii) skill training centers and, upon completion of the skill training, in permanent unsubsidized employment; and
(4) community-based organizations have provided these pre-vocational training programs to disadvantaged populations with demonstrable success and should receive assistance to enable them to enhance their abilities to provide the training programs in communities with large populations of welfare recipients.
SECTION 2. Title 41 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:
Section 41-47-10. This chapter may be cited as the 'South Carolina Job Preparation and Retention Training Act'.
Section 41-47-20. As used in this chapter:
(1) 'Division' means the Division of Labor administered under the supervision and direction of the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation.
(2) 'Director' means the Director of the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation.
(3) 'Welfare recipient' means an individual receiving assistance through a state program funded pursuant to Part A of Title IV of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 601).
(4) 'Welfare transition program' means a vocational training program conducted by or at the direction of the State as part of a state program funded pursuant to Part A of Title IV of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 601).
Section 41-47-30. (A) The director, through the division, may make grants to community-based organizations to assist these organizations in implementing enhanced pre-vocational training programs for eligible individuals.
(B) The director shall make the grants for periods of one year.
(C) To be eligible to receive a grant pursuant to this section, the community-based organization shall submit an application to the director in the time and manner and containing the information the director and the division may require. At a minimum, the application must contain:
(1) a plan describing the pre-vocational training programs to be implemented with funds made available through the grant; and
(2) in particular, information describing the manner in which the community-based organization ensures that its pre-vocational training program includes incarcerated persons described in Section 41-47-40(D)(2), in accordance with Section 41-47-40(F).
(D) In awarding grants pursuant to this section, the director shall take into consideration the needs of economically distressed urban and rural areas in the State, as determined by the director upon the advice of the division and of the South Carolina Employment Security Commission.
Section 41-47-40. (A) A community-based organization that receives a grant pursuant to this chapter shall use the funds to assist in implementation of the pre-vocational training programs referred to in this chapter.
(B) The assistance must be for one year.
(C) A community-based organization that receives a grant pursuant to this chapter shall use it to provide pre-vocational training and placement services to eligible individuals.
(D) To be eligible to receive services through a pre-vocational training program pursuant to this chapter, an individual must be a:
(1) welfare recipient who is:
(a) enrolled in a welfare transition program; or
(b) eligible to be in, but has not participated in, a welfare transition program; or
(2) person who is incarcerated in a federal, state, or local prison and will be released from the prison within a reasonable period, as defined in regulations promulgated by the division.
(E) A community-based organization implementing a pre-vocational training program for individuals eligible pursuant to subsection (D)(1) of this section shall:
(1) provide pre-vocational training, through job training centers, designed to:
(a) as quickly as practicable, enable them to overcome the effects of inadequate educational preparation and unfavorable environmental and cultural factors in order to prepare the individuals for employment;
(b) improve their job readiness;
(c) prepare them psychologically and attitudinally for employment; and
(d) enable them to develop learning skills, communication and computational skills, punctuality, health and personal maintenance skills, job-seeking skills (including interviewing skills), basic literacy, skills required for receipt of a secondary school diploma or its equivalent, professionalism, and responsiveness to authority; and
(2) upon completion of the pre-vocational training, place them in:
(a) permanent, unsubsidized employment; or
(b) skill training centers that provide superior skill training for positions that are quickly obtainable and, upon completion of the skill training, in permanent, unsubsidized employment.
(F) A community-based organization implementing a pre-vocational training program for individuals eligible pursuant to subsection (D)(2) of this section shall provide the pre-vocational training described in subsection (E)(1) in the federal, state, or local prison involved and provide the placement services described in subsection (E)(2)(b).
(G) The community-based organization shall provide not less than two weeks and not more than three months of pre-vocational training to an eligible individual through the program. It may not provide services valued at more than one thousand two hundred dollars to an eligible individual, nor may it charge a fee to an eligible individual for services delivered pursuant to the program.
(H) A community-based organization providing placement services shall coordinate its services with the efforts of local private sector businesses to create jobs and employment opportunities.
Section 41-47-50. The division shall monitor the effectiveness of programs carried out pursuant to this chapter by collecting information on the:
(1) percentage of program participants who are placed in employment after that participation;
(2) percentage of the participants who are retained in employment after that participation; and
(3) economic impact of the employment of the participants."
SECTION 3. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.
This web page was last updated on Tuesday, June 23, 2009 at 2:16 P.M.