Senate Bill 1484c1
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Florida Senate - 2000 CS for SB 1484
By the Committee on Commerce and Economic Opportunities; and
Senator Geller
310-1961-00
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to workforce development
3 education in information technologies; creating
4 s. 239.521, F.S.; providing intent; providing
5 for development of a 2-year vocational and
6 technical distance learning curriculum for
7 information technology workers; providing for
8 internship opportunities for high school and
9 postsecondary information technology vocational
10 faculty and students in information technology
11 businesses; providing a means for increasing
12 the capability and accessibility of information
13 technology training providers through
14 state-of-the-art facilities; amending s.
15 240.311, F.S.; requiring the State Board of
16 Community Colleges to identify training
17 programs for broadband digital media
18 specialists; requiring that such programs be
19 added to lists for demand occupations under
20 certain circumstances; amending s. 240.3341,
21 F.S.; encouraging community colleges to
22 establish incubator facilities for digital
23 media content and technology development;
24 creating s. 240.710, F.S.; requiring the Board
25 of Regents to create a Digital Media Education
26 Coordination Group; providing membership;
27 providing purposes; requiring development of a
28 plan; requiring submission of plans to the
29 Legislature; requiring the Workforce
30 Development Board to reserve funds for digital
31 media industry training; providing direction on
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1 training; requiring the Workforce Development
2 Board to develop a plan for the use of certain
3 funds to enhance workforce of digital media
4 related industries; providing direction
5 concerning plan development; creating the
6 Digital Media Education Infrastructure Fund
7 within the Office of Tourism, Trade, and
8 Economic Development for the purpose of
9 upgrading quality of media labs; providing an
10 appropriation; providing requirements for
11 contracting and use of funds; requiring
12 Enterprise Florida, Inc., to convene a
13 broadband digital media industries group;
14 requiring identification, designation, and
15 priority of digital media sector in sector
16 strategy; requiring Enterprise Florida, Inc.,
17 to contract for establishment of digital media
18 incubator; providing contract requirements;
19 providing an appropriation; requiring industry
20 participation in funding; providing direction
21 for incubator location; requiring ITFlorida, in
22 cooperation with Enterprise Florida, Inc., to
23 prepare a marketing plan promoting state to
24 digital media industries; providing an
25 effective date.
26
27 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
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29 Section 1. Section 239.521, Florida Statutes, is
30 created to read:
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1 239.521 Information technology workforce development
2 projects.--The Legislature recognizes that information
3 technology industries are adding substantial numbers of high
4 paying, high technology jobs in the state. The Legislature
5 also recognizes the important contribution of this industry as
6 one of the targeted industries vital to the state's current
7 and future economic growth. The Legislature further recognizes
8 that information technology industries are in need of a highly
9 skilled workforce to meet the growing demands of the industry
10 as well as to address the needs of additional information
11 technology companies relocating to the state. The Information
12 Technology Development Task Force, appointed by the 1999
13 Florida Legislature for the study of key issues in the
14 development of the state's economy, recommended several means
15 for further supporting this valued industry. Therefore, it is
16 the intent of the Legislature that three initiatives be funded
17 to support the workforce needs of this growing industry
18 consistent with recognized needs of the state.
19 (1) COMPREHENSIVE DISTANCE LEARNING CURRICULUM
20 INITIATIVES.--
21 (a) The Legislature recognizes that there are multiple
22 levels of employee competencies imbedded within the various
23 information technology industry jobs. Using these competencies
24 as the basis of a curriculum for training incumbent workers to
25 develop additional skills and potential workers to develop
26 entry level skills, the Legislature intends for the
27 development of a comprehensive vocational certificate or
28 2-year distance learning curriculum.
29 (b) The comprehensive distance learning initiative
30 involves the Governor's Office of Information Technology and
31 the State Board of Community Colleges acting through the
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1 Florida Community College Distance Learning Consortium to
2 ensure that the curriculum is up-to-date, responsive to
3 industry's changing needs, and delivered in the most
4 cost-effective manner. The development of the distance
5 learning curriculum for statewide dissemination is to be
6 co-built by industry content experts and educational
7 providers. The process will coordinate the existing efforts of
8 individual institutions and consortiums into a combined,
9 comprehensive, and cohesive methodology for providing training
10 through the use of technology and would involve:
11 1. A statewide review of existing distance learning
12 courses;
13 2. Evaluation and purchase of appropriate
14 off-the-shelf products to be licensed for use on a statewide
15 basis; and
16 3. Development of missing competency training using
17 multi-media methodologies.
18 (c) The comprehensive distance learning curriculum
19 developed under this subsection will be by one or more
20 institutions or consortiums. Participation in this project
21 will be competitively based and approved by the State Board of
22 Community Colleges based upon recommendations of the Florida
23 Community College Distance Learning Consortium. Participants
24 must meet the following criteria:
25 1. Experience in providing training for information
26 technology companies.
27 2. Availability of technical infrastructure to support
28 this project.
29 3. Endorsement from information technology economic
30 development agencies and local information technology business
31 commitments to be actively involved.
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1 4. Demonstrated multi-media course and program
2 development capabilities.
3 5. Existing consortium efforts.
4 6. Availability of local support.
5 (d) The Legislature may annually appropriate $2
6 million in the General Appropriations Act to support efforts
7 initiated in accordance with this subsection. These funds must
8 be used to support, among others, salaries, licensing
9 commercial courseware, purchasing existing courseware,
10 equipment and related course development expenses.
11 (2) INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
12 FOR FACULTY AND STUDENTS.--
13 (a) The Legislature recognizes that the preparedness
14 of both high school and postsecondary education level students
15 emerging from an educational experience ready to enter the
16 information technology workplace is dependent upon the quality
17 of instruction provided by faculty and information technology
18 business interaction with their program of study. The
19 Legislature further recognizes that faculty at high school and
20 postsecondary school levels are better able to integrate
21 technology and current business standards into the curriculum
22 if they have personal experience and knowledge to verify the
23 importance of these for student future success. Faculty also
24 require the ability to continuously update their knowledge and
25 skills as technology changes and faculty will be able to
26 increase their skill and knowledge from structured internship
27 opportunities within information technology businesses.
28 Further, students gain increased knowledge and skills from
29 on-the-job training and direct work experience in a structured
30 internship opportunity. The Legislature therefore creates the
31 Information Technology Internship Program to encourage and
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1 support information technology program faculty and student
2 internships with direct exposure to information technology
3 industries. The Legislature further intends that the program
4 will provide a minimum of 200 faculty and 200 student
5 internships at various locations across the state.
6 (b) Local faculty and student internship initiatives
7 will be selected to be part of this project by the Office of
8 Information Technology based on the following criteria:
9 1. Information technology businesses providing faculty
10 and student internships will pay 50 percent of the salary for
11 each intern as well as provide workers compensation benefits.
12 2. Economic development agencies such as chambers of
13 commerce, economic development commissions, or regional
14 consortia will be eligible to apply and serve as a fiscal
15 agent for the program.
16 3. Establishment of qualifying criteria and process
17 for matching faculty and students with business internship
18 opportunities.
19 4. Priority will be given to existing local efforts
20 that have proven successful and can be duplicated statewide.
21 5. Projects may be combined with federal tax relief
22 efforts encouraging educational internship programs.
23 (c) Faculty will be paid $30 an hour for a 40-hour
24 workweek for a maximum of 10 weeks for a total cost of $12,000
25 per teacher. State funding will support 50 percent and the
26 business funding will support 50 percent of the total cost.
27 Student interns will be paid $10 an hour for high school
28 students, $15 per hour for lower division or certificate
29 postsecondary education students, and $20 an hour for upper
30 division postsecondary education students.
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1 (d) The Legislature may annually appropriate $2
2 million in the General Appropriations Act to fund programs
3 established under this subsection on a statewide basis.
4 (3) INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TRAINING FACILITY
5 IMPROVEMENT STRATEGY INITIATIVES.--
6 (a) The Legislature recognizes that information
7 technology businesses need increased numbers of highly skilled
8 workers. The shortage of a qualified labor force has become a
9 barrier to this dynamic industry's continued growth in the
10 state. The limited numbers of highly skilled incumbent workers
11 constantly need to update skills in response to the evolving
12 technologies and in order to move to higher paid positions
13 within the industry. These incumbent workers require a
14 continuous work-and-learn cycle to maintain their knowledge of
15 new technologies and tools. Businesses demand cutting edge
16 training opportunities for their employees in order to meet
17 the constantly changing globally competitive marketplace. The
18 Legislature recognizes that increased accessibility and
19 quality facilities are required to address the increasing
20 efforts of educational institutions to respond to information
21 technology businesses and that information technology training
22 providers are expected to have appropriate facilities to
23 address the needs of this dynamic industry. The Legislature
24 further recognizes that additional high-tech labs are required
25 to provide the training for computer systems engineers,
26 software developers, and related cutting-edge job types. These
27 labs are more expensive than regular facilities because of the
28 additional infrastructure and continuous turnover of equipment
29 in response to changes in global technology. Therefore, it is
30 the intent of the Legislature to provide a process and funding
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1 for appropriate and needed information technology training
2 facility upgrades.
3 (b) The State Board of Community Colleges will
4 administer funds appropriated under paragraph (c) for
5 distribution on a competitive basis by October 1, 2000, to
6 support approved projects. Projects may address upgrading
7 current facilities, planning new facilities, and combining the
8 efforts of institutions to serve the information technology
9 business sector through state-of-the-art training facilities
10 designated to address the multi-media needs of this industry.
11 The projects would be competitively selected on the following
12 criteria:
13 1. A concentration of information technology
14 industries and workers in the service area.
15 2. Other local funding initiatives or federal funding
16 of an equal value to the state funds requested. These funds
17 must demonstrate a synergistic effort to support information
18 technology industries.
19 3. Priority may be given to projects, including
20 partnership effort between two or more educational
21 institutions, so that a broader range of educational services
22 may be provided for information technology industries.
23 4. Priorities may be given to projects that include
24 partnerships with a local municipality, county, or economic
25 development agency as a way of demonstrating a synergy of
26 efforts to support this industry.
27 (c) The Legislature may annually appropriate $2
28 million in the General Appropriations Act to fund two or more
29 projects approved under the requirements of this subsection.
30 Section 2. Present subsections (4) through (8) of
31 section 240.311, Florida Statutes, are redesignated as
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1 subsections (5) through (9), respectively, and a new
2 subsection (4) is added to that section to read:
3 240.311 State Board of Community Colleges; powers and
4 duties.--
5 (4) The State Board of Community Colleges shall
6 identify, using the Critical Jobs Initiative, the occupational
7 forecasting process, or any other compatible mechanism, a
8 collection of programs designed to train broadband digital
9 media specialists. Programs identified by the board shall be
10 added to the statewide lists for demand occupations if they
11 meet the high-skill/high-wage criteria as established by the
12 Workforce Estimating Conference created under s. 216.136(10).
13 Section 3. Subsection (5) is added to section
14 240.3341, Florida Statutes, to read:
15 240.3341 Incubator facilities for small business
16 concerns.--
17 (5) Community colleges are encouraged to establish
18 incubator facilities through which emerging small businesses
19 supportive of the development of content and technology for
20 digital broadband media and digital broadcasting may be
21 served.
22 Section 4. Section 240.710, Florida Statutes, is
23 created to read:
24 240.710 Digital Media Education Coordination Group.--
25 (1) The Board of Regents shall create a Digital Media
26 Education Coordination Group composed of representatives of
27 the universities within the State University System which
28 shall work in conjunction with the State Board of Community
29 Colleges and the Articulation Coordinating Committee on the
30 development of a plan to enhance Florida's ability to meet the
31 current and future workforce needs of the digital media
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1 industry. The following purposes of the group shall be
2 included in its plan-development process:
3 (a) Coordination of the use of existing academic
4 programs, research, and faculty resources to promote the
5 development of a digital media industry in Florida;
6 (b) Addressing strategies to improve opportunities for
7 interdisciplinary study and research within the emerging field
8 of digital media through the development of tracts in existing
9 degree programs, new interdisciplinary degree programs, and
10 interdisciplinary research centers; and
11 (c) Addressing the sharing of resources among
12 universities in such a way as to allow a student to take
13 courses from multiple departments or multiple educational
14 institutions in pursuit of competency, certification, and
15 degrees in digital information and media technology.
16 (2) Where practical, private accredited institutions
17 of higher learning in Florida should be encouraged to
18 participate.
19 (3) In addition to the elements of the plan governed
20 by the purposes described in subsection (1), the plan shall
21 include, to the maximum extent practicable, the coordination
22 of educational resources to be provided by distance learning
23 and shall facilitate, to the maximum extent possible,
24 articulation and transfer of credits between community
25 colleges and the state universities. The plan must address
26 student enrollment in affected programs, with emphasis on
27 enrollment beginning as early as the Fall Term in 2001.
28 (4) The Digital Media Education Coordination Group
29 shall submit its plan to the President of the Senate and the
30 Speaker of the House of Representatives by January 1, 2001.
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1 Section 5. The Workforce Development Board of
2 Enterprise Florida, Inc., should reserve up to $1 million of
3 funds dedicated in Fiscal Year 2000-2001 for Incumbent Worker
4 Training for the digital media industry. Training may be
5 provided by public or private training providers for broadband
6 digital media jobs listed on the Occupational Forecast List
7 developed by the Workforce Estimating Conference or the
8 Targeted Occupations List of the Workforce Development Board.
9 Programs that operate outside the normal semester time periods
10 and coordinate the use of industry and public resources should
11 be given priority status for such reserved funds.
12 Section 6. The Workforce Development Board of
13 Enterprise Florida, Inc., shall by August 31, 2000, develop a
14 plan for the use of Targeted Assistance to Needy Families
15 funds, Workforce Investment Act funds, Quick Response funds,
16 Incumbent Worker Training funds, and other training-related
17 resources to enhance the workforce of digital-media-related
18 industries. The plan must provide the industries with a
19 program to train and assess the status of industry workforce
20 readiness for the digital era and should be done in
21 conjunction with the broadcast and cable industries.
22 Section 7. There is created in the Office of Tourism,
23 Trade, and Economic Development within the Executive Office of
24 the Governor a Digital Media Education Infrastructure Fund for
25 the purpose of upgrading the quality of media labs associated
26 with university programs, community college programs, and
27 other educational resources in order to assist in meeting
28 current and future workforce training needs for the digital
29 media industry. There is appropriated to the fund from the
30 General Revenue Fund $1 million for fiscal year 2000-2001, to
31 be used for those purposes. The Office of Tourism, Trade, and
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1 Economic Development shall be responsible for contracting with
2 eligible entities for receipt of funds. Such funds must be
3 spent according to the priorities established by the industry
4 sector group on broadband digital media established by
5 Enterprise Florida, Inc., and must be matched by industry
6 contributions.
7 Section 8. Enterprise Florida, Inc., shall convene an
8 organizational meeting for industries involved in broadband
9 digital media to organize and facilitate future activities of
10 associated industry groups or facilitate the ongoing
11 activities of a similar group. Enterprise Florida, Inc.,
12 shall make all necessary preparations to identify and
13 designate a digital media sector as part of its sector
14 strategy and identify the sector as a priority
15 recruitment/retention set of industries.
16 Section 9. (1) Enterprise Florida, Inc., shall award
17 a contract for the establishment of a digital media incubator
18 to encourage companies developing content and technology for
19 digital broadband media and digital broadcasting to locate and
20 develop their businesses in Florida. Qualifications of an
21 applicant for a contract as a digital media incubator shall at
22 a minimum include the following:
23 (a) Demonstrated expertise in developing content and
24 technology for digital broadband media and digital
25 broadcasting;
26 (b) Demonstrated ability in venture capital
27 fund-raising;
28 (c) Demonstrated expertise in the development of
29 digital media businesses; and
30 (d) Demonstrated ability in coordinating public and
31 private educational institutions and business entities in
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1 digital technology joint business ventures. The awarding of
2 the contract must follow the procedures outlined in chapter
3 287, Florida Statutes.
4 (2) There is appropriated the sum of $2 million from
5 the General Revenue Fund to Enterprise Florida, Inc., for the
6 purpose of providing operational and investment seed funding
7 to encourage the financial and strategic participation of
8 venture capital firms, corporate and institutional sponsors,
9 and targeted start-up companies in the establishment of the
10 digital incubator. Initial state investment in the incubator
11 must be matched with contributions from the industry with
12 participating industry partners, including, but not limited
13 to, venture capitalists, digital media manufacturers, and
14 digital media content providers.
15 (3) Maximized leveraging of funds must be a priority
16 consideration in the location of the digital media incubator.
17 Consideration must be given to collocation of the incubator
18 with an existing state of the art media lab or an upgraded or
19 newly created media lab funded through the Digital Media
20 Education Infrastructure Fund in the Office of Tourism, Trade,
21 and Economic Development.
22 Section 10. ITFlorida, in consultation with Enterprise
23 Florida, Inc., shall develop a marketing plan to promote the
24 state as digital-media-friendly, as a digital-media-ready
25 environment, and as a national leader in the development and
26 distribution of broadband digital media content, technology,
27 and education. The marketing plan must identify critical
28 roles for various public and private partners and establish a
29 marketing timeline and goals. The plan must be completed by
30 December 31, 2000.
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1 Section 11. This act shall take effect upon becoming a
2 law.
3
4 STATEMENT OF SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES CONTAINED IN
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
5 SB 1484
6
7 To support the workforce needs of the information technology
industry, this committee substitute:
8
-Provides for the development of a comprehensive vocational
9 certificate or 2-year distance learning curriculum;
10 -Creates an information technology internship program for
faculty of information technology programs and students; and
11
-Creates a process whereby educational institutions can
12 compete for funds to upgrade or build information technology
training facilities.
13
The committee substitute authorizes the Legislature to
14 annually appropriate $6 million in the General Appropriations
Act to fund the Comprehensive Distance Learning Curriculum
15 Initiatives, the Information Technology Internship
Opportunities for Faculty and Students, and the Information
16 Technology Training Facility Improvement Strategy Initiatives
provided for in this committee substitute.
17
Additionally, this committee substitute implements many of the
18 recommendations of the 21st Century Digital Television and
Education Task Force, including: identification of digital
19 occupations; creation of the Digital Media Education
Coordination Group; reservation of up to $1 million in funds
20 dedicated for Incumbent Worker Training for the digital media
industry; development of a plan for the use of training
21 funding; creation of a Digital Media Education Infrastructure
Fund; requiring an organizational meeting of the digital media
22 industry; provision for the award of a contract for the
creation of a digital media incubator; and development of a
23 marketing plan.
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