AB 2725: California Conservation Corps: job training: construction and related fields.

Existing law establishes the California Conservation Corps in the Natural Resources Agency, administered by the Director of the California Conservation Corps. Existing law requires that participants in the corps generally be engaged in certain kinds of projects, including projects that accomplish useful and needed public works projects in urban and rural areas.

This bill would specify that those projects include the construction of housing. The bill would require the director to establish a Construction Corps Program to provide corpsmembers with job training in construction-related fields, as specified. The bill would require the director, in developing and administering the program, to partner with local builders, apprenticeship programs, preapprenticeship programs, and community colleges to provide relevant training and experience to corpsmembers. The bill would authorize the director to determine the appropriate location or locations for the program based on factors the director determines are appropriate, including, among other things, the local need for housing or construction workers.

Existing law authorizes the director to execute contracts with any person, natural or corporate, for the purpose of implementing the objectives of the corps, as specified.

This bill would authorize the director to also execute agreements for the same purposes.