The Florida Senate

288.90152  Pilot matching grant program.--

(1)  Subject to specific appropriations in the General Appropriations Act, the Office of Tourism, Trade, and Economic Development may, for the 1997-1998 fiscal year, establish a pilot matching grant program through which funding will be provided on a competitive basis in order to create employment opportunities for citizens of this state, particularly participants in the Work and Gain Economic Self-sufficiency (WAGES) Program. The grant program shall encourage the submission of innovative, cost-efficient, and performance-based training proposals designed to meet the employment needs of specific businesses or business sectors. An application for funding may be submitted by a private business, an educational institution, a not-for-profit corporation, a local or regional economic development council, or other organization, or an application may be submitted jointly on behalf of a combination of such entities.

(2)  The Office of Tourism, Trade, and Economic Development shall adopt guidelines for administering the program and shall establish criteria for the competitive evaluation of applications for funding. Evaluation criteria must include, but need not be limited to:

(a)  The number of people to be trained.

(b)  The estimated number of jobs that will be created as a result of the training.

(c)  The extent to which the proposed training is not currently available through other sources or the extent to which the proposed training improves upon training currently available through other sources.

(d)  The forecasts of employment demand for the occupation to which the training will apply.

(e)  The commitment of the applicant to hire or to secure employment for participants in the WAGES Program.

(f)  The qualifications of the proposed training provider.

(3)  Priority shall be given to proposals submitted on behalf of a coalition of businesses.

(4)  Funds may not be expended to subsidize the ongoing staff development program of any business or industry.

(5)  The Office of Tourism, Trade, and Economic Development may award grants for not more than four applications in any one fiscal year. Each grant awarded under this program is limited to $500,000 and must be matched on a one-for-one basis by nonstate dollars. Matching funds under this section shall not count toward the private matching funds required under s. 288.90151.

(6)  Before allocating funds for any request under this program, the Office of Tourism, Trade, and Economic Development shall prepare a grant agreement between the grant recipient and the Office of Tourism, Trade, and Economic Development. Such agreement must include, but is not limited to, permission for the Office of Tourism, Trade, and Economic Development to access information specific to the job placement and performance of program participants upon the completion of instruction for evaluation purposes. If funds are being allocated directly to a private business or group of private businesses, the agreement prepared under this subsection must provide that 50 percent of the public training funds will be withheld until the Office of Tourism, Trade, and Economic Development determines that the business has or businesses have created the number of positions specified in the agreement and filled those positions with individuals who have completed the training.

(7)  Upon completing all training funded under this pilot program, the Office of Tourism, Trade, and Economic Development shall report on the outputs and outcomes for this program as part of the annual report prepared under ¹s. 14.2015(2)(g). Such report must include a recommendation on whether it would be sound public policy to continue or discontinue funding for the program.

(8)  The Office of Tourism, Trade, and Economic Development may not award a grant under this section if the same training proposal provided the basis for training awarded under s. 288.047. An applicant awarded a training grant under this section may not thereafter receive training under s. 288.047, in connection with the same training proposal.

History.--s. 8, ch. 97-278.

¹Note.--Redesignated as s. 14.2015(2)(e) by s. 3, ch. 97-278.