45th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2001

RELATING TO DEVELOPMENT TRAINING; PRESCRIBING A SELECTION CRITERIA FOR AWARDS OF DEVELOPMENT TRAINING FUNDS; TRANSFERRING ADMINISTRATION OF THE DEVELOPMENT TRAINING PROGRAM TO THE LABOR DEPARTMENT.

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] labor department shall establish a development training program that provides quick-response classroom and in-plant training to furnish qualified manpower resources for new or expanding industries and non-retail service sector businesses in New Mexico that have business or production procedures that require skills unique to those industries. Training shall be custom-designed for the particular company and shall be based on the special requirements of each company. The program shall be operated on a statewide basis and shall be designed to assist any area in becoming more competitive economically.

B. Money from the development training fund shall be awarded on a periodic basis determined by the industrial training board and based on applications that best meet selection criteria promulgated by rule of the board. Selection criteria shall include:

(1) the complexity of skills needed by the company;

(2) whether the company proposes to target hard-to-employ persons;

(3) the wages and benefits of trainees and other company employees;

(4) the proposed number of trainees and the number of total jobs available from the company;

(5) employee promotion history and retention rates of trainees and other employees of the company;

(6) the economic and environmental impacts of the company on the area;

(7) unemployment rates of the area from which trainees and employees will most likely be hired;

(8) past financial performance of the company;

(9) the community service history of the company; and

(10) other criteria the board deems important to economic development and the quality of life of the area.

[B. There is created] C. The "industrial training board" is created, composed of:

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

(2) the director of the vocational education division of the state department of public education;

(3) the director of the job training division of the labor department;

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

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

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

[C.] D. The industrial training board shall establish policies and promulgate rules [and regulations] 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 preserving the ecological state of New Mexico and its people.

[D.] E. Subject to the approval of the industrial training board, the [economic development division of the economic development] labor 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] proposals to meet the companies' manpower needs;

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

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

(7) evaluate training efforts on [a] the

basis of performance standards set forth by the industrial training board.

[E.] F. The vocational education division of the state department of public education shall provide technical assistance to the [economic development] labor department concerning the development of agreements, the determination of the most appropriate instructional training to provide and the review of training program implementation.

[F.] G. 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) no payment shall be made for training in excess of one thousand forty hours of training per trainee for the total duration of training;

(2) training applicants shall have resided within the state for a minimum of one year immediately prior to the commencement of the training program and be of legal status for employment; provided, however, [that prior to July 1, 2004] the residency requirements may be waived in part for projects within New Mexico communities located within fifty miles of the state border if the project meets the following criteria:

[(a) the project will employ more than one thousand five hundred employees;

(b)] (a) the resident labor force within a fifty mile radius of the project location is not sufficient to fill the full-time-equivalent position requirements of the project as determined by the labor department; and

[(c)] (b) preference for training shall be given to New Mexico residents [and

(d) no less than fifty percent of the project's work force shall be residents of New Mexico];

(3) payment for institutional classroom training shall be made under any accepted training contract for a qualified training program;

(4) no payment shall be made under any accepted training contract for rental of facilities unless facilities are not available on site or at the educational institution;

(5) all applicants shall be eligible under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act 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; and

(8) no payment shall 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."

Section 2. Section 21-19-10 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1983, Chapter 299, Section 4, as amended) is amended to read:

"21-19-10. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE.--The labor department and the economic development department shall provide assistance to political subdivisions of the state so that they can construct or implement projects necessary to provide services that will encourage the location of industry in the political subdivisions. The economic development department shall, for this purpose, make low-interest loans to political subdivisions of the state with the approval of the economic development [and tourism] commission and after coordination with the local government division of the department of finance and administration pursuant to the New Mexico Community Assistance Act."

Section 3. Section 21-19-11 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1983, Chapter 299, Section 5, as amended) is amended to read:

"21-19-11. FUNDS CREATED.--

A. [There is created in the state treasury] The "development training fund" is created in the state treasury. Money appropriated to the fund or accruing to it through gifts, grants, repayments or bequests shall not be transferred to any other fund or be encumbered or disbursed in any manner except as provided in Section 21-19-7 NMSA 1978. Money in the fund shall not revert at the end of any fiscal year. Money in the fund is appropriated to the [economic development] labor department for expenditure in any fiscal year. Money in the fund shall be expended upon warrant drawn by the secretary of finance and administration pursuant to vouchers signed by the secretary of [economic development] labor or his authorized representative to carry out the purposes specified in Section 21-19-7 NMSA 1978.

B. [There is created in the state treasury] The "development fund" is created in the state treasury. Money appropriated to the fund or accruing to it through gifts, grants, repayments or bequests shall not be transferred to any other fund or be encumbered or disbursed in any manner except as provided in this subsection. Money in the fund shall not revert at the end of any fiscal year. Money in the fund shall be administered by the economic development department or its successor for the purpose of making low-interest loans to political subdivisions of the state so that they can construct or implement projects necessary to provide services that will encourage the location of industry in the political subdivisions. The economic development department shall coordinate these loans with the local government division of the department of finance and administration pursuant to the New Mexico Community Assistance Act. Money in the fund shall be expended as provided in Section 21-19-10 NMSA 1978."

Section 4. Section 21-19-12 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1997, Chapter 71, Section 3) is amended to read:

"21-19-12. TEMPORARY PROVISION--APPROPRIATION OF FUND BALANCES.--The [economic development] labor department may expend money in the development training fund in the 1997 and subsequent fiscal years that was appropriated in prior fiscal years to carry out the purposes of Section [21-9-7] 21-19-7 NMSA 1978."

Section 5. TEMPORARY PROVISION--TRANSFER OF PROPERTY, CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS AND STATUTORY REFERENCES.--On the effective date of this act, all appropriations, money, records, files and other property of the economic development department related to the development training program shall be transferred to the labor department. All contractual obligations of the economic development department pertaining to the development training program shall be contractual obligations of the labor department. References in the law to a state agency other than the labor department that administers the development training program provided for in Section 21-19-7 NMSA 1978 shall be deemed to be references to the labor department.

Section 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the provisions of this act is July 1, 2001.