The Florida Senate

288.9951  One-Stop Career Centers.--

(1)  One-Stop Career Centers comprise the state's initial customer-service delivery system for offering every Floridian access, through service sites or telephone or computer networks, to the following services:

(a)  Job search, referral, and placement assistance.

(b)  Career counseling and educational planning.

(c)  Consumer reports on service providers.

(d)  Recruitment and eligibility determination.

(e)  Support services, including child care and transportation assistance to gain employment.

(f)  Employability skills training.

(g)  Adult education and basic skills training.

(h)  Technical training leading to a certification and degree.

(i)  Claim filing for unemployment compensation services.

(j)  Temporary income, health, nutritional, and housing assistance.

(k)  Other appropriate and available workforce development services.

(2)  In addition to the mandatory partners identified in Pub. L. No. 105-220, Food Stamp Employment and Training, Food Stamp work programs, and WAGES/TANF programs shall, upon approval by the Governor of a transition plan prepared by the Workforce Development Board in collaboration with the WAGES Program State Board of Directors, participate as partners in each One-Stop Career Center. Based on this plan, each partner is prohibited from operating independently from a One-Stop Career Center unless approved by the regional workforce development board. Services provided by partners who are not physically located in a One-Stop Career Center must be approved by the regional workforce development board.

(3)  Subject to a process designed by the Workforce Development Board, and in compliance with Pub. L. No. 105-220, regional workforce development boards shall designate One-Stop Career Center operators. A regional workforce development board may retain its current One-Stop Career Center operator without further procurement action where the board has established a One-Stop Career Center that has complied with federal and state law.

(4)  Notwithstanding any other provision of law, effective July 1, 1999, regional workforce development boards shall enter into a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Labor and Employment Security for the delivery of employment services authorized by Wagner-Peyser. For fiscal year 1999-2000, the memorandum of understanding with the Department of Labor and Employment Security must be performance-based, dedicating 15 percent of the funds to performance payments. Performance payments shall be based on performance measures developed by the Workforce Development Board.

(a)  Unless otherwise required by federal law, at least 90 percent of the Wagner-Peyser funding must go into direct customer service costs.

(b)  Employment services must be provided through One-Stop Career Centers, under the guidance of One-Stop Career Center operators.

(5)  One-Stop Career Center partners identified in subsection (2) shall enter into a memorandum of understanding pursuant to Pub. L. No. 105-220, Title I, s. 121, with the regional workforce development board. Failure of a local partner to participate cannot unilaterally block the majority of partners from moving forward with their One-Stop Career Centers, and the Workforce Development Board, pursuant to s. 288.9952(4)(d), may make notification of a local partner that fails to participate.

(6)  To the extent possible, core services, as defined by Pub. L. No. 105-220, shall be provided electronically, utilizing existing systems and public libraries. To expand electronic capabilities, the Workforce Development Board, working with regional workforce development boards, shall develop a centralized help center to assist regional workforce development boards in fulfilling core services, minimizing the need for fixed-site One-Stop Career Centers.

(7)  Intensive services and training provided pursuant to Pub. L. No. 105-220, shall be provided to individuals through Intensive Service Accounts and Individual Training Accounts. The Workforce Development Board shall develop, by July 1, 1999, an implementation plan, including identification of initially eligible training providers, transition guidelines, and criteria for use of these accounts. Individual Training Accounts must be compatible with Individual Development Accounts for education allowed in federal and state welfare reform statutes.

(8)(a)  Individual Training Accounts must be expended on programs that prepare people to enter high-wage occupations identified by the Occupational Forecasting Conference created by s. 216.136, and on other programs as approved by the Workforce Development Board.

(b)  For each approved training program, regional workforce development boards, in consultation with training providers, shall establish a fair-market purchase price to be paid through an Individual Training Account. The purchase price must be based on prevailing costs and reflect local economic factors, program complexity, and program benefits, including time to beginning of training and time to completion. The price shall ensure the fair participation of public and nonpublic postsecondary educational institutions as authorized service providers and shall prohibit the use of unlawful remuneration to the student in return for attending an institution. Unlawful remuneration does not include student financial assistance programs.

(c)  The Workforce Development Board shall review Individual Training Account pricing schedules developed by regional workforce development boards and present findings and recommendations for process improvement to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives by January 1, 2000.

(d)  To the maximum extent possible, training providers shall use funding sources other than the funding provided under Pub. L. No. 105-220. A performance outcome related to alternative financing obtained by the training provider shall be established by the Workforce Development Board and used for performance evaluation purposes. The performance evaluation must take into consideration the number of alternative funding sources.

(e)  Training services provided through Individual Training Accounts must be performance-based, with successful job placement triggering full payment.

(f)  The accountability measures to be used in documenting competencies acquired by the participant during training shall be literacy completion points and occupational completion points. Literacy completion points refers to the academic or workforce readiness competencies that qualify a person for further basic education, vocational education, or for employment. Occupational completion points refers to the vocational competencies that qualify a person to enter an occupation that is linked to a vocational program.

(9)(a)  The Department of Management Services, working with the Workforce Development Board, shall coordinate among the agencies a plan for a One-Stop Career Center Electronic Network made up of One-Stop Career Centers that are operated by authorized public or private for-profit or not-for-profit agents. The plan shall identify resources within existing revenues to establish and support this electronic network for service delivery that includes Government Services Direct.

(b)  The network shall assure that a uniform method is used to determine eligibility for and management of services provided by agencies that conduct workforce development activities. The Department of Management Services shall develop strategies to allow access to the databases and information management systems of the following systems in order to link information in those databases with the One-Stop Career Centers:

1.  The Unemployment Compensation System of the Department of Labor and Employment Security.

2.  The Job Service System of the Department of Labor and Employment Security.

3.  The FLORIDA System and the components related to WAGES, food stamps, and Medicaid eligibility.

4.  The Workers' Compensation System of the Department of Labor and Employment Security.

5.  The Student Financial Assistance System of the Department of Education.

6.  Enrollment in the public postsecondary education system.

The systems shall be fully coordinated at both the state and local levels by January 1, 2000.

History.--s. 10, ch. 96-404; s. 217, ch. 99-8; s. 52, ch. 99-251; s. 53, ch. 99-399.

Note.--Former s. 446.604.