The Florida Senate

445.006  Strategic plan for workforce development.--

(1)  Workforce Florida, Inc., in conjunction with state and local partners in the workforce system, shall develop a strategic plan for workforce, with the goal of producing skilled employees for employers in the state. The strategic plan shall be submitted to the Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives by February 1, 2001. The strategic plan shall be updated or modified by January 1 of each year thereafter. The plan must include, but need not be limited to, strategies for:

(a)  Fulfilling the workforce system goals and strategies prescribed in s. 445.004;

(b)  Aggregating, integrating, and leveraging workforce system resources;

(c)  Coordinating the activities of federal, state, and local workforce system partners;

(d)  Addressing the workforce needs of small businesses; and

(e)  Fostering the participation of rural communities and distressed urban cores in the workforce system.

(2)  As a component of the strategic plan required under this section, Workforce Florida, Inc., shall develop a workforce marketing plan, with the goal of educating individuals inside and outside the state about the employment market and employment conditions in the state. The marketing plan must include, but need not be limited to, strategies for:

(a)  Distributing information to secondary and postsecondary education institutions about the diversity of businesses in the state, specific clusters of businesses or business sectors in the state, and occupations by industry which are in demand by employers in the state;

(b)  Distributing information about and promoting use of the Internet-based job matching and labor market information system authorized under s. 445.011; and

(c)  Coordinating with Enterprise Florida, Inc., to ensure that workforce marketing efforts complement the economic development marketing efforts of the state.

(3)  The strategic plan must include performance measures, standards, measurement criteria, and contract guidelines in the following areas with respect to participants in the welfare transition program:

(a)  Work participation rates, by type of activity;

(b)  Caseload trends;

(c)  Recidivism;

(d)  Participation in diversion and relocation assistance programs;

(e)  Employment retention;

(f)  Wage growth; and

(g)  Other issues identified by the board of directors of Workforce Florida, Inc.

(4)  The strategic plan must include criteria for allocating workforce resources to regional workforce boards. With respect to allocating funds to serve customers of the welfare transition program, such criteria may include weighting factors that indicate the relative degree of difficulty associated with securing and retaining employment placements for specific subsets of the welfare transition caseload.

(5)(a)  The strategic plan must include a performance-based payment structure to be used for all welfare transition program customers which takes into account:

1.  The degree of difficulty associated with placement and retention;

2.  The quality of the placement with respect to salary, benefits, and opportunities for advancement; and

3.  The employee's retention in the placement.

(b)  The payment structure must provide for bonus payments of up to 10 percent of the contract amount to providers that achieve notable success in achieving contract objectives, including, but not limited to, success in diverting families in which there is an adult who is subject to work requirements from receiving cash assistance and in achieving long-term job retention and wage growth with respect to welfare transition program customers. A service provider shall be paid a maximum of one payment per service for each participant during any given 6-month period.

(6)(a)  The strategic plan must include strategies that are designed to prevent or reduce the need for a person to receive public assistance. These strategies must include:

1.  A teen pregnancy prevention component that includes, but is not limited to, a plan for implementing the Florida Education Now and Babies Later (ENABL) program under s. 411.242 and the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Community Initiative within each county of the services area in which the teen birth rate is higher than the state average;

2.  A component that encourages creation of community-based welfare prevention and reduction initiatives that increase support provided by noncustodial parents to their welfare-dependent children and are consistent with program and financial guidelines developed by Workforce Florida, Inc., and the Commission on Responsible Fatherhood. These initiatives may include, but are not limited to, improved paternity establishment, work activities for noncustodial parents, programs aimed at decreasing out-of-wedlock pregnancies, encouraging involvement of fathers with their children including court-ordered supervised visitation, and increasing child support payments;

3.  A component that encourages formation and maintenance of two-parent families through, among other things, court-ordered supervised visitation;

4.  A component that fosters responsible fatherhood in families receiving assistance; and

5.  A component that fosters provision of services that reduce the incidence and effects of domestic violence on women and children in families receiving assistance.

(b)  Specifications for welfare transition program services that are to be delivered include, but are not limited to:

1.  Initial assessment services prior to an individual being placed in an employment service, to determine whether the individual should be referred for relocation, up-front diversion, education, or employment placement. Assessment services shall be paid on a fixed unit rate and may not provide educational or employment placement services.

2.  Referral of participants to diversion and relocation programs.

3.  Preplacement services, including assessment, staffing, career plan development, work orientation, and employability skills enhancement.

4.  Services necessary to secure employment for a welfare transition program participant.

5.  Services necessary to assist participants in retaining employment, including, but not limited to, remedial education, language skills, and personal and family counseling.

6.  Desired quality of job placements with regard to salary, benefits, and opportunities for advancement.

7.  Expectations regarding job retention.

8.  Strategies to ensure that transition services are provided to participants for the mandated period of eligibility.

9.  Services that must be provided to the participant throughout an education or training program, such as monitoring attendance and progress in the program.

10.  Services that must be delivered to welfare transition program participants who have a deferral from work requirements but wish to participate in activities that meet federal participation requirements.

11.  Expectations regarding continued participant awareness of available services and benefits.

History.--s. 6, ch. 2000-165.