Student financial aid: Cal Grant C awards.

Existing law, the Ortiz-Pacheco-Poochigian-Vasconcellos Cal Grant Act, establishes the Cal Grant C program under the administration of the Student Aid Commission and establishes eligibility requirements for awards under this program. The act requires that a Cal Grant C award be used only for occupational or technical training, as defined, in a course of not less than 4 months. The act requires the commission, after consultation with state and federal agencies, to determine the areas of occupational or technical training for which Cal Grant C awards shall be awarded. Existing law also requires the Student Aid Commission to develop, and regularly review and update at least every 5 years, the areas of occupational or technical training for which students may utilize Cal Grant C awards and to give priority in granting the awards to students pursuing occupational or technical training in areas that meet specified criteria. The act requires the commission to give priority in granting the awards to students pursuing occupational or technical training in areas that meet specified criteria. This bill would revise and recast the act in regard to Cal Grant C awards to, among other things, require the commission to give special consideration to the social and economic situations of the students applying for the grants, giving additional weight to applicants facing specified challenges. In determining the individual award amounts, the bill would additionally require the commission to take into account the financial means available to the student to fund his or her course of study and costs of attendance. The bill would revise the criteria that areas of occupational or technical training are required to meet to be given priority for awards, as specified. The bill would require the commission, in consultation with specified entities, for purposes of the Cal Grant C program, to prioritize occupational training programs and industry clusters. The bill would require the commission to consult with specified public entities to develop a plan to publicize the grant award program to California's long-term unemployed to be used by those specified public entities when they come into contact with members of the population who are likely to be experiencing long-term unemployment and would require the commission to develop a plan to make students receiving awards aware of job search and placement services available through specified public entities. The bill would specify that the local workforce investment boards are required to participate in the outreach efforts only to the extent that those efforts are a part of their existing responsibilities under federal law. Existing law authorizes the Director of Employment Development to use information in his or her possession to the extent necessary to achieve specified purposes. This bill would authorize the director, to the extent permitted by federal law and regulations, to provide the commission with wage information to verify the employment status of an individual applying for a Cal Grant C award. This bill would incorporate changes made by SB 1141 and AB 1792 to Section 1095 of the Unemployment Insurance Code contingent on the prior enactment of each of those bills.