81-1203 Job training grant; business plan; project criteria; training grant; partners; training grants for rural areas or high-poverty areas; audit; report. - Nebraska Statutes

81-1203. Job training grant; business plan;project criteria; traininggrant; partners;training grants for rural areas or high-poverty areas; audit; report.(1) A business applying for a job training grant, other than a grant provided under subsection (3) of section 81-1201.21, shall submit a business plan to the Department ofEconomic Development which includes, but is not limited to:(a) The number of jobs to be created or the number of existing positionsthat will be retrained;(b) The nature of the business and the type of jobs to be created orpositions to be retrained;(c) The estimated wage levels of the jobs to be created or positionsto be retrained; and(d) A program schedule for the job training project.(2) A business applying for a job training grant, other than a grant provided under subsection (3) of section 81-1201.21, must demonstrate that the job training project tobe conducted pursuant to the grant meets the following criteria:(a) The wage level of the jobs created will meet the local prevailingaverage;(b) The jobs created will diversify the local economy;(c) The goods or services produced by the company will be export-oriented;(d) Seventy-five percent of the jobs created will be full-time jobs;and(e) The new jobs will be created within three calendar years.(3) A business applying for a traininggrant under subsection (3)of section 81-1201.21 may partner with a postsecondary educational institution; a private, nonprofitorganization holding a certificate of exemption under section 501(c)(3) ofthe Internal Revenue Code; or a learning community coordinatingcouncil or school district thathas partnered with a private, nonprofit organization. Theapplication shall specify the role of the partnering entity inidentifying and training potential job applicants for the applicant business.(4) A business applyingfor a training grant under subsection (3) of section 81-1201.21 may applyas a business that has established a program under which residents of ruralareas or high-poverty areas are trained for employment or potential employmentby documenting:(a)That the business has established a program designed to fill a minimum offour positions in rural areas and a minimum of eight positions in high-povertyareas for such business;(b)A program schedule for the training project;(c) The nature of the business andthe number of positions available or to be created;(d) That the wage level of the positionsavailable or to be created will meet the local prevailing average;(e) The value of thepositions available or to be created in diversifying the local economy;(f) That a minimum ofseventy-five percent of the positions available or to be created will be full-timejobs;(g)That the business will accept funding on behalf of trainees and will providea match of a minimum of twenty-five percent of the value of the grant, eithermonetarily or through in-kind services, as part of the training for each trainee;(h) That any new positioncreated will be done within three calendar years;(i) That the number of traineeswill not exceed one hundred twenty-five percent of the number of positionsthat will be available at the time of application; and(j) That the goods orservices produced by the business are generally exportable in nature resultingin additional money to the community or the state and the positions availableor to be created are not local retail positions.(5) Each business participatingin a training grant under subsection (3) of section 81-1201.21 shall be subjectto an audit by the Department of Economic Development and shall annually reportor provide to the department the following information:(a) The percentage oftrainees who have successfully completed the training;(b) The percentage oftrainees that such business hired;(c) An itemized description of such business's matchincluding expenditures per trainee; and(d) A copy of the training curriculum.(6) For purposes of subsections (3) through (5) of this section:(a) High-povertyarea means an area consisting of one or more contiguous census tracts, asdetermined by the most recent federal decennial census, which contain a percentageof persons with incomes below the poverty line of greater than thirty percent,and all census tracts contiguous to such tract or tracts, as determined bythe most recent federal decennial census; and (b) Private, nonprofit organization means an organizationwhose purpose is providing basic job and life skills training to individualsin need of such training inrural or high-poverty areas. SourceLaws 1995, LB 326, § 2; Laws 2008, LB1154, § 27; Laws 2010, LB961, § 2.Effective Date: July 15, 2010