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*sb0777*
SENATE BILL 777
K3 (6lr3346)
ENROLLED BILL
— Finance and Budget and Taxation/Government, Labor, and Elections and Health —
Introduced by Senator Salling
Read and Examined by Proofreaders:
_______________________________________________
Proofreader.
_______________________________________________
Proofreader.
Sealed with the Great Seal and presented to the Governor, for his approval this
_______ day of ________ _______ at ________________________ o’clock, ________M.
______________________________________________
President.
CHAPTER ______
AN ACT concerning 1
Labor and Employment – Workforce Development – Hospital Employee 2
Retraining and Placement Program and Workforce Development and Local 3
Workforce Development Boards 4
(Local Workforce Solutions Investment Act) 5
FOR the purpose of altering the program the Maryland Department of Labor is required to 6
establish for the retraining and placement of certain hospital employees; requiring 7
the Maryland Department of Labor to allocate money from the Hospital Employees 8
Retraining Fund to local workforce development boards under certain 9
circumstances; altering certain workforce development programs to require 10
inclusion of local workforce development boards; requiring, if funding is available, 11
the Department to provide funding to a local workforce development board as part 12
of the State’s quick response program for certain reductions in operations; requiring 13
local wor kforce development boards to provide grants to employers under the 14
2 SENATE BILL 777
Apprenticeship Career Training in Our Neighborhoods Program; and generally 1
relating to workforce development in the State. 2
BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments, 3
Article – Labor and Employment 4
Section 11–201, 11–304, 11–305(a), 11–601(d), and 11–1405(d) 5
Annotated Code of Maryland 6
(2025 Replacement Volume) 7
BY repealing and reenacting, without amendments, 8
Article – Labor and Employment 9
Section 11–303, 11–601(a) through (c) and (e), and 11–1403 10
Annotated Code of Maryland 11
(2025 Replacement Volume) 12
SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, 13
That the Laws of Maryland read as follows: 14
Article – Labor and Employment 15
11–201. 16
(a) The Department shall establish a program for the retraining and placement 17
of hospital employees who are unemployed or who may become unemployed as a result of 18
the closing , AND delicensing, downsizing, or possible downsizing of a hospital or the 19
merging of hospitals under § 19–325 of the Health – General Article. 20
(b) The Secretary and the Secretary of Health shall adopt regulations to 21
implement this section. 22
(c) (1) There is a Hospital Employees Retraining Fund. 23
(2) The Fund shall be used: 24
[(1)] (I) for the purposes described in this section; and 25
[(2)] (II) to pay any and all expenses of the Department in administering 26
this section. 27
(D) IF A CLOSING , AND DELICENSING, DOWNSIZING, OR POSSIBLE 28
DOWNSIZING OF A HOSPITAL , OR THE MERGING OF HO SPITALS DESCRIBED IN 29
SUBSECTION (A) OF THIS SECTION OCCUR S, THE DEPARTMENT SHALL ALLO CATE 30
MONEY FROM THE FUND TO THE LOCAL WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT BOARD IN THE 31
COUNTY OR REGION AFFECTED. 32
SENATE BILL 777 3
[(d)] (E) Any unexpended funds remaining in the Hospital Employees 1
Retraining Fund at the end of the fisc al year may not revert to the General Fund of the 2
State. 3
11–303. 4
There shall be a quick response program to provide both employers and employees 5
with services to assist in mitigating the impact on employees that occurs with a reduction 6
in operations. 7
11–304. 8
(a) The State’s quick response program is under the direction of the Secretary. 9
(b) (1) The Secretary in cooperation with the Workforce Development Board 10
shall develop mandatory guidelines for employers faced with a reduction in operations. 11
(2) The guidelines developed under paragraph (1) of this subsection shall 12
include: 13
(i) subject to § 11 –305 of this subtitle, a written notice that an 14
employer expects to terminate employees due to a reduction in operations; 15
(ii) the continuation of benefits, such as health, severance, and 16
pension, that an employer should provide to employees who will be terminated due to a 17
reduction in operations; or 18
(iii) the specific mechanisms that employers can use to ask for the 19
assistance of the State’s quick response program. 20
(c) (1) The Department shall maintain the capacity to provide employment 21
and training services through the quick response program. 22
(2) This capacity shall include[, but not be limited to]: 23
[(1)] (I) on–site unemployment insur ance bulk claims registration: for 24
incidents where 25 or more workers are laid off at 1 time, taking initial unemployment 25
insurance claims at the employee’s place of business; 26
[(2)] (II) registration for federal Trade Readjustment Act services: if the 27
business closing is due to foreign competition, assisting workers in seeking federal training 28
benefits and additional unemployment insurance compensation benefits; 29
[(3)] (III) provision of labor market and retraining information: in 30
conjunction with loca l [service providers ] WORKFORCE DEVELOPMEN T BOARDS , 31
4 SENATE BILL 777
providing both local labor market information and retraining information that can assist 1
the workers to obtain reemployment [and/or] OR retraining; 2
[(4)] (IV) job placement services: through the regula r office services or 3
through special on–site services, providing a range of job placement services utilizing the 4
“job bank”; 5
[(5)] (V) job seeking and finding information: providing 1–day workshops 6
to assist job seekers in learning how to seek and secure jobs; or 7
[(6)] (VI) referral to retraining opportunities: through LOCAL 8
WORKFORCE DEVELOPMEN T BOARDS , liaisons with the private industry 9
[councils/service] COUNCILS OR SERVICE delivery areas , and the community college 10
network, providing referrals for dislocated workers for retraining opportunities. 11
(D) TO THE EXTENT FUNDING IS AVAILABLE , THE DEPARTMENT SHALL 12
PROVIDE FUNDING TO T HE LOCAL WORKFORCE D EVELOPMENT BOARD IN THE 13
AFFECTED COUNTY OR R EGION FOR DIRECT DEP LOYMENT TO SERVE WOR KERS 14
AFFECTED BY A REDUCTION IN OPERATIONS. 15
[(d)] (E) (1) The Department shall distribute the reduction in operations 16
guidelines to all employers in the State every 2 years. 17
(2) The distribution shall begin no later than July 1, 1986. 18
[(e)] (F) The Department shall monitor layoff and employment patterns and 19
payments of unemployment compensation contributions to identify employers that are 20
likely to experience large losses in employment or a reduction in operations. 21
[(f)] (G) If the Department identifies an employer that is likely to experience 22
large losses in employment or a reduction in operations, the Department shall 23
confidentially contact the employer and offer the assistance of the Department in providing 24
alternative employment and retraining opportunities, including coordinating the delivery 25
of available State and federal resources and services. 26
[(g)] (H) The Secretary shall adopt regulations to implement the provisions of 27
this subtitle. 28
11–305. 29
(a) (1) Except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, an employer shall 30
provide written notice at least 60 days before initiating a reduction in operations to: 31
[(1)] (I) all employees at the workplace that are subject to the reduction 32
in operations; 33
SENATE BILL 777 5
[(2)] (II) each exclusive representative or bargaining agency that 1
represents the employees at the workplace that are subject to the reduction in operations; 2
[(3)] (III) individuals who work less than 20 hours on average each week 3
or have worked for the employer for less than 6 months in the immediately preceding 12 4
months at the workplace that is subject to the reduction in operations; 5
[(4)] (IV) the Division’s dislocated worker unit; and 6
[(5) (i)] (V) 1. the chief elected official of the political subdivision 7
where the workplace that is subject to the reduction in operations is located; or 8
[(ii)] 2. if the workplace is located in more than one political 9
subdivision, the chief elected official of the political subdivision to which the employer paid 10
the most taxes for the fiscal year immediately preceding the year in which the reduction in 11
operations occurs. 12
(2) IF THE DIVISION’S DISLOCATED WORKER UNIT RECEIVES NOTICE 13
UNDER PARAGRAPH (1)(IV) OF THIS SUBSECTION, THE UNIT SHALL FORWA RD THE 14
NOTICE TO THE LOCAL WORKFORCE DEVELOPMEN T BOARD IN THE POLIT ICAL 15
SUBDIVISION WHERE TH E WORKPLACE THAT IS SUBJECT TO THE REDUC TION IS 16
LOCATED. 17
11–601. 18
(a) In this section, “ACTION Program” means the Apprenticeship Career 19
Training in Our Neighborhoods Program established under this section. 20
(b) There is an Apprenticeship Career Training in Our Neighborhoods Program 21
in the Department. 22
(c) The purposes of the ACTION Program are: 23
(1) to develop a well –trained, productive construction workforce which 24
meets the needs of the State’s economy; 25
(2) to encourage employers to hire apprentices in the construction industry; 26
and 27
(3) to help employers offset additional costs, if any, associated with hiring 28
apprentices. 29
(d) (1) (I) The Department shall ad minister the ACTION Program [and] 30
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH LOCAL WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT BOARDS. 31
6 SENATE BILL 777
(II) LOCAL WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT BOARDS SHALL provide 1
grants [on a competitive basis] to employers that meet the requirements under paragraph 2
(2) of this subsection. 3
(2) An employer is eligible to receive a grant if the employer employs one 4
or more apprentices who: 5
(i) have been employed by the employer for at least 7 months; 6
(ii) are engaged in a building or construction trade; 7
(iii) are enrolled in the first year of an apprenticeship program 8
registered with the Maryland Apprenticeship and Training Council under § 11 –405(b) of 9
this title; and 10
(iv) live in a zip code in which the percentage of poverty is at least 11
20% as established by the U.S. Dep artment of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, in the 12
most recently released data. 13
(e) (1) As provided in the State budget, the ACTION Program shall award 14
grants to eligible employers. 15
(2) It is the intent of the General Assembly that, for fiscal year 201 7 and 16
each fiscal year thereafter, the State budget include an appropriation of at least $100,000 17
for the ACTION Program to: 18
(i) provide grants to eligible employers; and 19
(ii) cover administrative costs. 20
11–1403. 21
(a) The purpose of the Program i s to provide matching grants to eligible entities 22
to create and expand on successful recruitment and retention strategies that address the 23
range of potential barriers to increasing the number of direct care workers. 24
(b) The goal of the Program is to ensu re the availability of trained direct care 25
workers across the State. 26
11–1405. 27
(d) The Division shall encourage each eligible entity receiving a matching grant 28
under the Program, in developing and carrying out a project, to consult with: 29
(1) institutions of higher education; 30
(2) the Maryland Department of Health; 31
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(3) [one–stop career centers ] LOCAL WORKFORCE DEVE LOPMENT 1
BOARDS; and 2
(4) organizations with expertise in the needs of women, racial minorities, 3
immigrants, and the impoverished. 4
SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall take effect 5
October 1, 2026. 6
Approved:
________________________________________________________________________________
Governor.
________________________________________________________________________________
President of the Senate.
________________________________________________________________________________
Speaker of the House of Delegates.