1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to health care; adding to the duties of the 
  1.3             job skills partnership board; establishing a health 
  1.4             care and human services worker training and retention 
  1.5             program; appropriating money; amending Minnesota 
  1.6             Statutes 1998, section 116L.02; proposing coding for 
  1.7             new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 116L. 
  1.8   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.9      Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1998, section 116L.02, is 
  1.10  amended to read: 
  1.11     116L.02 [JOB SKILLS PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM.] 
  1.12     (a) The Minnesota job skills partnership program is created 
  1.13  to act as a catalyst to bring together employers with specific 
  1.14  training needs with educational or other nonprofit institutions 
  1.15  which can design programs to fill those needs.  The partnership 
  1.16  shall work closely with employers to train and place workers in 
  1.17  identifiable positions as well as assisting educational or other 
  1.18  nonprofit institutions in developing training programs that 
  1.19  coincide with current and future employer requirements.  The 
  1.20  partnership shall provide grants to educational or other 
  1.21  nonprofit institutions for the purpose of training displaced 
  1.22  workers.  A participating business must match the grant-in-aid 
  1.23  made by the Minnesota job skills partnership.  The match may be 
  1.24  in the form of funding, equipment, or faculty. 
  1.25     (b) The partnership program shall administer the health 
  1.26  care and human services worker training and retention program 
  2.1   under sections 116L.10 to 116L.13. 
  2.2      Sec. 2.  [116L.10] [DEFINITIONS.] 
  2.3      Subdivision 1.  [SCOPE.] For the purposes of sections 
  2.4   116L.10 to 116L.13, the terms defined in this section have the 
  2.5   meanings given them unless the context clearly indicates 
  2.6   otherwise. 
  2.7      Subd. 2.  [ELIGIBLE EMPLOYER.] "Eligible employer" means a 
  2.8   nursing facility, small rural hospital, intermediate care 
  2.9   facility for persons with mental retardation or related 
  2.10  conditions, waivered services provider, home health services 
  2.11  provider, personal care assistant services provider, 
  2.12  semi-independent living services provider, day training and 
  2.13  habilitation services provider, or a similar provider of health 
  2.14  care or human services. 
  2.15     Subd. 3.  [POTENTIAL EMPLOYEE TARGET GROUPS.] "Potential 
  2.16  employee target groups" means high school students, past and 
  2.17  present recipients of Minnesota family investment program 
  2.18  benefits, immigrants, senior citizens, current health care and 
  2.19  human services workers, and persons who are underemployed or 
  2.20  unemployed. 
  2.21     Subd. 4.  [QUALIFYING CONSORTIUM.] "Qualifying consortium" 
  2.22  means an entity that includes a public or private, nonprofit 
  2.23  post-secondary institution and one or more eligible employers, 
  2.24  and may also include a work force center or a county. 
  2.25     Sec. 3.  [116L.11] [HEALTH CARE AND HUMAN SERVICE WORKER 
  2.26  PROGRAM.] 
  2.27     Subdivision 1.  [ESTABLISHED.] A health care and human 
  2.28  services worker training and retention program is established to:
  2.29     (1) alleviate critical worker shortages confronting 
  2.30  specific geographical areas of the state, specific health care 
  2.31  and human services industries, or specific providers when 
  2.32  employers are not currently offering sufficient worker training 
  2.33  and retention options and are unable to do so because of the 
  2.34  limited size of the employer, economic circumstances, or other 
  2.35  limiting factors described in the grant application and verified 
  2.36  by the board; and 
  3.1      (2) increase opportunities for current and potential direct 
  3.2   care employees to qualify for advanced employment in the health 
  3.3   care or human services fields through experience, training, and 
  3.4   education. 
  3.5      Subd. 2.  [GRANTS.] The board shall make grants to 
  3.6   qualifying consortia to implement local or regional worker 
  3.7   training and retention programs based on health care industry 
  3.8   recommendations from the partnerships funded under Laws 1998, 
  3.9   chapter 384, section 3, paragraph (a).  Grants must be used to: 
  3.10     (1) provide tuition waivers to Minnesota health care and 
  3.11  human services employees and potential employees to complete 
  3.12  post-secondary degrees, diplomas, or certificates in fields 
  3.13  related to health care or human services; and 
  3.14     (2) restructure curriculum in health care and human 
  3.15  services programs to better meet the needs of current and 
  3.16  potential employees by designing short-term, entry level 
  3.17  programs, integrated certificate, diploma, and degree programs 
  3.18  in which credits earned in one program can be applied to the 
  3.19  next credential, and continuing education programs that enable 
  3.20  employees to advance in their careers. 
  3.21     Sec. 4.  [116L.12] [GRANT APPLICATIONS.] 
  3.22     Subdivision 1.  [APPLICATIONS.] A qualifying consortium 
  3.23  shall apply to the board in the manner specified by the board. 
  3.24     Subd. 2.  [FISCAL REQUIREMENTS.] The application must 
  3.25  specify how the consortium will make maximum use of available 
  3.26  federal and state training, education, and employment funds to 
  3.27  minimize the need for training and retention grants.  A 
  3.28  consortium must designate a lead public agency as the fiscal 
  3.29  agent for reporting, claiming, and receiving payments.  A public 
  3.30  post-secondary institution may be designated as a lead agency, 
  3.31  but its system governing board may not be given that designation.
  3.32     Subd. 3.  [PROGRAM TARGETS.] Applications for grants must 
  3.33  describe targeted employees or types of employees and must 
  3.34  describe the specific critical work force shortage the program 
  3.35  is designed to alleviate.  The application must include 
  3.36  verification that in the process of determining that a critical 
  4.1   work force shortage exists in the target area, the applicant has:
  4.2      (1) consulted available data on worker shortages; 
  4.3      (2) conferred with other employers in the target area; and 
  4.4      (3) compared shortages in the target area with shortages at 
  4.5   the regional or statewide level. 
  4.6      Subd. 4.  [LOCAL MATCH REQUIREMENTS.] A consortium must 
  4.7   provide at least a 50 percent match from local resources for 
  4.8   money appropriated under this section.  The local match 
  4.9   requirement may be reduced for consortia that include a 
  4.10  relatively large number of small employers whose financial 
  4.11  contribution has been reduced in accordance with section 
  4.12  116L.13, subdivision 5.  In-kind services and expenditures under 
  4.13  section 116L.13, subdivision 2, may be used to meet this local 
  4.14  match requirement.  The grant application must specify the 
  4.15  financial contribution from each member of the consortium. 
  4.16     Subd. 5.  [INELIGIBLE WORKER CATEGORIES.] Grants shall not 
  4.17  be made to alleviate shortages of physicians, physician 
  4.18  assistants, or advanced practice nurses. 
  4.19     Subd. 6.  [EVALUATION.] The board shall evaluate the 
  4.20  success of consortia that receive grants in achieving expected 
  4.21  outcomes and shall report to the legislature annually.  The 
  4.22  report must compare consortia in terms of overall program costs, 
  4.23  costs per client, retention rates, advancement rates, and other 
  4.24  outcome measurements established in the grantmaking process.  
  4.25  The first report shall be due on March 15, 2000, and on January 
  4.26  15 annually in succeeding years.  The report shall include any 
  4.27  recommendations from the board to modify the grant program. 
  4.28     Sec. 5.  [116L.13] [REQUIREMENTS FOR CONSORTIA.] 
  4.29     Subdivision 1.  [MARKETING AND RECRUITMENT.] A qualifying 
  4.30  consortium must implement a marketing and outreach strategy to 
  4.31  recruit into the health care and human services fields persons 
  4.32  from one or more of the potential employee target groups.  
  4.33  Recruitment strategies must include a screening process to 
  4.34  evaluate whether potential employees may be disqualified as the 
  4.35  result of a required background check or are otherwise unlikely 
  4.36  to succeed in the position for which they are being recruited. 
  5.1      Subd. 2.  [RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION INCENTIVES.] Employer 
  5.2   members of a consortium must provide incentives to train and 
  5.3   retain employees in addition to tuition waivers.  These 
  5.4   incentives may include, but are not limited to: 
  5.5      (1) paid salary during initial training periods; 
  5.6      (2) scholarship programs under which a specified amount is 
  5.7   deposited into an educational account for the employee for each 
  5.8   hour worked; 
  5.9      (3) the provision of advanced education to employees so 
  5.10  that they may qualify for advanced positions in the health care 
  5.11  or human services fields.  This education may be provided at the 
  5.12  employer's site, at the site of a nearby employer, or at a local 
  5.13  educational institution or other site.  Preference shall be 
  5.14  given to applicants that offer flexible advanced training to 
  5.15  employees at convenient sites, allow workers time off with pay 
  5.16  during the work day to participate, and provide education at no 
  5.17  cost to students or through employer-based scholarships; 
  5.18     (4) work maturity or soft skills training, adult basic 
  5.19  education, English as a second language instruction, and basic 
  5.20  computer orientation for persons with limited previous 
  5.21  attachment to the work force due to a lack of these skills; 
  5.22     (5) child care subsidies during training or educational 
  5.23  activities; 
  5.24     (6) transportation to training and education programs; and 
  5.25     (7) programs to coordinate efforts by employer members of 
  5.26  the consortium to share staff among employers where feasible, to 
  5.27  pool employee and employer benefit contributions in order to 
  5.28  enhance benefit packages, and to coordinate education and 
  5.29  training opportunities for staff in order to increase the 
  5.30  availability and flexibility of education and training programs. 
  5.31     Subd. 3.  [WORK HOUR LIMITS.] High school students 
  5.32  participating in a training and retention program shall not be 
  5.33  permitted to work more than 20 hours per week when school is in 
  5.34  session. 
  5.35     Subd. 4.  [CAREER ENHANCEMENT REQUIREMENTS.] All consortium 
  5.36  members must work cooperatively to establish and maintain a 
  6.1   career ladder program under which direct care staff have the 
  6.2   opportunity to advance along a career development path that 
  6.3   includes regular educational opportunities, coordination between 
  6.4   job duties and educational opportunities, and a planned series 
  6.5   of promotions for which qualified employees will be eligible. 
  6.6      Subd. 5.  [SMALL EMPLOYER PROTECTION.] Grantees must 
  6.7   guarantee that small employers, including licensed personal care 
  6.8   assistant organizations, be allowed to participate in consortium 
  6.9   programs.  The financial contribution required from a small 
  6.10  employer must be adjusted to reflect the employer's financial 
  6.11  circumstances. 
  6.12     Sec. 6.  [APPLICABILITY; COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENTS.] 
  6.13     Nothing in the implementation of Minnesota Statutes, 
  6.14  sections 116L.11, 116L.12, and 116L.13 shall be done to 
  6.15  circumvent an existing collective bargaining agreement. 
  6.16     Sec. 7.  [APPROPRIATION.] 
  6.17     $....... is appropriated from the general fund to the job 
  6.18  skills partnership board for the biennium ending June 30, 2001, 
  6.19  for the purposes of the health care worker training and 
  6.20  retention program.  Of this amount, $....... is for the cost of 
  6.21  administration.