HOUSE BILL 147

53rd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2017

INTRODUCED BY

George Dodge, Jr. And Bill McCamley

AN ACT

RELATING TO WORKFORCE TRAINING; REDUCING THE RESIDENCY REQUIREMENT FOR THE WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT TRAINING PROGRAM OF THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT WHEN THE TRAINING PROVIDED IS FOR HIGH WAGE-JOBS IN CERTAIN LOCATIONS OF THE STATE.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     SECTION 1. Section 21-19-7 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1983, Chapter 299, Section 1, as amended) is amended to read:

     "21-19-7. DEVELOPMENT TRAINING.--

          A. The economic development department shall establish a development training program that provides

quick-response classroom training, in-plant training and skill-enhancement training to furnish qualified [manpower] workforce resources for new or expanding industries, nonretail service sector businesses and film and multimedia production companies in New Mexico that have business or production procedures that require skills unique to those industries. Training shall be custom designed for, and based on the special requirements of, each company or preemployment training program for the film and multimedia industry. The program shall be operated on a statewide basis and shall be designed to assist any area in becoming more competitive economically.

          B. There is created the "industrial training board" composed of:

                (1) the director of the economic development division of the economic development department;

                (2) the director of the instructional support and vocational education division of the public education department;

                (3) the [director of the governor's office of workforce training and development] secretary of workforce solutions or the secretary's designee;

                (4) the [executive director of the commission on] secretary of higher education;

                (5) an employee of the workforce solutions department [of labor];

                (6) one member from organized labor appointed by the governor; and

                (7) one public member from the business community appointed by the governor.

          C. The industrial training board shall establish policies and promulgate rules for the administration of appropriated funds and shall provide review and oversight to assure that funds expended from the development training fund will generate business activity and give measurable growth to the economic base of New Mexico within the legal limits while preserving the ecological state of New Mexico and its people.

          D. Subject to the approval of the industrial training board, the economic development division of the economic development department shall:

                (1) administer all funds allocated or appropriated for industrial development training purposes;

                (2) provide designated training services;

                (3) regulate, control and abandon any training program established under the provisions of this section;

                (4) assist companies requesting training in the development of a training proposal to meet the companies' [manpower] workforce needs;

                (5) contract for the implementation of all training programs;

                (6) provide for training by educational institutions or by a company through in-plant training, at that company's request; and

                (7) evaluate training efforts on a basis of performance standards set forth by the industrial training board.

          E. The instructional support and vocational education division of the public education department shall provide technical assistance to the economic development department concerning the development of agreements, the determination of the most appropriate instructional training to be provided and the review of training program implementation.

          F. Except as provided in Section 21-19-7.1 NMSA 1978 for film and multimedia production companies and preemployment training programs for that industry, the state shall contract with a company or an educational institution to provide training or instructional services in accordance with the approved training proposal and within the following limitations:

                (1) payment shall not be made for training in excess of one thousand forty hours of training per trainee for the total duration of training;

                (2) [training applicants] trainees shall be guaranteed full-time employment with the contracted company upon successful completion of the training;

                (3) trainees shall [have resided within the state for a minimum of one year at any time prior to the commencement of the training program and] be of legal status for employment and:

                     (a) have resided within the state for at least one year at any time before the start of the training program; or

                     (b) have resided within the state for at least one day at any time before the start of the training program if the salary of the job guaranteed to the trainee upon successful completion of the training is at least: 1) sixty thousand dollars ($60,000) for a job performed in, based in or within ten miles of the external boundaries of a municipality with a population, according to the most recent federal decennial census, of sixty thousand or more or a job performed in or based in an H class county; or 2) forty thousand dollars ($40,000) for a job performed in or based in a municipality with a population, according to the most recent federal decennial census, of less than sixty thousand or for a job performed in or based in the unincorporated area, not within ten miles of the external boundaries of a municipality with a population of sixty thousand or more, of a county other than an H class county;

                [(3)] (4) payment for institutional classroom training shall be made pursuant to any accepted training contract for a qualified training program;

                [(4)] (5) payment shall not be made pursuant to any accepted training contract for rental of facilities unless facilities are not available on site or at the educational institution;

                [(5) all applicants] (6) trainees shall be eligible under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended, and shall not have terminated a public school program within the past three months except by graduation;

                [(6) trainees shall be guaranteed full-time employment with the contracted company upon successful completion of the training;]

                (7) persons employed to provide the instructional services shall be exempt from the minimum requirements established in the state plan for other state vocational programs;

                (8) payment shall not be made for training programs or production of Indian jewelry or imitation Indian jewelry unless a majority of those involved in the training program or production are of Indian descent; and

                (9) if a company hires twenty or more trainees, payment shall not be made for training in a municipality [having] with a population, [of more than forty thousand] according to the most recent decennial census, of more than forty thousand or in a class A county, unless the company:

                     (a) offers its employees and their dependents health insurance coverage that is in compliance with the New Mexico Insurance Code; and

                     (b) contributes [not less than] at least fifty percent of the premium for the health insurance plan for those employees who choose to enroll in it; provided that the fifty percent employer contribution shall not be a requirement for the dependent coverage that is offered."

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