Report 2020-114 Recommendation 14 Responses

Report 2020-114: California Air Resources Board: Improved Program Measurement Would Help California Work More Strategically to Meet Its Climate Change Goals (Release Date: February 2021)

Recommendation #14 To: Air Resources Board, State

To ensure that its incentive programs promote effective and equitable job training, by August 2021 CARB should develop a process to assess which programs should include a job training element. For those programs it identifies, by February 2022 CARB should direct its staff or its external program administrators to collect and report on the quality of job trainings and outcomes experienced by participants, including who received training, the credentials participants received as a result, any actual or expected wages they received as a result of participating in the training or for developing the relevant expertise, and the number of participants from disadvantaged communities or low-income communities and households.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2023

CARB continues to implement changes in response to this recommendation. As part of the annual Low Carbon Transportation Funding Plan development process, and in coordination with the California Energy Commission, CARB staff identified those projects that offered the greatest potential for including job training and workforce development elements. The following projects in the FY 2021-22 and proposed FY 2022-23 Funding Plan for Clean Transportation Incentives were identified to have education, job training, and workforce training and development elements:

- STEP,

- Clean Mobility in Schools,

- Clean Mobility Options,

- Access Clean California,

- The Workforce Training and Development Projects, and

- Heavy-Duty Advanced Technology Demonstration and Pilot Projects.

CARB has started executing projects and anticipates the remaining grants will be executed for these projects in the first quarter of 2024. The grants will include requirements for grantees and program administrators to collect information on the quality of job trainings and outcomes experienced by participants, including the information recommended in the audit:

- Who received training,

- The credentials participants received as a result,

- Expected wages that participants will receive as a result of the training or for developing the relevant expertise, and

- The number of participants from priority populations (i.e., disadvantaged communities and low-income communities and households).

CARB has started receiving reports from grantees and program administrators that have executed grants and expects to begin receiving reports from the remaining grantees and program administrators not yet in grants summarizing this information in 2024.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Partially Implemented

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2022

CARB continues to implement changes in response to this recommendation. The following projects in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2021-22 and proposed FY 2022-23 Funding Plan for Clean Transportation Incentives were identified to have education, job training, and workforce development elements:

Sustainable Transportation Equity Project (STEP),

Clean Mobility in Schools,

Clean Mobility Options,

Access Clean California,

The Workforce Training and Development Projects, and

Heavy-Duty Advanced Technology Demonstration and Pilot Projects.

CARB anticipates grants will be executed for these projects in 2023. The grants will include requirements for grantees and program administrators to collect information on the quality of job trainings and outcomes experienced by participants, including the information recommended in the audit:

Who received training,

The credentials participants received as a result,

Expected wages that participants will receive as a result of the training or for developing the relevant expertise, and

The number of participants from priority populations (i.e., disadvantaged communities and low-income communities and households).

CARB expects to begin receiving reports from grantees and program administrators summarizing this information in 2024.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Partially Implemented

As we confirmed during our previous assessment of this recommendation, CARB has identified the programs it expects to provide job training benefits. However, the substantive elements of the recommendation, such as executing the contracts in question, are still outstanding.

1-Year Agency Response

CARB approved the FY 2021-22 Funding Plan for Clean Transportation Incentives on November 19, 2021. Through the Funding Plan development process, CARB identified projects that will include a workforce or jobs training element. The Funding Plan highlights high level details on the types of data to be collected during the life of the project to ensure that job training goals are well defined. Specific details on the data to be collected will be determined as part of the subsequent public process through the building out of competitive solicitations, developing the implementation manual, or updating existing implementation manuals. These requirements will be detailed in grant agreements upon execution.

The FY 2021-22 Funding Plan also includes a Workforce Training and Development project. This project, in addition to incorporating metrics such as jobs, jobs training sessions, networking workshops, as well as capacity building metrics, will also report on increases in workforce training and development in priority populations. It will include requirements for program administrators to identify direct and measurable community benefits, such as socioeconomic, job access, zero-emission technology, environmental literacy, and other quality of life and social impact improvements. This evaluation effort will be done in parallel with CARB's other clean transportation and mobility investments to determine relevant data and lessons that can be applied across programs. This includes soliciting and evaluating ideas on how CARB and its partners should measure and report workforce training and development benefits and providing strong feedback loops for policy and program adjustments based on findings.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Partially Implemented

CARB's most recent funding plan identifies the programs it expects to provide job training and related elements as socioeconomic benefits. Although the substantive elements of this recommendation are still outstanding, CARB has therefore demonstrated partial implementation.

6-Month Agency Response

CARB is currently in the process of developing the FY 2021-22 Funding Plan for Clean Transportation Incentives - a process which includes a series of public workshops and work group meetings where stakeholders have the opportunity to provide input on proposed projects. Projects that include a workforce or jobs training element will now and henceforth be identified during the public process and clearly denoted in the annual Funding Plan. The Plan will highlight high level details on the types of data CARB will collect during the projects. Details of the data collected will be determined through a public process while building out the competitive solicitation, developing the implementation manual, or updating existing implementation manuals. Specific data requirements will be included in grant agreements upon execution.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending

60-Day Agency Response

CARB will identify in the FY 2021-22 Clean Transportation Funding Plan which of the Low Carbon Transportation projects will include a job trainings element. We will continue to identify these projects via this process moving forward. In general, equitable job training is always a component of competitive solicitations that are focused on demonstrations or pilots.

CARB has always included a job training element with respect to heavy duty demonstration and pilot projects. We will continue to include this element as part of our solicitation process and will require that project administrators provide the data parameters identified by the auditors for all future projects.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending

As we state in our report, when CARB does include job training as a program benefit, it does not always require its program administrators to provide detailed information about that training or how it benefits participants. These gaps in measurement include determining who participates and whether they come from disadvantaged or low-income communities or households. Therefore, CARB's statement that equitable job training is always a component of these programs is inaccurate. In implementing this recommendation, CARB must go beyond its current practices by ensuring that job training goals are well defined and that CARB actually collects and measures data to support its claims about program benefits.

All Recommendations in 2020-114

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.