Senate Bill 734 Supports Job Training for California Job Seekers

Governor Jerry Brown has signed SB 734 (DeSaulnier) to prioritize the spending of Workforce Investment Act (WIA) money for quality job training programs and services for unemployed workers.

“Workers in California face the toughest job crisis since the Great Depression,” said Senator Mark DeSaulnier (D-Concord). “With declining state revenues and pressure on public resources, this new law will increase spending of existing federal workforce funds on high quality job training programs that connect workers to good jobs.”

California receives almost $500 million annually in WIA dollars for job training and employment services for adult and dislocated workers and youth. The majority of this money (85%) is allocated to 49 local Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs) which develop policies for how local WIA dollars are invested.

Despite the need for targeted and effective training, local WIBs in California spend very little WIA funds on skills training. On average they invest just 20% of their federal funds on job training services. A third of them spend less than 11% on training and many invest nothing at all. Faced with a similar problem, other states, including Florida, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin, have all adopted policies that require more local WIA funds to be dedicated to training. For example, Florida requires that local WIBs spend at least 50% of their WIA funds on training.

The new law will require local WIBs to increase spending of their Adult and Dislocated Workers Fund on quality programs and services that provide workers with job training. Under SB 734, spending will increase to a minimum of 30% of the WIA funds by 2016 and thereafter.

SB 734 is supported by and co-sponsored by the California Labor Federation, California Manufacturers and Technology Association, and State Building and Construction Trades Council and will take effect January 1, 2012.

Sen. Mark DeSaulnier (D-Concord) represents the Seventh Senate District, which includes most of Contra Costa County, including Antioch.

By Walter Ruehlig

You may have seen the obituary “Civility is dead after long illness.” Seems he passed his last gasp on the Jersey Shores and was buried alongside the graves of his mother and father, Courtesy and Decorum, and his departed brother, Respect.

The burial took place at Our Lady of Perpetual Partisanship Cemetery in Washington D.C. The pallbearers on opposite sides of the casket were Democrats and Republicans. Civility is survived by his infirm wife, Good Taste and ailing daughter, Good Manners.

We know that America has long suffered in international cultural reputation. In 1958 the book “The Ugly American” disdainfully branded us as arrogant and ostentatious. Two years ago, though, things took a frightfully spiraling downward turn.

Civility was put on life support when, in the course of a few days, Congressman Joe Wilson screamed out to the President, “You lie!”, Serena Williams volleyed an expletive-laden tirade at an official, and Kanye West unceremoniously grabbed the mike from Grammy winner Taylor Swift and yelled that Beyonce deserved the award.

In the aftermath of the national rudeness orgy, President Obama lamented our cultural coarsening and CBS ran a report titled, “America the Rude-iful.” Since then a poll, unsurprisingly, indicated that 72 percent of Americans felt bad behavior was on the rise.

What exactly caused the worsening malady? Some argue that the Great Recession frayed nerves. Granted, it took its toll, but remember, civility endured the Great Depression.

Others argue that the internet accelerated the demise. For sure, America has long been known for sweeping informality, but digital anonymity has altered the landscape such that total disclosure and an undisciplined letting it all hang out is now off the charts.

Then, too, no reasoned person disputes the role of TV in vulgarizing America. After recently watching a rerun of the delightfully innocent Art Linkletter’s “Kids Say the Darndest Things,” I sadly reflected on our more recent fare, “Beavis and Butthead” and “South Park,” which, admittedly, can be mesmerizing in shock value.

For historical perspective, compare the enlightening conversations of Dr. Joyce Brothers with the brain-deadening knucklehead yell fests of Jerry Springer. The common denominator has, indeed, sunk immeasurably.

Am I that old-fashioned to find completely unfeminine the cussing L.A. Laker Girls? Need I really hear what’s on the mind of a Jersey Shores cast when I know that their world revolves around sex, body piercings and getting high?

We could also point a condemning finger at the bling-bling, steroid-popping image of sports figures. No excusing, either, our public square, the shamelessly pajama-clad shoppers at Wal-Marts, the buffoons sitting behind us at athletic arenas, the insensitive minions behind the wheel who think hogging the passing lane is their natural right, or the legions who use the “f-bomb” as if it were the preeminent adjective giving Shakespearean authority to any sentence.

Once the domain of sailors, salty public description of intimate bodily functions is now passe to housewives and high school students alike.

Lest we not forget the causative factor of partisan politics, toxically practiced on both sides of the aisle, politics has become mud-wrestling with no holds barred.

Gone are the non-demonizing times when a Hubert Humphrey, the Senate Majority Leader and self-proclaimed champion of the “politics of joy,” would go head to head in spirited debate on the Senate floor with Minority Leader Everret Dirksen, and then end the day together tipping beers. Now try imagining John Boehner and Nancy Pelosi sharing a brewski.

In the end, though, none of the debilitating factors listed takes full crippling blame. That honor goes to the parents. Obviously, you readily become what you see and hear at home.

When I taught in Turkey for the Peace Corps, students meeting me in the street would bow. In my wife’s native Philippines they kiss the hands of elders. What a far cry from the States where my 14-year-old neighbor called me “Walter.” Since when am I Walter to a 14-year-old?

Emily Post must roll over in her grave musing on a society where teaching etiquette at home or in the schools is so foreign.

Hope, though, springs eternal that the cultural phoenix can rise from the ashes. I was delighted at the recent Antioch Teacher of the Year dinner to hear County Superintendent of Schools Joe Ovick talk of a civility initiative. Sir, I gladly open the door for you.

There’s been a lot of press recently about the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s $180 million dollar decision to relocate from Oakland to San Francisco. The MTC oversees transit planning for the 9 counties that touch San Francisco Bay. Why should that decision concern us?

The answer is because:
1) We have two commissioners on the board – Contra Costa County Supervisor Federal Glover and Orinda Councilmember Amy Rein Worth.

2) Commissioners didn’t wait for the results of a state audit to determine if it’s legal to use toll money ($6 just to cross a bridge) on real estate speculation.

3) They had to rescind their first vote to move because it violated the state open meeting law.

4) No public agency should be EXPANDING in this sour economy; rather they should be trimming staff and cutting costs.

5) Their idea to combine MTC, the Bay Area Area Quality Management District, the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) and the Bay Conservation and Development Commission under one roof backfired since ABAG declined to take part in the move.

I queried MTC in regard to the vote of moving offices from the Oakland location, which is right next to a BART station, to a new building in San Francisco that is not located near transit. Here’s what I learned. On the first vote our representatives Federal Glover and Amy Rein Worth voted against acceptance of the findings and recommendations of the ad hoc report.

Following the closed session, on a vote concerning the bidding process for that building, commissioners Cortese, Green, Haggerty, Liccardo and Amy Rein Worth voted no.

The Delta Science Center is looking for local photographers who would like to have their Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta pictures published in the Delta Science Center annual Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Educational Resource Calendar. This calendar features information on the Delta ecology that will be used as educational information for fifth graders throughout Contra Costa County and other communities across the Delta region.

Each year the Delta Science Center creates a calendar that is donated to local schools with information that will help students understand the importance of the Delta’s ecology to the state of California. In 2012 the calendar will be donated to the school with an accompanying DVD with classroom assignments and science experiments that will help teachers in lesson plans when learning about the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

The Delta Science Center is looking for photos that reflect the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta ecology including pictures that reflect waterfowl, native fish, native plants and invasive plants. Other photo ideas include Delta farmland, Delta Bridges and alternative energy on the Delta.

The Delta Science Center reserves the right to refuse any photo sent to the committee.

Photos submitted will be chosen for use in either the annual calendar or within the DVD. Deadline for photo submissions, is Oct. 21, 2011. Contact the Delta Science Center through email at info@deltasciencecenter.org.

Seen September 29th at the downtown Antioch Library grand opening of the Gateway renovations, which includes Laptop Lane, are Gateway Committee members Becky Nielson, Chief Librarian; Walter Ruehlig, Antioch School Board; Gary Agopian, City Council; and Lonnie Karste, Prewett Community Center Project Manager.
(Photo courtesy of Greg Enholm)