H976 - Workforce Development Program

• Establishes the Community College State Endowment Trust Fund (CCSETF) with $580,000,000 in nonrecurring funds to provide competitive grants to community colleges for student recruitment, instructor recruitment/retention, and new workforce programs, with at least 30% allocated to each category annually.

• Requires the Department of Commerce to share employment outcome data with the Community College System Office upon request to the extent allowed under federal law.

• Appropriates $40,000,000 in recurring funds to the Department of Public Instruction for expanding existing cooperative innovative high schools or establishing new ones in underserved counties, with tiered funding levels based on county development tier designation.

• Establishes a Short-Time Compensation Program allowing employers to reduce employee work hours by 10-40% as an alternative to layoffs, with employees receiving prorated unemployment benefits while maintaining fringe benefits, suspended if the state's Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund falls below $2,000,000,000.