15000.

 This division shall be known, and may be cited, as the California Green Collar Jobs Act of 2008.

15001.

 (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(1) The State of California has long been a national and international leader on environmental, natural resource, pollution prevention, and energy issues, as well as recent landmark laws in the areas of climate change, renewable energy, energy efficiency, and alternative transportation fuels.

(2) The passage of these laws has resulted in billions of dollars of investment capital flowing into the State of California for research, development, and commercialization of new green and clean technologies. This investment of capital is indicative of the rapidly growing clean and green technology sector of the California economy.

(3) The California Economic Strategy Panel has identified California’s economy as an economy of regions. The panel also adopted a new way of looking at industry sectors and how they function and grow as industry clusters. California’s green economy is about the potential of new technologies combined with innovative public policy and strategic investments to stimulate the growth of new markets for green products and services.

(4) As the green economy grows, it will be accompanied by an increased demand for a highly skilled and well-trained “green collar” workforce.

(5) California state government must act promptly to build the partnerships, expand the programs, and secure the resources necessary to meet our green workforce needs. This effort must involve both our K–12 and higher education systems, labor unions, the environmental community, workforce development programs, nongovernmental organizations, philanthropy, and private sector industries.

(6) In acknowledgment of the tremendous size of California’s economy and related infrastructure, the application of sector strategies in a wide variety of industry sectors is essential to providing labor for industry and career paths for current and potential employees. The California Workforce Investment Board shall adopt a sector strategy approach in responding to industry sector workforce and economic development needs. This strategy will ensure industry has a qualified workforce and can offer opportunities for employment, training, and career advancement for all Californians. The initial drive of this sector strategy approach will be the California Green Collar Jobs Act of 2008.

15002.

 (a) The California Workforce Investment Board (CWIB) shall establish a special committee known as the Green Collar Jobs Council (GCJC), comprised of the appropriate representatives from the CWIB existing membership, including the K–12 representative, the California Community Colleges representative, the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency representative, the Employment Development Department representative, and other appropriate members. The CWIB may call on other state agencies, other higher education representatives, and industry representatives as well as philanthropic, nongovernmental, and environmental groups as appropriate and necessary to serve as consultants to the GCJC in the development of this strategic initiative.

(b) As part of the strategic initiative the GCJC shall identify and develop the framework, funding, strategies, programs, policies, partnerships, and opportunities necessary to address the growing need for a highly skilled and well-trained workforce to meet the needs of California’s emerging green economy. The GCJC shall do all of the following:

(1) Assist in identifying and linking green collar job opportunities with workforce development training opportunities in local workforce investment areas (LWIAs), encouraging regional collaboration among LWIAs to meet regional economic demands.

(2) Develop public, private, philanthropic, and nongovernmental partnerships to build and expand the state’s workforce development programs, network, and infrastructure.

(3) Provide policy guidance for job training programs in the clean and green technology sectors to assist and prepare specific populations, such as at-risk youth, displaced workers, veterans, formerly incarcerated individuals, and others facing barriers to employment.

(4) Develop, collect, interpret, and distribute statewide and regional labor market data on California’s new and emerging green industries workforce needs, trends, and job growth.

(5) Identify funding resources and make recommendations on how to expand and leverage these funds.

(6) Foster regional collaboratives in the green economic sector.

15003.

 On or before April 1, 2009, and each April 1 yearly thereafter, the CWIB shall report to the Legislature on the status of GCJC activities and its development of a green workforce strategic initiative.