NRS701B.921. Establishment of contractual relationships with nonprofit collaboratives; requirements relating to job training, career development and apprenticeship programs; requests for proposals and contracts; funding; reports to Interim Finance Committee.

      1.  The Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation and the Housing Division of the Department of Business and Industry shall establish contractual relationships with one or more nonprofit collaboratives to carry out the State’s mission of creating new jobs in the fields of energy efficiency and renewable energy by combining job training with weatherization, energy retrofit applications or the development of renewable energy plants.

      2.  To qualify as a nonprofit collaborative for the purposes of this section, a nonprofit entity:

      (a) Must enter into a written agreement relating to job training and career development activities with:

             (1) A labor management agency or other affiliated agency which has established an apprenticeship program that is registered and approved by the State Apprenticeship Council pursuant to chapter 610 of NRS; and

             (2) A community college or another institution of higher education; and

      (b) Must conduct or have the ability to conduct training programs in at least one of the three geographic regions of this State, including southern Nevada, northern Nevada and rural Nevada.

Ê Such a nonprofit entity may also enter into a written agreement relating to job training and career development activities with a trade association which has an accredited job skills training program.

      3.  Within the limits of money available to the Department for this purpose, the Department shall contract with one or more qualified nonprofit collaboratives to:

      (a) Carry out programs for job training in fields relating to energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy.

      (b) In concert with a labor management agency or other affiliated agency which has established an apprenticeship program that is registered and approved by the State Apprenticeship Council pursuant to chapter 610 of NRS, develop apprenticeship programs to train laborers in skills related to:

             (1) The implementation of energy efficiency measures.

             (2) The use of renewable energy.

             (3) Performing audits of the energy efficiency of buildings, facilities, residences and structures.

             (4) The weatherization of buildings, facilities, residences and structures.

             (5) The retrofitting of buildings, facilities, residences and structures.

             (6) The construction and operation of centralized renewable energy plants.

             (7) The manufacturing of components relating to work performed pursuant to subparagraphs (1) to (6), inclusive.

      4.  The job training described in subsection 3 must be sufficiently detailed to allow workers, as applicable, to perform:

      (a) The services set forth in NRS 702.270.

      (b) The services set forth in NRS 618.910 to 618.936, inclusive.

      (c) Such other vocational or professional services, or both, as the Department deems appropriate.

      5.  Funding provided for the job training described in subsection 3:

      (a) Must, to the extent money is available for the purpose, include the cost of tuition and supplies.

      (b) May include a cost-of-living stipend which may or may not be in addition to any available unemployment compensation.

      6.  Within the limits of money available to the Division for the purpose, the Division shall contract with one or more governmental entities, community action agencies or nonprofit organizations, including, without limitation, qualified nonprofit collaboratives, to:

      (a) Identify, in different regions of the State, neighborhoods that will qualify for funding for residential weatherization projects pursuant to federal programs focusing on residential weatherization; and

      (b) Issue requests for proposals for contractors and award contracts for projects to promote energy efficiency through weatherization. Any such requests for proposals and contracts must include, without limitation:

             (1) Provisions stipulating that all employees of the outside contractors who work on the project must be paid prevailing wages;

             (2) Provisions requiring that each outside contractor:

                   (I) Employ on each such project a number of persons trained as described in paragraph (b) of subsection 3 that is equal to or greater than 50 percent of the total workforce the contractor employs on the project; or

                   (II) If the Director of the Department determines in writing, pursuant to a request submitted by the contractor, that the contractor cannot reasonably comply with the provisions of sub-subparagraph (I) because there are not available a sufficient number of such trained persons, employ a number of persons trained as described in paragraph (b) of subsection 3 or trained through any apprenticeship program that is registered and approved by the State Apprenticeship Council pursuant to chapter 610 of NRS that is equal to or greater than 50 percent of the total workforce the contractor employs on the project;

             (3) A component pursuant to which persons trained as described in paragraph (b) of subsection 3 must be classified and paid prevailing wages depending upon the classification of the skill in which they are trained; and

             (4) A component that requires each contractor to offer to employees working on the project, and to their dependents, health care in the same manner as a policy of insurance pursuant to chapters 689A and 689B of NRS or the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974.

      7.  The Department and the Division:

      (a) Shall apply for and accept any grant, appropriation, allocation or other money available pursuant to:

             (1) The Green Jobs Act of 2007, 29 U.S.C. § 2916(e); and

             (2) The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Public Law 111-5; and

      (b) May apply for and accept any other available gift, grant, appropriation or donation from any public or private source,

Ê to assist the Department and the Division in carrying out the provisions of this section.

      8.  The Department and the Division shall each report to the Interim Finance Committee at each meeting held by the Interim Finance Committee with respect to the activities in which they have engaged pursuant to this section.

      9.  As used in this section, “community action agencies” means private corporations or public agencies established pursuant to the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, Public Law 88-452, which are authorized to administer money received from federal, state, local or private funding entities to assess, design, operate, finance and oversee antipoverty programs.

      (Added to NRS by 2009, 2867)