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PRESS RELEASE: HOUSE WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT BILL RECEIVES PRELIMINARY APPROVAL

For Immediate Release

March 16, 2018

 

Contact: Katherine Levasseur

Office of the Speaker of the House

klevasseur@leg.state.vt.us

(802) 828-2245

 

House Workforce Development Bill Receives Preliminary Approval

 

The House gave preliminary approval to the Workforce Development Bill, H.919 on a vote of 137-0.

“This bill is an important step forward for Vermont,” said House Speaker Mitzi Johnson. “As I meet with business owners, workers, and business groups around the state, I constantly hear about the need for more educated and technically skilled workers. This bill will harmonize how we educate and train our workers, and how we address Vermonters’ call for better jobs and our employers’ need for skilled workers. I thank the House Commerce and Economic Development Committee for their diligent work on this issue that is so important to Vermont.”

House Commerce and Economic Development Committee Chair, Representative Bill Botzow, added “the goal of this bill is to build for Vermonters, whether they are employees or employers, a preeminent workforce development system. Vermont has long prided itself on its workforce, its technical excellence, its craftsmanship, and its ability to deliver first-rate work. It is time to move forward in how we educate and train our workers with the skills that will help them excel in the contemporary workforce, thereby providing our employers with the skilled workers they need.”

“This bill is incredibly important to Vermont businesses and workers,” added Representative Tristan Toleno, the House appointee to the State Workforce Development Board. “Central to our commitment to having an economy that works for all, is the opportunity all Vermonters deserve to have the training and support they need to access good jobs. Vermont employers also need a system which helps them grow and thrive by connecting them to talent. Now, more than any time in decades, we have a coalition of stakeholders ready to shift the way we organize our workforce and training system, which is the central achievement of the Workforce Bill.”

 

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