| 1 | The Transportation & Economic Development Appropriations |
| 2 | Committee recommends the following: |
| 3 |
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| 4 | Council/Committee Substitute |
| 5 | Remove the entire bill and insert: |
| 6 | A bill to be entitled |
| 7 | An act relating to the Florida Youth Summer Jobs Pilot |
| 8 | Program; creating the Florida Youth Summer Jobs Pilot |
| 9 | Program; providing eligibility requirements for program |
| 10 | participants and public employers; requiring the program |
| 11 | to be administered by a regional workforce board in |
| 12 | consultation with Workforce Florida, Inc.; providing |
| 13 | employment and educational requirements; requiring the |
| 14 | regional workforce board to make an annual report; |
| 15 | providing certain uses for program funds; providing for |
| 16 | the program to be funded by specific legislative |
| 17 | appropriations; providing an effective date. |
| 18 |
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| 19 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 20 |
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| 21 | Section 1. Florida Youth Summer Jobs Pilot Program.-- |
| 22 | (1) CREATION.--There is created the Florida Youth Summer |
| 23 | Jobs Pilot Program within workforce development district 22 |
| 24 | served by the Broward Workforce Development Board. The board |
| 25 | shall, in consultation with Workforce Florida, Inc., provide a |
| 26 | program offering at-risk and disadvantaged children summer jobs |
| 27 | in partnership with local communities and public employers. |
| 28 | (2) ELIGIBILITY.-- |
| 29 | (a) Children at least 14 but not more than 18 years of age |
| 30 | are eligible to participate in the program if they are: |
| 31 | 1. At risk of welfare dependency, including economically |
| 32 | disadvantaged children, children of participants in the welfare |
| 33 | transition program, children of migrant farmworkers, and |
| 34 | children of teen parents. For purposes of this section, |
| 35 | "economically disadvantaged children" are those whose family |
| 36 | income is below 150 percent of the federal poverty level; |
| 37 | 2. Children of working families whose family income does |
| 38 | not exceed 150 percent of the federal poverty level; |
| 39 | 3. Juvenile offenders; |
| 40 | 4. Children in foster care; or |
| 41 | 5. Children with disabilities. |
| 42 | (b) Employers are eligible to participate in the program |
| 43 | under the following conditions: |
| 44 | 1. The employer shall meet the program requirements of |
| 45 | subsection (3). |
| 46 | 2. The employer shall pay the state minimum wage to a |
| 47 | program participant hired under the program. |
| 48 | 3. The maximum hours required of a program participant per |
| 49 | week shall not exceed 30 hours. |
| 50 | 4. The employer shall comply with state and federal child |
| 51 | labor and antidiscrimination laws. |
| 52 | (3) PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS.-- |
| 53 | (a) The program shall: |
| 54 | 1. Provide the program participant a work experience that |
| 55 | will teach personal responsibility and reinforce the obligations |
| 56 | and rewards of holding a job. |
| 57 | 2. Allow for an academic enrichment component that will |
| 58 | assist the program participant in remaining in or returning to |
| 59 | school. |
| 60 | 3. Provide documented learning experiences relevant to the |
| 61 | type of work performed and tailored to the needs of the program |
| 62 | participant. |
| 63 | 4. Allow for the provision of life skills training by the |
| 64 | local community or a third-party provider contracted by the |
| 65 | local community if such skills training takes up no more than 10 |
| 66 | percent of the program participant's work time. |
| 67 | (b) The program may begin on the day after the end of the |
| 68 | regular school year in the local community and shall end before |
| 69 | the first regular day of school in the local community. |
| 70 | (4) GOVERNANCE.-- |
| 71 | (a) The pilot program shall be administered by the |
| 72 | regional workforce board in consultation with Workforce Florida, |
| 73 | Inc. |
| 74 | (b) The regional workforce board shall report to Workforce |
| 75 | Florida, Inc., the number of at-risk and disadvantaged children |
| 76 | who enter the program, the types of work activities they |
| 77 | participate in, and the number of children who return to school, |
| 78 | go on to postsecondary school, or enter the workforce full time |
| 79 | at the end of the program. Workforce Florida, Inc., shall report |
| 80 | to the Legislature by November 1 of each year on the performance |
| 81 | of the program. |
| 82 | (5) FUNDING.-- |
| 83 | (a) The regional workforce board shall, consistent with |
| 84 | state and federal laws, use funds appropriated specifically for |
| 85 | the pilot program to provide youth wage payments and educational |
| 86 | enrichment activities. The regional workforce board and local |
| 87 | communities may obtain private or state and federal grants or |
| 88 | other sources of funds in addition to any appropriated funds. |
| 89 | (b) Program funds shall be used as follows: |
| 90 | 1. No less than 85 percent of the funds shall be used for |
| 91 | youth wage payments or educational enrichment activities. These |
| 92 | funds shall be matched on a one-to-one basis by each local |
| 93 | community that participates in the program. |
| 94 | 2. No more than 2 percent of the funds may be used for |
| 95 | administrative purposes. |
| 96 | 3. The remainder of the funds may be used for |
| 97 | transportation assistance, childcare assistance, or other |
| 98 | assistance to enable a program participant to enter or remain in |
| 99 | the program. |
| 100 | (c) The regional workforce board shall pay a participating |
| 101 | employer an amount equal to one-half of the wages paid to a |
| 102 | youth participating in the program. Payments shall be made |
| 103 | monthly for the duration that the youth participant is employed |
| 104 | as documented by the employer and confirmed by the regional |
| 105 | workforce board. |
| 106 | (d) The Florida Youth Summer Jobs Pilot Program shall be |
| 107 | funded by specific legislative appropriations. |
| 108 | Section 2. This act shall take effect October 1, 2005. |