Part I

Enacts new Article 10, concerning Community College System Trust Funds, to GS Chapter 115D. Establishes the Workforce Development Trust Fund (WDTF) a nonreverting special fund in the North Carolina Community College System entitled the Community College State Endowment Trust Fund (CCSETF) to provide grants to community colleges within the North Carolina Community College System (NCCCS) for programs to improve student recruitment, instructor recruitment or retention, or fund new programs to respond to local workforce demands. Specifies that the CCSETF consists of funds appropriated to, or otherwise received by, the CCSETF and any interest accrued thereon. Directs that moneys in the CCSETF can only be used for distribution of grants as authorized by GS 115D-110. Designates the State Board of Community Colleges as the administrator of the CCSETF. Provides for a competitive grant application process for colleges within the NCCCS. Requires grant applications to have four required components, including the number of students expected to be served/enrolled, whether or not the proposal has been endorsed by the college’s business advisory group, and the median wage of the college or program covered by the grant. Sets forth percentages for distribution, specifying that student recruitment, instructor recruitment, and new programs to respond to workforce demands each receive at least 30% of the funds distributed. Allocates up to 2.5% for administrative costs. Appropriates $580 million from the General Fund to the Community College System Office (Office) in nonrecurring funds for the creation of the CCSETF.  

Effective July 1, 2024.

Part II

Adds new GS 115D-82, requiring the Department of Commerce to share employment outcome data with the Office to the extent permitted by federal law.  Applies to requests for employment outcome data received on or after the act becomes law.

Part III

Adds new GS 115C-238.54A (concerning cooperative innovative high schools funding based on county development tier designations), as follows.  Designates three development tier areas mirroring the development tiers areas created by GS 143B-437 (defining a development tier one area is a county whose annual ranking is one of the 40 highest in the State. A development tier two area is a county whose annual ranking is one of the next 40 highest in the State. A development tier three area is a county that is not in a lower-numbered development tier.) Requires the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) to allocate the following amounts from the cooperative innovative high school supplemental allotment to a local school administrative unit located in a development tier one area with a cooperative innovative high school that was approved by the State Board of Education (Board):

• $740,000 in recurring funds for the first cooperative innovative high school approved by the Board.
• $370,000 in recurring funds for each subsequent cooperative innovative high school approved by the Board.
• For a virtual cooperative innovative high school, requires DPI to allocate $200,000 in recurring funds from the cooperative innovative high school supplemental allotment to the local school administrative unit for each fiscal year.
• For the Northeast Regional School of Biotechnology and Agriscience, requires DPI to allocate $310,000 in recurring funds from the regional school supplemental allotment for the school for each fiscal year.

For development tier two areas, requires DPI to allocate the following amounts from the cooperative innovative high school supplemental allotment to a local school administrative unit located in a development area with a cooperative innovative high school that was approved by the Board:

• $590,000 in recurring funds for the first cooperative innovative high school approved by the Board.
• $295,000 in recurring funds for each subsequent cooperative innovative high school approved by the Board.
• For a virtual cooperative innovative high school, requires DPI to allocate $200,000 in recurring funds from the cooperative innovative high school supplemental allotment to the local school administrative unit for each fiscal year.

For development tier three areas, requires DPI to allocate the following amounts from the cooperative innovative high school supplemental allotment to a local school administrative unit located in a development area with a cooperative innovative high school that was approved by the Board:

• $550,000 in recurring funds for the first cooperative innovative high school approved by the Board.
• $275,000 in recurring funds for each subsequent cooperative innovative high school approved by the Board.
• For a virtual cooperative innovative high school, requires DPI to allocate $200,000 in recurring funds from the cooperative innovative high school supplemental allotment to the local school administrative unit for each fiscal year.

Appropriates $40 million from the General Fund to DPI in recurring funds for the expansion of existing cooperative innovative high schools or the establishment of new cooperative innovative high schools in underserved counties.

Effective July 1, 2024

Part IV

Enacts new Article 6, pertaining to Short-Time Compensation to GS Chapter 96, as follows. Defines affected unit, employer-sponsored training, normal weekly hours of work, short-time compensation benefits (benefits), short-time compensation employer, and short-time compensation plan or plan (meaning an employer’s written plan for reducing unemployment under which an affected unit shares the work remaining after its normal weekly hours of work are reduced). Requires any employer wanting to participate in the short-time compensation program to submit a signed short-time compensation plan to the Department of Commerce’s (DOC) Division of Employment Security (DES). Allows DES to approve the plan only if eleven listed criteria are met. Provides a timeline by which DES must approve or disapprove of a plan, with reasons set forth in writing if the plan is not approved. Sets the term of a plan as beginning on the day of approval (its effective date) and ending at the end of the twelfth full calendar month after its effective date. Requires DES to monitor an employer’s plan compliance. Allows DES to revoke a plan for good cause, including the employer’s failure to comply with assurances provided in the plan such as that the aggregate reduction in hours is in lieu of layoffs.

Sets forth eligibility requirements for an individual to receive benefits if DES finds: (i) the individual is employed as a member of an affected unit in an approved plan that was approved before the week and is in effect for the week, (ii) the individual is able to work and is available for additional hours of work or for full-time work with the short-time employer, and (iii) the normal weekly hours of work of the individual are reduced by at least 10% but not by more than 40%, with a corresponding reduction in wages. Prevents DES from denying benefits to a person who is otherwise eligible on the following grounds: (1) applying any other provision of GS Chapter 96 relating to availability for work, active search for work, or refusal to apply for or accept work from other than the short-time compensation employer of that individual and (2) because such individual is participating in an employer-sponsored training or a training under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act to improve job skills when the training is approved by DOC.  

Deems an individual unemployed for any week for which compensation is payable to the individual, as an employee in an affected unit, for less than the individual's normal weekly hours of work in accordance with an approved short-time compensation plan in effect for the week. Provides for a formula to calculate weekly benefits. Caps an individuals’ total benefit as the amount that is their maximum entitlement. Except when the result is inconsistent with the other provisions of GS Chapter 96, specifies that short-time compensation benefits will  be charged to the employment record of employers. Provides for the effect of the benefits on other programs including, unemployment compensation. Excludes seasonal, temporary, and intermittent (as all defined) employees from participation in the program. Directs that the program will be suspended if the State’s Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund balance falls below $2 billion, as reported in the State Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund Solvency Report (Solvency Report) issued each March by the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Unemployment Insurance, Division of Fiscal  and Actuarial Services. Suspension of the Program will cease when the Solvency Report indicates that the State's UI Trust Fund has been replenished to at least $2 billion.

Applies to requests for employment outcome data received on or after the act becomes law.