| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to the Florida Youth Summer Jobs Program; |
| 3 | creating the Florida Youth Summer Jobs Program; providing |
| 4 | eligibility requirements for program participants and |
| 5 | employers; requiring the program to be administered by the |
| 6 | Agency for Workforce Innovation through its contract with |
| 7 | Workforce Florida, Inc.; providing employment and |
| 8 | educational requirements; requiring each regional |
| 9 | workforce board to make an annual report; requiring the |
| 10 | agency to adopt certain rules; requiring the agency to |
| 11 | establish a funding formula for allocating appropriated |
| 12 | funds; providing certain uses for program funds; providing |
| 13 | an effective date. |
| 14 |
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| 15 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 16 |
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| 17 | Section 1. Florida Youth Summer Jobs Program.-- |
| 18 | (1) CREATION.--There is created the Florida Youth Summer |
| 19 | Jobs Program. The program shall offer at-risk and disadvantaged |
| 20 | children summer jobs in partnership with local communities and |
| 21 | private or public employers and is intended to foster improved |
| 22 | work and academic skills and performance. |
| 23 | (2) ELIGIBILITY.-- |
| 24 | (a) Children at least 14 but not more than 18 years of age |
| 25 | are eligible to participate in the program if they are: |
| 26 | 1. At risk of welfare dependency, including economically |
| 27 | disadvantaged children, children of participants in the welfare |
| 28 | transition program, children of migrant farmworkers, and |
| 29 | children of teen parents. For purposes of this section, |
| 30 | "economically disadvantaged children" are those whose family |
| 31 | income is below 150 percent of the federal poverty level; |
| 32 | 2. Children of working families whose family income does |
| 33 | not exceed 150 percent of the federal poverty level; |
| 34 | 3. Juvenile offenders; |
| 35 | 4. Children in foster care; or |
| 36 | 5. Children with disabilities. |
| 37 | (b) Employers are eligible to participate in the program |
| 38 | under the following conditions: |
| 39 | 1. The employer shall enter into an individual service |
| 40 | plan with the program participant and the local community on a |
| 41 | form provided by the Agency for Workforce Innovation. The plan |
| 42 | shall be approved by the regional workforce board. |
| 43 | 2. The employer shall pay the state minimum wage to a |
| 44 | program participant hired under the program. |
| 45 | 3. The maximum hours required of a program participant per |
| 46 | week shall not exceed 30 hours. |
| 47 | 4. The employer shall comply with state and federal child |
| 48 | labor and antidiscrimination laws. |
| 49 | (3) PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS.-- |
| 50 | (a) The program shall be outlined in the individual |
| 51 | service plan between the employer, the program participant, and |
| 52 | the local community and shall: |
| 53 | 1. Provide the program participant a work experience that |
| 54 | will teach personal responsibility and reinforce the obligations |
| 55 | and rewards of holding a job. |
| 56 | 2. Allow for an academic enrichment component that will |
| 57 | assist the program participant in remaining in or returning to |
| 58 | school. |
| 59 | 3. Provide documented learning experiences relevant to the |
| 60 | type of work performed and tailored to the needs of the program |
| 61 | participant. |
| 62 | 4. Allow for the provision of life skills training by the |
| 63 | local community or a third-party provider contracted by the |
| 64 | local community if such skills training takes up no more than 10 |
| 65 | percent of the program participant's work time. |
| 66 | (b) The program may begin on the day after the end of the |
| 67 | regular school year in the local community and shall end before |
| 68 | the first regular day of school in the local community. |
| 69 | (4) GOVERNANCE.-- |
| 70 | (a) The program shall be administered by the Agency for |
| 71 | Workforce Innovation through its contract with Workforce |
| 72 | Florida, Inc., and the regional workforce boards. The Agency for |
| 73 | Workforce Innovation is authorized to amend or renegotiate its |
| 74 | contract with Workforce Florida, Inc., consistent with this |
| 75 | section, to implement the program. |
| 76 | (b) Each regional workforce board shall report to |
| 77 | Workforce Florida, Inc., the number of at-risk and disadvantaged |
| 78 | children who enter the program, the types of work activities |
| 79 | they participated in, and the number of children who returned to |
| 80 | school, went to postsecondary school, or entered the workforce |
| 81 | full time at the end of the program. Workforce Florida, Inc., |
| 82 | shall report to the Legislature by November 1 of each year on |
| 83 | the performance of the program. |
| 84 | (c) The Agency for Workforce Innovation shall adopt by |
| 85 | rule a form for the individual service plan that meets the |
| 86 | requirements of paragraph (3)(a) and shall adopt by rule a |
| 87 | funding formula that meets the requirements of paragraph (5)(a). |
| 88 | (5) FUNDING.-- |
| 89 | (a) The Agency for Workforce Innovation shall establish a |
| 90 | funding formula for allocating appropriated funds to each |
| 91 | regional workforce board to support the program. The agency |
| 92 | shall allocate state program funds and any federal funds to each |
| 93 | regional workforce board pursuant to the formula, and each board |
| 94 | shall reserve the funds in its region for participating |
| 95 | employers and local communities on a pro rata basis based on the |
| 96 | number of approved individual service plans. The Agency for |
| 97 | Workforce Innovation, Workforce Florida, Inc., regional |
| 98 | workforce boards, or local communities may obtain private or |
| 99 | state and federal grants or other sources of funds in addition |
| 100 | to any appropriated funds. |
| 101 | (b) Program funds shall be used as follows: |
| 102 | 1. No less than 85 percent of the funds shall be used for |
| 103 | youth wage payments or educational enrichment activities. These |
| 104 | funds shall be matched on a one-to-one basis by each local |
| 105 | community that participates in the program. |
| 106 | 2. No more than 5 percent of the funds may be used for |
| 107 | administrative purposes. |
| 108 | 3. The remainder of the funds may be used for |
| 109 | transportation assistance, childcare assistance, or other |
| 110 | assistance to enable a program participant to enter or remain in |
| 111 | the program. |
| 112 | (c) A participating employer shall receive a payment equal |
| 113 | to one-half of the wages paid to a program participant under the |
| 114 | program. Payments shall be made monthly for the duration that |
| 115 | the program participant is employed as documented by the |
| 116 | employer and confirmed by the regional workforce board. Payments |
| 117 | shall be made by the regional workforce board. |
| 118 | Section 2. This act shall take effect October 1, 2005. |