LEGISLATURE PASSES WORKFORCE COUNCIL BILL

 

The Senate on Thursday gave final passage to the Alabama Workforce Council bill sponsored by Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, in the House, and Sen. Paul Bussman, R-Cullman, in the Senate.

The House on Wednesday debated Collins's HB345, substituted Bussman's SB217, and then amended it before passing SB217 by a vote of 98-0. The Senate on Thursday approved the amended bill 28-1, clearing it for consideration by Governor Robert Bentley, who has said he would sign it.

Bentley created a College and Career Ready Task Force last year, which recommended creation of a statewide workforce council of business, education, and industry leaders to advise educators on employer needs. "This council will ensure a continued partnership between education and industry to produce the best skilled workforce for the jobs of the future," Bentley said.

The bill would create a 16-member Alabama Workforce Council comprised of senior officers from business and industry. "This creates a dialogue between education and the business community," Collins said.

Council members will advise the State Superintendent of Education, the Chancellor of the Department of Postsecondary Education, and state officials on ways to better streamline and align workforce preparedness activities, strategies to market and promote awareness of career opportunities available in various industry sectors, and to replicate best practices, especially those public-private partnerships that have proven successful in developing qualified trainees and retrained workers for available jobs.

The BCA supports the legislation.

The Senate on Thursday assigned HB384, the Career-Technical Dual Enrollment Program bill that is supported by the Business Council of Alabama, to the Senate Education Committee following its House passage by a vote of 100-0.

"I believe it's going to be a game changer in the state of Alabama," House Speaker Mike Hubbard, R-Auburn, told the Opelika-Auburn News.

The House passed the bill sponsored by Rep. Mac Buttram, R-Cullman, on Wednesday. It would expand the existing state-supported program.

The legislation that had bipartisan support is part of the Alabama Future Workforce Initiative. It would allow businesses and individuals to contribute directly to scholarships to support two-year college programs and boost funding for technical training for dually enrolled high school students. Certain tax credits would be granted to qualified donations.

"Creating a scholarship program to increase the number of Alabama students who can participate in dual-enrollment is a no-brainer," BCA President and CEO William J. Canary said.

The legislation will allow scholarship donors to become directly involved in education and training by earmarking support for programs that will help train potential new employees. In a statement, Buttram said the Alabama Future Workforce Initiative is a "win-win."

"In order to continue our state's economic success, we must ensure our students graduate with the skills to fill the high-paying, 21st century jobs that we have worked so hard to recruit," Buttram said. "Students who participate in dual enrollment are more likely to graduate from high school, and in just two years, many dual enrollment students are also ready to enter Alabama's workforce in high-paying, high-demand jobs immediately upon graduation from high school."

With the legislation, young men and women who cannot or do not want to attend college will be able to prepare for well-paying jobs after high school. "This is a way to home grow our own students to take jobs," Rep. Alan Baker, R-Brewton, said.

The legislation would authorize a 50 percent tax credit for personal or corporate donations to a dual-enrollment scholarship program for high school students who take skill-training or academic courses at two-year schools. The legislation would cap the scholarship fund at $10 million and donation earmarks would be capped at 80 percent. The $10 million will allow 9,542 new students to participate in Alabama's dual-enrollment program. In 2013, only 2,100 students, 6.7 percent of the eligible 31,500 students, could participate.

The BCA believes the legislation will help students gain the skills and education that employers need. "The business community in Alabama is, by far, the largest consumer of the product created by our state's school systems, so it is imperative that graduates possess the skills and education that the 21st century workplace demands," Canary said.

The Senate Constitution, Ethics, and Elections Committee favorably reported HB26 by Rep. Mary Sue McClurkin, R-Indian Springs. The House-passed proposed constitutional amendment if ratified would prohibit the state from forcing local school boards to use local funds to meet state mandates, with certain exclusions, without a two-thirds vote of the Legislature. The Legislature also could bypass the ban on unfunded mandates by appropriating funding. The Senate version, SB7 sponsored by Sen. Dick Brewbaker, R-Pike Road, is on the House calendar. If either is approved by the Legislature, the amendment would be on statewide November general election ballots. If voters approve, any legislation that would cost local boards more than $50,000 would require a two-thirds majority legislative vote.

The BCA supports this legislation.

HOUSE, SENATE CHIEFS OF STAFF UPDATE BCA GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

The chiefs of staff to House Speaker Mike Hubbard and Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh updated the Business Council of Alabama's Governmental Affairs Committee Feb. 11 on legislation progress in the 2010-14 quadrennium and the 2014 legislative session that is more than one-third completed.

Josh Blades, chief of staff to Hubbard, R-Auburn, and Philip Bryan, chief of staff to Marsh, R-Anniston, said good and bad legislation have been dealt with - good legislation that is important to the business community is passing and bad legislation that legislative leaders believe is bad for Alabama has been killed.

A significant BCA-supported bill that was on Wednesday's proposed special order House calendar is HB384 by Rep. Mac Buttram, R-Cullman. Buttram's dual-enrollment bill is a boon for qualified high school students who can get a jump on well-paying technical careers by enrolling in a two-year school while still in high school.

"It's an innovative idea, getting kids ready for skilled-trades with dual enrollment," Blades said. "It will help the dropout rate, too. Hopefully the Senate will be able to pass that quickly as well."  

The BCA supports the bill known as The Alabama Future Workforce Initiative that authorizes tax credits to personal or business scholarship donors and expands the current workforce initiative at the two-year college level. (The House passed the bill 100-0 on Thursday. See previous article for full story). 

While the House has moved business-friendly legislation quickly, Bryan said the Senate is taking a more deliberative approach, having to deal with policy, politics, and dynamics, especially since some senators have June primary and then fall election opposition.

"Our guys want to go slower this session," Bryan said. "While policy is great, politics is sometimes a trump card."

Blades reiterated Marsh's desire to push the Taxpayers Bill of Rights II over the goal line this session. The House-passed TBOR II, as it's called, is on the Senate calendar in position for consideration.

TBOR II, HB105 sponsored by Rep. Paul DeMarco, R-Homewood, is supported by the BCA advocacy team and members of the Business Associations Tax Coalition (BATC) team. TBOR II would update the original, 22-year-old Taxpayers Bill of Rights, abolish the Department of Revenue's Administrative Law Division, and change it to an independent Alabama Tax Appeals Commission within the executive branch. The bill would allow local governments the option of using this tax appeals commission or their existing appeals process to settle local tax disputes.

This bill has wide support in the business community. It has passed the House by an overwhelming margin each of the four years of the current legislative term.

The Senate has the Fair and Open Competition Governmental Construction Act bill, HB195, sponsored by Rep. Mack Butler, R-Southside. It passed the House 74-18 on Wednesday and was assigned to the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs on Thursday. If either Butler's bill or the Senate version becomes law, neutrality would be ensured in government contracts and would prohibit project labor agreements stipulating union employment.

"I'd like to see this passed and ensure we don't have discrimination in contract procedures," Butler said, adding that project labor agreements can increase contract costs by 20 percent.

Sen. Paul Sanford, R-Huntsville, has the companion SB161, which is on the Senate calendar. "In the contract you can't specify one way or another that you can or can't use a union," Sanford said.

The bill would require state and local public agencies, with some valid exceptions, to remain neutral by prohibiting requirements to use union labor in public improvement contracts, unless there is an imminent threat to public health or safety.

"Union and non-union can bid on it," Butler said. "It takes government out of the preferential treatment business."

According to the bill's synopsis, the measure would promote "the economical, nondiscriminatory, and efficient administration and completion of state and state-funded or state-assisted construction projects" and provide for "fair and open competition for construction contracts, grants, tax abatements, and tax credits awarded by governmental units."

Four years ago, President Obama issued an executive order encouraging federal agencies to require project labor agreements with project-specific collective bargaining unions on projects of more than $25 million.

A PLA could force contractors to recognize unions and use union halls to hire workers for projects. If mandated in Alabama, PLA requirements would make it nearly impossible for 90 percent of Alabama's construction employers that choose not to join a labor union to compete for projects paid for with their own tax dollars. The legislation would ensure that Alabama is protected against the PLA initiative on public construction projects and ensure a level playing field.

A bill that could penalize employers who illegally avoid child-support wage garnishment is on the House calendar in position for consideration when the Legislature returns to work on Tuesday. HB4 by Rep. Becky Nordgren, R-Gadsden, was approved by the House Children and Senior Advocacy Committee. This bill would allow for civil lawsuits if a business pays employees "under the table" to avoid child support wage garnishments.

Concerned with the unintended consequences this bill could impose, the Business Council of Alabama worked with Nordgren to add an amendment to establish that a company will only be penalized if there is a burden of proof it is withholding funds for this purpose. The amendment says there must be clear and convincing intent that an employer is protecting the wages of an employee from being garnished for child support and that untimely or late payments alone are not enough to establish employer liability. Under existing law, an employer who willfully fails or refuses to withhold or pay the amounts as ordered may be held to be in contempt of court, or personally liable for failure to answer or withhold.

The Senate Health Committee this week held a public hearing, but did not vote, on a bill that would affect the rising cost of prescriptions for workers' compensation funds. SB205 by Sen. Billy Beasley, D- Clayton, would amend state law to read: "An injured employee shall have the right to select his or her own pharmacy or pharmacist for dispensing and filling prescriptions for medicines required under this chapter."

SB205 would allow an employee to select a pharmacist of his or her choice at the prevailing contract rate between the employer and their preferred pharmacy or pharmacy benefit manager. Long-term care, supplies, and pharmaceuticals are among the highest costs of workers' compensation funds. Companies contract with PBMs to help keep costs as low as possible while providing employee care.

Beasley said "this bill is about choice." The Alabama Court of Civil Appeals in a 2007 case (Davis Plumbing Company Inc. v. William Burns) ruled that a claimant has the authority to select a pharmacy of his or her choice to fill prescriptions. The bill would require employers to cover the costs of prescription medicines whether the employee used the approved PBMs and pharmacies or whether he or she chose a local, independent pharmacy. SB205, if passed, will significantly drive up the costs for workers compensation funds and businesses.

BCA is against this legislation.

sponsored by Sen. Cam Ward, R-Alabaster, amends the current stormwater act (Chapter 11-89c of the Code of Alabama) to: 1) apply statewide and not just Jefferson and Shelby counties; 2) limits what the cities and counties may do in carrying out the program; 3) limits the fees that the various MS4s may charge - as of now it is unlimited; 4) prohibits the inclusion of Environmental Protection Agency guidance or mandates in the various MS4 permits unless such guidance and/or mandates have gone through proper rulemaking; and 5) requires that the local MS4 programs rely upon ADEM for the permitting and enforcement components of the local construction stormwater program, in other words, no double regulation of those sites. This legislation was drafted by members of the business community and MS4s and has been reviewed and signed off on by ADEM. This legislation goes a long way in remedying many of the issues that both the business community and the MS4s have with this program in its current state.

SB355 was referred to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. The House bill, HB475 by Rep. Jim Carns, R-Birmingham, was referred to the House Committee on Commerce and Small Business.

Consistent with our agenda, the BCA supports the Regulatory Relief Act.