SSTI Digest

State economic growth relies on the availability of a workforce capable of filling open positions. But increasingly around the country, one of the top concerns of employers is finding the right talent to fill these roles. Beyond corporate strategies in hiring, states are increasingly developing new initiatives to keep their pipeline of talent flowing. SSTI has found a variety of new initiatives being considered around the country, from foundation support for scholarships for credentials in high-demand fields in New Hampshire to pending legislation to support, with state funding, a Pathways in Technology Program (P-Tech) in California. Alabama Earlier this month Gov. Kay Ivey announced a new initiative to help the state add half a million skilled employees to its workforce by 2025, but the plan will use existing funds to help achieve this goal. The new initiative, called Success Plus, prioritizes five areas: awareness; access and success; pathways; leadership and collaboration; and assessment and continuous improvement. It focuses largely on ways to inform the state’s residents about the increasing needs for skilled workers, make them more aware of available…

The last of the governors’ state of the state addresses for this year have been delivered, and New Jersey’s governor presented his first budget address. SSTI has continued to review the addresses for news on TBED initiatives and presents excerpts of their addresses concerning such initiatives below. Louisiana’s governor is focused on addressing a fiscal cliff while preserving education gains in the state. New Jersey’s governor laid out a vision embracing green energy in the state and growing high school STEM-focused programs. And New Hampshire’s governor touted the state’s fiscal strength and said he would continue to build momentum on STEM initiatives with a new partnership for an annual robotics competition. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards delivered his state of the state Monday before the opening of the regular legislative session, which follows closely on the heels of an unsuccessful special session focused on the state’s budget deficit. The budget’s impact on higher education was on his mind as he drove the point home with a warning on funding for higher education and its implications for developing a trained workforce…

With a July 1 start to the fiscal year in most states, several states that were at an impasse over their budget faced at least partial shutdowns. Last minute negotiations restarted services in both Maine and New Jersey, while Illinois, which has been operating without a budget since 2015, faces threats of a downgrade in their credit rating if a deal cannot be reached. This week we present our findings of innovation funding from seven states, including $2 million in funding for a new public-private economic development organization in Delaware, an increase in funding in Louisiana for the state’s scholarship program for higher ed, and cuts to higher ed funding in Missouri, which also saw a severe drop in its funding to the Missouri Technology Corporation. Efforts in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Washington are also detailed below. Delaware The FY 2018 budget passed by the Delaware legislature and signed by Gov. Jay Carney would allocate up to $2.0 million for the Delaware Prosperity Partnership, a new public-private economic development organization. As described in a April 2017 Digest article, the Delaware Prosperity Partnership is tasked with functions…

Noting a growing need for additional education to meet workforce needs, several states have announced programs focusing on education and workforce needs, channeling state funding to grants that will focus on aligning learning opportunities with business and industry needs, or creating new initiatives in the private sector. Reaching a higher educational attainment among a greater percentage of the workforce by 2025 is also a goal set by several of the states. Among the initiatives undertaken are free tuition options in Arkansas through the ARFuture grant, Nevada STEM Workforce Challenge Grants, a grant program in Utah focused on education and industry, and a private sector effort in New Hampshire. In Arkansas, Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed the ARFuture grant bill early this month, providing two years of tuition and fees at an Arkansas community or technical college to any state student who enrolls in a high-demand field of study, such as computer science or welding, or in a STEM field. The new grant will be funded by repurposing $8.2 million in general revenue funds from the state’s Workforce Improvement Grant (WIG), a needs-based grant for adult students 24 years old…

Educational initiatives continue to dominate in state of the state, budget and inaugural addresses, with governors in North Carolina, New Hampshire and Oregon all acknowledging its importance in the workforce development sphere and the future competitiveness of the states. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper gave his first state of the state address to the North Carolina legislature Monday evening, reminding the General Assembly that, “Our constitution mandates that we work together to make North Carolina better…” He called the state of the state “promising” and the state itself “welcoming,” and immediately called for the repeal of HB 2, which he said has damaged the state. He laid out plans for what he called “common ground solutions,” one of which was education. “When I’m recruiting a business to come here - to your legislative districts, the first thing they ask is whether North Carolina has the workers skilled enough to fill the jobs they create. “Improving education is an area where we can find common ground. We have to measure our progress and hold ourselves accountable. That…

Two new hubs have been announced in the Manufacturing USA network, one focusing on sustainable manufacturing innovation and the other on tissue biofabrication, bringing the total network of institutes to 13 since its inception four years ago. Efficiency measures will be the focus of the latest institute, announced yesterday by the Energy Department. The new Reducing Embodied-energy and Decreasing Emissions (REMADE) Institute will be headquartered in Rochester, New York, and be led by the Sustainable Manufacturing Innovation Alliance. It will leverage up to $70 million in federal funding, subject to appropriations, and will be matched by $70 million in private commitments from over 100 partners. Recognizing that manufacturing consumes nearly 25 percent of the nation’s total annual energy use, REMADE will focus on driving down the cost of recycling and remanufacturing technologies and aims for a 50 percent improvement in overall energy efficiency by 2027. In late December, the Department of Defense announced the award of a new $80 million biofabrication manufacturing hub to the Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI).  ARMI will combine the…

Twelve gubernatorial seats were up for election Tuesday, five of which were held by incumbents seeking reelection. Four of those – Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D), Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D), Utah Gov. Gary Herbert (R) and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) – were reelected for second terms. In North Carolina, Democratic candidate and State Attorney General Roy Cooper has a lead of less than one percent over incumbent Gov. Pat McCrory. Gov. McCrory has not conceded and the result is pending a canvass of votes, which may not be complete until November 18. As of this publication, there are seven new governors taking office: ·         Democratic Congressman John Carney won the seat in Delaware. ·         Republican Lt. Gov. Eric Holcomb won in Indiana. ·         Republican and former Navy Seal Eric Greitens won in Missouri. ·         Republican Chris Sununu won in New Hampshire. ·         Republican…

Kentucky and New Hampshire recently have announced job training initiatives to address the needs of key industries at both the local and state levels. The Kentucky Work Ready Skills Initiative, a $100 million statewide bond program, is intended to meet “the needs of employers and promote sustainable incomes for Kentuckians.” Meanwhile, the launch of New Hampshire’s Manufacturing Sector Partnership, a statewide collaboration for industries to address their workforce needs, was announced. The effort will build a network that includes manufacturing professionals, educators and state economic development officials to develop a cross-collaborative career pathway for future workers. In Kentucky, Gov. Matt Bevin announced the launch of the Kentucky Work Ready Skills Initiative, an attempt to address the state’s shortage of workers with proper skills and credentials. The funding will infuse resources to expand career and technical education facilities and allow those facilities to upgrade equipment to current and future industry standards through local partnerships between private industry and educational institutions.  The…

A bipartisan group of 17 governors signed the Governors’ Accord for a New Energy Future – a joint commitment to support the deployment of renewable, cleaner and more efficient energy technologies and other solutions to make the U.S. economy more productive and resilient as well as spur job creation in member states. The multi-state effort will work to implement clean energy policies and initiatives in four areas: clean energy, clean transportation choices, a modern electrical grid, and plan for a new energy future. Although the accord doesn’t provide specific efforts, senior advisors to participating governors are expected to convene shortly to discuss initial steps to pursue their shared priorities and commitments according to solarindustrymag.com. The 17 signatories are: Gov. Jerry Brown (CA); Gov. Dannel Mallory (CT); Gov. Jack Markell (DE); Gov. David Ige (HI); Gov. Terry Branstad (IA); Gov. Charlie Baker (MA); Gov. Rick Snyder (MI); Gov. Mark Dayton (MN); Gov. Brian Sandoval (NV); Gov. Maggie Hassan (NH); Gov. Andrew Cuomo (NY); Gov. Kate Brown (OR); Gov. Tom Wolf (PA); Gov. Gina Raimondo (RI); Gov. Peter Shumlin (VT);  Gov. Terry…

The National Governors Association’s (NGA) Center for Best Practices launched the 2016 Policy Academy on Scaling Work-Based Learning – a pilot program in six states that blends work experience and applied learning to develop youth and young adults’ foundational and technical skills to expand their education, career and employment opportunities. The goal of the program is to connect 16- to 29-year-olds with middle-skills career opportunities in STEM-intensive industries such as advanced manufacturing, health care, information technology and energy. The six states that will take part in the 18-month pilot program include Indiana, Iowa, Montana, New Hampshire, Utah, and Washington.  Read the press release: http://www.nga.org/cms/home/news-room/news-releases/2015--news-releases/col2-content/states-look-to-increase-career.default.html. 

While most state legislative sessions ended over the summer, a number of states only recently approved spending for FY16. Governors in Alabama, North Carolina and New Hampshire have approved budgets in the past few weeks, each after months of tense negotiations. SSTI reviews budgets in each of these states for spending related to technology-based economic development. For past articles in this series, visit ssti.org/tags/state-budget. AlabamaLast week, Gov. Robert Bentley signed Alabama FY 2016 General Fund Appropriations bill (HB1, Second Special Session 2015) following a second special session of the legislature. Funding for many state agencies was reduced by 5.5 percent, and $80 million in use tax revenue from the state’s Education Trust Fund was moved to the General Fund. The spending bill provides $1.75 billion, including $7.4 million for the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA) and $5.2 million for the Department of Commerce. Of the Commerce Dept. funding, $75,000 is appropriated to support the state’s Robotics Technology Park. North CarolinaGov. Pat McCrory has signed a $21.7 billion budget bill (H97)…

This week, governors in Connecticut, Illinois, New Hampshire, and Texas revealed their budget proposals, with commonalities around STEM education, workforce development, and university research initiatives. Governors in two states, New Hampshire and Texas, made growth in the innovation economy a specific priority area of their proposed budgets. New Hampshire“Supporting a more innovative economic future” is highlighted as a priority in Gov. Maggie Hassan’s proposed $11.5 billion 2016-2017 biennial budget. Included within this goal are a variety of proposed education, workforce, and economic development proposals such as: an increase of $13 million over the biennium compared to FY 2015 for the University System of New Hampshire; a $6.5 million increase over the biennium compared to FY 2015 for the state’s community college system; increased funding for Small Business Development Centers; additional funding for education and accelerator programs at business incubators; funding for a STEM specialist at the Department of Education to modernize the state’s STEM education efforts; and, the expansion of a pilot program between the Bureau of…