Baker bill would streamline workforce board
The Massachusetts Workforce Investment Board would be streamlined and renamed under new legislation offered by Gov. Charlie Baker that would reduce the size of the board from 65 to 33 members.
Baker administration officials say the new Massachusetts Workforce Development Board would include 17 business representatives and seven workforce representatives, along with state government designees. A business designee would chair the board, which the administration says would bring the state into compliance with the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act signed by President Obama in 2014.
In a filing letter dated Friday, Baker said the 65-member board is "unwieldy" and noted the federal law requires that a majority of the new board members be drawn from the business community, with at least 20 percent representing members of the workforce. Baker urged lawmakers to act promptly, saying the U.S. Department of Labor has set July as the target date to introduce the new board.
The current board advises the governor on aligning its workforce system with state education and economic development goals. Matching the needs of employers with the skills of the state's workers has long been an objective of policymakers hoping to link the state's jobless with the unmet needs of companies with jobs that need to be filled.
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