New Bill on Green Job Training

I’ve written about green jobs several times before, but there are a few new developments. Congressman Patrick Murphy has introduced a bill, HR 1492, “To establish a pilot program to provide assistance for partnerships supporting applied sciences in renewable energy.” Part of the text of the bill is as follows:

SECTION 1. APPLIED SCIENCES IN RENEWABLE ENERGY PILOT PROGRAM.
(a) Establishment- The Secretary of Energy shall establish a research pilot program for award grants to partnerships to improve education and training in support of applied sciences in the field of renewable energy as part of a comprehensive program to enhance the quality of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics instruction at the secondary school and undergraduate levels. Grants under this section may be used for--
(1) professional development and training for teachers;
(2) purchase, rental, or leasing of equipment, instrumentation, and other educational and training materials;
(3) improvement of facilities for providing education and training experiences in applied sciences in the field of renewable energy;
(4) development of instructional programs designed to integrate education and training in applied sciences in renewable energy with the practical application of that education and training;
(5) recruitment and retention of new faculty;
(6) encouraging collaboration between faculty and industry partners;
(7) supporting outreach efforts to recruit students; and
(8) assessment of the activities funded under this Act.
(b) Partnerships- Grants awarded under subsection (a) shall be to the institution described in paragraph (1), as part of a partnership that--
(1) includes a 2-year degree granting institution of higher education offering an associates degree in applied science in a renewable energy field;
(2) includes a 4-year degree granting institution of higher education;
(3) includes a business or eligible nonprofit organization and labor organization; and
(4) may include a State educational agency, other public agency, National Laboratory, or community-based organization.

One aspect of this would encourage (perhaps through tax breaks) companies to donate equipment and materials to colleges and other training programs so that students would have real world experience when they graduated. Since Bucks County Community College has a Sustainable Building Supervisor certificate program, this is something that could have a direct positive impact on Murphy’s district. However, business leaders are also calling for more green jobs training, as noted in a previous post on a new report from the Economy League.

One example of practical applications can be seen in an area business, Russell Roofing, which operates throughout the tri-state Philadelphia area.. I will confess a personal bias as the firm put a new roof on my house some time in the past few years and we enjoyed working with them. They showed up when they said they would, did what they said they would, then left, and our roof doesn’t leak anymore.. Can’t beat that. Russell sent out a flyer recently announcing new “green” services, such as solar photovoltaic, solar hot water, live garden roofing installation, and so on.

Businesses like this would benefit from having access to the latest solar panels for their training programs, or from having training programs at local 2 or 4 year schools with access to the latest equipment.

At present H R 1492 is sitting in the House Committee on Education and Labor.