House Bill hb1045c1
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Florida House of Representatives - 2001 CS/HB 1045
By the Committee on Information Technology and
Representatives Jennings, Joyner, Brutus, Jordan, Gannon,
Paul, Harrell and Ausley
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to workforce development
3 through education and training in information
4 technology; providing legislative findings and
5 intent; creating the Digital Divide Council in
6 the State Technology Office; specifying
7 membership; providing for terms, filling
8 vacancies, and compensation; providing for
9 council meetings and officers; requiring the
10 State Technology Office to provide
11 administrative and technical support; providing
12 powers and duties of the council; authorizing
13 design and implementation of certain programs;
14 providing program objectives and goals;
15 requiring the council to monitor, review, and
16 assess program performances; requiring reports;
17 providing an appropriation; providing an
18 effective date.
19
20 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
21
22 Section 1. Legislative findings and intent; Digital
23 Divide Council; powers and duties; program objectives and
24 goals; review and assessment of program performances; annual
25 report.--
26 (1) LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS AND INTENT.--The Legislature
27 finds as follows:
28 (a) Frequent access to use of information technology
29 and possession of the knowledge and skills required to use
30 information technology productively is becoming increasingly
31
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1 more important to being competitively qualified for
2 high-skill, high-wage employment.
3 (b) The availability of reasonable opportunities to
4 have frequent access to use of information technology and to
5 obtain the education and training necessary to acquire the
6 knowledge and skills required to use information technology
7 productively is critical to becoming competitively qualified
8 for high-skill, high-wage employment.
9 (c) Families that are living near or below the poverty
10 level are without adequate economic resources to have
11 reasonable opportunities to obtain frequent access to use of
12 information technology or the education and training necessary
13 to acquire the knowledge and skills required to become
14 competively qualified for high-skill, high-wage employment.
15 (d) The absence of such economic resources divides
16 such families from those who have adequate economic resources
17 to have such opportunities, places such families at risk of
18 never realizing their employment and income earning potential,
19 and prevents the state's economy from prospering to the extent
20 possible if such families realized their employment and income
21 earning potential.
22 (e) The divide between the members of such at-risk
23 families and those who have adequate economic resources to
24 have reasonable opportunities to obtain access to frequent use
25 of information technology and the education and training
26 necessary to acquire the knowledge and skills required to
27 become competitively qualified for high-skill, high-wage
28 employment could be reduced, and the economy of the state
29 could be enhanced, by designing and implementing programs that
30 provide such opportunities to members of such at-risk
31 families.
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Florida House of Representatives - 2001 CS/HB 1045
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2 It is the intent of the Legislature to provide the authority
3 and resources reasonably necessary to facilitate design and
4 implementation of such programs.
5 (2) DIGITAL DIVIDE COUNCIL.--The Digital Divide
6 Council is created in the State Technology Office. The council
7 shall consist of:
8 (a) The chief information officer in the State
9 Technology Office.
10 (b) The director of the Office of Tourism, Trade, and
11 Economic Development in the Executive Office of the Governor.
12 (c) The president of Workforce Florida, Inc.
13 (d) The director of the Agency for Workforce
14 Innovation.
15 (e) The chair of itflorida.com, Inc.
16 (f) The Commissioner of Education.
17 (g) The executive director of the State Board of
18 Community Colleges.
19 (h) The executive director of the State Board for
20 Career Education.
21 (i) The chair of the Network Access Point of the
22 Americas.
23 (j) A representative of the information technology
24 industry in this state appointed by the Speaker of the House
25 of Representatives.
26 (k) A representative of the information technology
27 industry in this state appointed by the President of the
28 Senate.
29 (l) Two members of the House of Representatives, who
30 shall be ex officio, nonvoting members of the council,
31 appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, one
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1 of whom shall be a member of the Republican caucus and the
2 other of whom shall be a member of the Democratic caucus.
3 (m) Two members of the Senate, who shall be ex
4 officio, nonvoting members of the council, appointed by the
5 President of the Senate, one of whom shall be a member of the
6 Republican caucus and the other of whom shall be a member of
7 the Democratic caucus.
8 (3) TERMS OF APPOINTED MEMBERS OF COUNCIL; VACANCIES;
9 COMPENSATION OF MEMBERS.--The appointed members of the council
10 shall serve an initial term of 1 year commencing July 1, 2001,
11 and ending June 30, 2002, and successor appointees shall serve
12 a term of 2 years, the first of which shall commence July 1,
13 2002, and end June 30, 2004. Successive 2-year terms shall
14 commence and end on the same schedule in subsequent years. Any
15 vacancy in the membership of the council resulting from
16 resignation, incapacity, or death shall be filled within 30
17 days after the date the vacancy is effective. The appointed
18 members of the council shall serve without compensation, but
19 such appointees and the other members of the council shall be
20 entitled to receive per diem and reimbursement for travel
21 expenses as provided in s. 112.061, Florida Statutes. Payment
22 of such per diem and reimbursement of such travel expenses
23 shall be made from revenues deposited in the Digital Divide
24 Trust Fund and from appropriations authorized to be used for
25 such purposes.
26 (4) COUNCIL MEETINGS; ELECTION OF OFFICERS.--The
27 council shall conduct its initial meeting by August 1, 2001,
28 and shall meet thereafter at least once every 60 days. In its
29 initial meeting, the members of the council shall elect a
30 member to serve as chair and another to serve as vice chair,
31 each for a term of 1 year from the date of the election. Any
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1 vacancy in the offices of chair and vice chair resulting from
2 resignation, incapacity, or death shall be filled by similar
3 election within 30 days after the date the vacancy is
4 effective.
5 (5) ADMINISTRATIVE AND TECHNICAL SUPPORT; PAYMENT OF
6 SUPPORT COSTS.--The State Technology Office shall provide such
7 administrative and technical support to the council as is
8 reasonably necessary for the council to effectively and timely
9 carry out its duties and responsibilities. All direct and
10 indirect costs of providing such support and performing the
11 other duties imposed on the State Technology Office related to
12 design and implementation of the programs authorized by this
13 section shall be paid from revenues deposited in the Digital
14 Divide Trust Fund and from appropriations authorized to be
15 used for such purposes.
16 (6) POWERS AND DUTIES OF COUNCIL.--The council,
17 through the State Technology Office, is authorized and
18 empowered to facilitate the design and implementation of
19 programs that are aimed at achieving the objectives and goals
20 stated in this section. The State Technology Office shall
21 present and demonstrate to the council the design
22 characteristics and functional elements of each program
23 proposed to be implemented to achieve the objectives and goals
24 stated in this section and each such program shall be reviewed
25 and approved by the council before being implemented. Such
26 programs shall initially be implemented as pilot programs in a
27 minimum of six different areas of the state to develop model
28 programs that are likely to be successful if implemented
29 throughout the state. The areas of the state where the pilot
30 programs are implemented shall be selected by the council with
31 the objectives of testing the merits of the programs in each
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1 geographic region of the state and providing equal exposure of
2 the programs to urban and rural communities alike.
3 Implementation of all such pilot and model programs shall be
4 administered by and through the local workforce development
5 boards and each such board shall coordinate and confirm the
6 ready availability and timely delivery of all elements of such
7 programs to ensure the highest probability of such programs
8 achieving their intended results.
9 (7) PROGRAM OBJECTIVES AND GOALS.--The programs
10 authorized by this section shall have the following objectives
11 and goals:
12 (a) Maximizing efficient and productive use of
13 existing facilities, equipment, personnel, programs, and funds
14 available from federal, state, and local government agencies
15 and from any private person or entity.
16 (b) Using innovative concepts employing newly
17 developed technologies in educating and training those who are
18 enrolled in the programs authorized by this section.
19 (c) Developing viable partnerships between public
20 agencies and private persons and entities based on mutual
21 commitment to responsible and dedicated participation in
22 designing and implementing the programs authorized by this
23 section.
24 (d) Recruiting, enrolling, retaining, and graduating
25 as many at-risk family members as feasible to ensure that they
26 have reasonable opportunities to obtain access to frequent use
27 of information technology and the education and training
28 necessary to competitively qualify them for high-skill,
29 high-wage employment.
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1 (e) Reducing the number of underachieving and failing
2 students in the state's public school systems who are members
3 of at-risk families.
4 (f) Reducing the number of underemployed and
5 unemployed members of at-risk families.
6 (g) Using information technology to facilitate
7 achievement of the Sunshine State Standards by all children
8 enrolled in the state's K-12 school system who are members of
9 at-risk families.
10 (h) Training teachers in the state's K-12 school
11 system to efficiently and effectively use information
12 technology to plan, teach, and administer all courses of
13 instruction required and available by election of children
14 enrolled in the system.
15 (i) Using information technology to enable members of
16 at-risk families who are no longer enrolled in K-12 schools to
17 obtain the education needed to achieve successful completion
18 of general education development test preparation to earn a
19 high school diploma, an applied technology diploma, a
20 vocational certificate, an associate of arts degree, or a
21 baccalaureate degree.
22 (j) Bridge the digital divide in developing a
23 competitive workforce to meet the employment needs of
24 state-based information technology businesses and establish
25 this state as having the most information technology ready
26 workforce in the western hemisphere.
27 (8) MONITORING, REVIEWING, AND EVALUATING PROGRAM
28 PERFORMANCES; REPORTING RESULTS.--The council, through the
29 State Technology Office, shall continually monitor, review,
30 and evaluate the progress of performances realized from
31 implementation of the programs authorized by this section. The
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1 State Technology Office shall prepare and submit a report to
2 the council at least 10 days before each of its meetings
3 subsequent to its initial meeting and each such report shall,
4 at a minimum, identify and describe the functional elements of
5 each program being implemented and identify and describe the
6 facilities, equipment, personnel, programs, and funds used to
7 design and implement the program. For each such program, the
8 report shall also identify by name, address, age, and sex the
9 school-age children, and their older siblings and parents, who
10 are enrolled in the program, state the educational level
11 achieved by each enrollee as of the date he or she enrolled in
12 the program, state the attendance and achievement level
13 recorded for each enrollee in the program, evaluate the
14 progress each enrollee is making toward successful completion
15 of the program, and identify by name, address, age, and sex
16 each enrollee who successfully completes the program. For each
17 such program that is designed to prepare enrollees for
18 high-skill, high-wage employment, the report shall identify
19 each enrollee who successfully completes the program, describe
20 each such employment position for which each enrollee has
21 applied, identify by name, address, and nature of business
22 each employer based in this state to whom each such
23 application for employment has been addressed, state the
24 results each enrollee obtained from making each such
25 application, and describe the nature of any employment
26 obtained and terms of compensation being earned from such
27 employment by each enrollee as a result of making such
28 applications.
29 (9) ANNUAL REPORT.--By March 1, 2002, the council,
30 through the State Technology Office, shall report to the
31 Executive Office of the Governor, the Speaker of the House of
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1 Representatives, and the President of the Senate the results
2 of the council's monitoring, reviewing, and evaluating such
3 programs since their inception and the council's
4 recommendations as to whether such programs should be
5 continued and expanded to achieve the objectives and goals
6 stated in this section.
7 Section 2. There is hereby appropriated $3 million
8 from the Digital Divide Trust Fund to implement this act, $1
9 million of which shall be released on July 1, 2001, and the
10 remainder of which shall be released upon deposit of matching
11 funds in the Digital Divide Trust Fund. Matching funds are any
12 funds which are not Temporary Assistance to Needy Families
13 funds and shall include, but not be limited to, any federal,
14 state, and local government funds and any gifts, donations, or
15 in-kind or matching contributions from a private person or
16 entity that may be lawfully made to and received in the
17 Digital Divide Trust Fund.
18 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2001, or
19 upon becoming a law, whichever first occurs.
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