PRINTER'S NO. 941
No. 883 Session of 1997
INTRODUCED BY WILLIAMS, APRIL 7, 1997
REFERRED TO STATE GOVERNMENT, APRIL 7, 1997
AN ACT
1 Establishing the Department of Work Fair and providing for its
2 powers and duties; requiring Commonwealth departments and
3 agencies and other entities to provide employment to certain
4 persons; providing for availability of services from the
5 department; and establishing the Work Fair Advisory Board.
6 TABLE OF CONTENTS
7 Chapter 1. Preliminary Provisions
8 Section 101. Short title.
9 Section 102. Definitions.
10 Chapter 3. Department of Work Fair
11 Section 301. Establishment.
12 Section 302. Secretary.
13 Section 303. Deputies and other employees.
14 Section 304. Training.
15 Section 305. Duties of department.
16 Section 306. Obligation of Commonwealth agencies.
17 Section 307. Obligation of entities receiving funds from
18 Commonwealth.
19 Section 308. Availability of services.
1 Chapter 5. Work Fair Advisory Board
2 Section 501. Advisory board established.
3 Section 502. Duties of advisory board.
4 Chapter 7. Miscellaneous Provisions
5 Section 701. Repeals.
6 Section 702. Expiration.
7 Section 703. Effective date.
8 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
9 hereby enacts as follows:
10 CHAPTER 1
11 PRELIMINARY PROVISIONS
12 Section 101. Short title.
13 This act shall be known and may be cited as the Job
14 Opportunities Act of 1997.
15 Section 102. Definitions.
16 The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
17 have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
18 context clearly indicates otherwise:
19 "Advisory board." The Work Fair Advisory Board established
20 under section 501.
21 "Commonwealth agency." Any department, departmental
22 administrative board or commission, independent board or
23 commission, agency or other authority of this Commonwealth now
24 existing or hereafter created. The term includes the Senate, the
25 House of Representatives and any court, political subdivision or
26 municipal or local authority.
27 "Department." The Department of Work Fair of the
28 Commonwealth.
29 "Eligible individual." Low-income residents of this
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1 Commonwealth and their families who are or within the 12 months
2 preceding the effective date of this act were recipients of
3 public assistance, as well as the homeless and all veterans.
4 "Minority firm." A business enterprise, other than a bar,
5 tavern or any other enterprise which has as its primary function
6 the dispensing of alcoholic beverages on a retail basis, that is
7 owned or controlled by one or more socially or economically
8 disadvantaged persons who are residents of this Commonwealth.
9 The disadvantage may arise from cultural, racial, chronic
10 economic circumstances or background or other similar cause.
11 Such persons include, but are not limited to, African-Americans,
12 Puerto Ricans, Spanish-speaking Americans, American Indians,
13 Eskimos and Aleuts.
14 "Secretary." The Secretary of Work Fair of the Commonwealth.
15 CHAPTER 3
16 DEPARTMENT OF WORK FAIR
17 Section 301. Establishment.
18 There is hereby established a cabinet-level State agency to
19 be known as the Department of Work Fair. The department shall
20 have the powers provided for in this act and such other powers
21 as are necessary to accomplish their objectives.
22 Section 302. Secretary.
23 (a) Appointment.--The Governor shall nominate in accordance
24 with the provisions of the Constitution of Pennsylvania and, by
25 and with the advice and consent of a majority of the members
26 elected to the Senate, appoint the secretary.
27 (b) Qualifications.--The person nominated to be the
28 secretary shall be a person who by reason of training,
29 experience and attainment is qualified to assist recipients of
30 public assistance in obtaining gainful employment.
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1 Section 303. Deputies and other employees.
2 The secretary shall appoint deputies to develop and
3 administer the duties provided for in this act. The deputies and
4 other employees of the department shall be selected on the basis
5 of training and experience, and preference shall be given to
6 persons having personal experience with the public welfare
7 system or another human service program.
8 Section 304. Training.
9 The department shall develop and implement programs to
10 educate employees concerning the needs of clients that are
11 served by the department. The department shall contract for
12 provision of the training programs, giving preference to small
13 and minority firms. The department shall develop a plan to
14 engage the services of firms that have a policy of training and
15 hiring public assistance clients.
16 Section 305. Duties of department.
17 (a) Evaluation of available positions.--The department shall
18 evaluate each available job classification in all Commonwealth
19 agencies to determine available positions and shall design
20 training and educational programs which will assure that
21 eligible individuals can qualify for these positions.
22 (b) Job matches.--After evaluating the available jobs, the
23 department shall coordinate efforts with the Department of
24 Public Welfare to match eligible individuals to the jobs.
25 Further, the department shall identify programs and supportive
26 services and assure that child care, transportation, additional
27 training and mentoring are available where necessary to help an
28 eligible individual to get and keep a job.
29 (c) Study of Commonwealth agencies.--The department shall
30 conduct a study of all Commonwealth agencies to determine the
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1 number of employees who have at any time been hired from the
2 public assistance rolls.
3 Section 306. Obligation of Commonwealth agencies.
4 (a) General rule.--Each Commonwealth agency shall be
5 required to provide training and employment to eligible
6 individuals. Each Commonwealth agency shall submit on a monthly
7 basis a list of available positions to the department.
8 (b) Annual targets.--Every fiscal year, each Commonwealth
9 agency shall in consultation with the department establish a
10 target for the number of eligible individuals that it will train
11 and employ during the fiscal year. If a Commonwealth agency
12 fails to meet its target, it shall submit a plan of correction
13 to the department. If a Commonwealth agency fails to meet its
14 target for two consecutive fiscal years, the Auditor General
15 shall conduct an audit to determine the cause of the failures.
16 Section 307. Obligation of entities receiving funds from
17 Commonwealth.
18 (a) General rule.--Each entity that receives funds from the
19 Commonwealth shall be required to train and employ eligible
20 individuals in their organizations.
21 (b) Required information.--
22 (1) Every request for proposal issued by any
23 Commonwealth agency shall contain the following question:
24 How, in fulfilling the requirements of this contract,
25 do you propose to help to end the cycle of welfare
26 dependency?
27 (2) Contract and grant awards shall be based in part on
28 the answer to the question in paragraph (1) and on the
29 entity's prior history in training and employing eligible
30 individuals under contracts and grants awarded by
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1 Commonwealth agencies.
2 (c) Targets.--Each entity that receives funds from the
3 Commonwealth shall in consultation with the department establish
4 a target for the number of eligible individuals that it will
5 train and employ during the contract or grant period. If the
6 entity fails to meet its target, it shall submit a plan of
7 correction to the department. If the entity fails to meet its
8 target for two consecutive contract or grant periods, it shall
9 be ineligible to be awarded a contract or grant for a period of
10 time equal to the two consecutive contract or grant periods.
11 Section 308. Availability of services.
12 All services provided by the department shall be available to
13 eligible individuals who have been offered a job under this act.
14 CHAPTER 5
15 WORK FAIR ADVISORY BOARD
16 Section 501. Advisory board established.
17 There is hereby established within the department the Work
18 Fair Advisory Board. The advisory board shall consist of the
19 following:
20 (1) The Secretary of Community and Economic Development
21 or a designee.
22 (2) The Secretary of Education or a designee.
23 (3) The Secretary of Health or a designee.
24 (4) The Secretary of Public Welfare or a designee.
25 (5) Ten former or current recipients of public
26 assistance appointed by the Secretary of Public Welfare.
27 Section 502. Duties of advisory board.
28 The advisory board shall assess all available Federal and
29 State programs designed to assist low-income persons and
30 families to find, accept and retain employment to assure that
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1 every available program has been implemented. The advisory board
2 shall serve in an advisory capacity to both the General Assembly
3 and the department and shall assure interdepartmental activity
4 designed to address every possible employment-related need of
5 eligible persons. The goal of the advisory board shall be to
6 insure that total family independence is achieved through all
7 available systems to produce a whole, self-supporting,
8 economically independent family unit or individual.
9 CHAPTER 7
10 MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS
11 Section 701. Repeals.
12 All acts and parts of acts are repealed insofar as they are
13 inconsistent with this act.
14 Section 702. Expiration.
15 This act shall expire and the department shall cease all
16 functions five years after the effective date of this act.
17 Section 703. Effective date.
18 This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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