A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING A STUDY TO BE CONDUCTED ON HOW NEW MEXICO'S COMMUNITY COLLEGES CAN ENHANCE THEIR ROLE IN WORK FORCE DEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING.

WHEREAS, training and retraining workers, honing employees' skills and keeping employees' skills current with rapidly changing technology is of growing importance to business and industry; and

WHEREAS, twenty-five percent of the state's current work force of eight hundred thousand has less than a high school education and another twenty-nine percent has only a high school diploma; and

WHEREAS, currently, an estimated eighty percent of our workers will need post-secondary training to keep pace with changing technology and to maintain their jobs; and

WHEREAS, advanced education and additional training increase the potential earning power of workers; and

WHEREAS, community colleges play an important role in providing work force training and retraining that can be customized to the needs of business and industry, and better access to such training will lead to a highly skilled work force and an increase in per capita income;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the New Mexico association of community colleges, in cooperation with the commission on higher education, be requested to meet with representatives of the economic development department, the labor department, the human services department and other appropriate agencies responsible for work force training and services and with interested parties from the private sector to conduct a study on how New Mexico's community colleges can enhance their role in work force training initiatives; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the study include how other states successfully utilize the resources of their community colleges to enhance work force training and what incentive tools, if any, are in place to support their roles; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the findings of the study be presented to the legislative finance committee and an appropriate interim legislative committee prior to November 1, 2003; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the New Mexico association of community colleges, the commission on higher education, the economic development department, the labor department, the human services department and other appropriate agencies responsible for work force training and services.