Certified nurse assistant training.

Existing law establishes the Caregiver Training Initiative to develop and implement proposals designed to recruit, train, and retain health care providers such as certified nurse assistants, certified nurses, registered nurses, licensed vocational nurses, and other types of nursing and direct-care staff. Under the initiative, contracts are required to be awarded to regional collaborative programs selected through a competitive request for proposals process. Existing law requires the Employment Development Department, in consultation with the State Department of Social Services, to administer regional collaborative program selection and funding and specifies various duties of the Employment Development Department. This bill would require the Employment Training Panel to establish a grant award program to fund training programs for certified nurse assistants by interested and qualified applicants, as specified. The bill would require, on or before July 1, 2018, the establishment of criteria for awarding grants and training program standards. The bill would also appropriate $3,000,000 from the General Fund to the Employment Training Panel to implement the grant award program.