As a rule, our meetings of the General Assembly of Georgia are dominated by top -class problems and invoices that create passionate debates and sensational headlines. That has always been the case, and it will probably not change soon.
But every now and then the important legislation that has the potential to make a powerful, positive difference works quietly through legislation without really noticing.
This happened with a few career and technical educational calculations in the last legislative meetings. The problem actually had a few years ago when a group of teachers in career, technical and agricultural education (CTAE) in the northwest of Georgia spoke to each other about how to create more labor-based learning and youth training programs for their students.
Georgia already has one of the country's strongest WBL and YAP programs. In nationwide, more than 16,000 students are involved in the two programs. However, most of these internships and trainees are involved with smaller, local companies. Large national companies have generally hesitated to take part in the status of interns or trainees who are over 18 years old due to complex work regulations and questions.
These teachers in the northwest of Georgia tried to find a way to overcome this restraint of large companies and create more opportunities for their students. But the truth is that there is not much more grown out of the discussions – until Eddie Lumden, a retired Georgia State Trooper from Armuchee, won a seat in the House of Representatives for 2012. As one of the teachers involved in these earlier talks, Lumsens was a friend and began talking to him about the edition.
Lumsden found the problem important and decided to record it. 2014, his second year at the General Assembly, he sponsored HB 766, the “Working Learning Act”, which creates a frame to define how the corporate and CTAE communities could work together to create more opportunities for the CTAE students. Among the Cosponsors he recruited was the state MP Brooks Coleman, R-Duluth, who adopted the chair of the House Education Committee with only a handful of deviating voices and was signed by governor Nathan Deal.
But Lumsden's work was not done. In 2015, the beginning of his second term, he introduced House Bill 402, which made it clear as state legal rights that companies could offer WBL and YAP students aged 16 years and YAP students and could do financial incentives to do so. In particular, HB 402 has determined a process in which companies that receive the certification of the State Education Committee as a labor -based employer can be used in the remuneration insurance of their worker remuneration insurance.
This part of the legislation was modeled on the state's drug-free workplace law, which maintains employers who maintain drug-free jobs, a reduction in the compromise of its worker. The underlying theory is that medication -free employee bodies are more stable and lead to payments by the insurer of lower workers. The theory behind the potential discount that was written in HB 402 is similar: a workforce that over time on highly qualified and trained employees who are maintained via the CTAE system of the state are more stable and cost -effective and are therefore worth the reduced premiums.
In addition to the mechanics of HB 402, the new law (such as HB 766 before) is intended to react to the ongoing requests of the business world for more and more qualified employees. As the legislation itself explained: “By opening your doors to work -related learning opportunities, employers can play an active role in the design of the quality of their future workforce, prepare potential managers for their company and their community and contribute to forming future curricula to create a trained worker for their industry as a whole.”
Since HB 402 dealt with the state's compensation laws, it was assigned to the legislative insurance committees that took the summer 2015 to study and refine the legislative template. When the General Assembly returned in January 2016, HB 402 began a steady march through the legislative process. The house 166-0 and the Senate passed 49-0 and was signed by Deal to the law on April 26.
It came into force on July 1, and the Ministry of Education of Georgia and the state office of insurance commissioner have worked since then to implement it. It will of course take a while for us to know what kind of effects the new law will have, but it already arouses interest of companies, school systems and insurers. Doe has published instructions for the qualification for the new program, and OCI reports that more than 20 insurers have registered with his office to ensure the WBL discount.
Despite this lack of attention from the public, HB 402 looks as if it could prove to be a winner for everyone involved-a single one of our work-based learning students, employers who maintain their future workforce and want to save a little money, and even insurers who are striving for a competitive advantage in the worker's comp-room.
Matthew Gambill is the managing director of Georgia Association for Career and Technical Education.
