Committee on Disability & Employment

March 21, 2018: 9:00 AM
Frances Perkins rm, 45 Commerce Dr, Augusta

State Workforce Board COMMITTEE ON DISABILITY AND EMPLOYMENT March 21, 2018 9:00 AM ? 12:00 PM Central Maine Commerce Center 45 Commerce Drive, Augusta Frances Perkins Room Call in: 877-455-0244, Conference code: 9218175360 AGENDA 9:00 Welcome, Review/approve January meeting?s minutes 9:15 SWB / Committees Update ? Garret 9:30 Review / discuss CDE bylaws 10:15 Follow up on LD763 and EFM Report to LCRED 10:45 Break 11:00 Develop CDE plan for 2018/19 12:00 Adjourn Next Meeting: May 2, 2018 9:00 ? 12:00 Central Maine Commerce Center Frances Perkins Room

COMMITTEE ON DISABILITY AND EMPLOYMENT

03/21/2018

Present: Jennifer Kimble (Chair), Donald Rice, Gayla Dwyer, Karen Fraser, Peaches Bass, Rachel Dyer (phone)

Absent: Jeanie Coltart (excused), Mel Clarrage

Staff: Cheryl Moran

Welcome, Review/approve January meeting?s minutes Jennifer Kimble opened the meeting at 9:05am with welcomes and introductions and called motion to approve the 01/17/2018 meeting minutes with minor corrections. Karen Fraser mentioned a correction on page 2, first paragraph stating ?is she able to vote as a member on this Committee?? Donald Rice motioned. Gayla Dwyer seconded. The 01/17/2018 minutes were approved as written with minor corrections.

SWB/Committees Update ? Cheryl Moran Cheryl reported the PY17 funding has been released however; not sure if contracts are in place. Bureau of Employment Services (BES) will no longer be a WIOA Title 1B service provider. The Local Workforce Board?s (LWB?s) will need to find providers to deliver these services. The CareerCenters impacted by this are; Augusta, Skowhegan, Calais and Machias. Peaches Bass stated a lot of service delivery is slowly migrating on-line so the question is, do we really need a comprehensive One-Stop? The Portland CareerCenter is not one. Donald Rice ? ACAP and FEDCAP may be service providers. Cheryl - Comments on Maine?s 2018 Modification to the Unified State Plan were solicited from February 28 to March 7. Included in the modification is the 70/30 percent. The modification of the Plan must be submitted to USDOL by 04/02/2018 for approval. Peaches Bass stated she is concerned how the quality of service will be affected by reducing of other costs.

Cheryl stated they have not had a SWB Chairs meeting in a while because of what was going on with WIOA so there is nothing really to report at this time however; Adrian Cohen from Workforce Solutions is being considered to become the new Chair of the Younger Workers Committee. Peter Letourneau hopefully will be appointed as new Chair of the Older Workers Committee at their next meeting in April. Peaches Bass stated the Women?s Employment Committee has looked at some ideas to take on for the year.

Review/discuss CDE Bylaws A draft copy of the CDE Bylaws was provided. The draft included necessary technical changes made by Cheryl Moran. Peaches Bass pointed out that the CDE and Apprenticeship Council are the only sub-committees that have their own little section that is in statute. Jennifer Kimble stated for the committee members to look at the Bylaws and compare it to the statutory language. A copy of the statutory language was provided. Jennifer also stated to look at what the Bylaws are saying and what we as a committee are actually doing. How can we be a voice to serve the People of Maine? We need to be more strategic around this according to the statute. This is not a Governor?s committee?we do not report to the Governor. Can we as a Commission just approve the Bylaws? Karen Fraser stated she believes we can. Jennifer Kimble ? Amending the statute can also happen. Karen Fraser stated we would need to go through the Legislative process if we choose to. Peaches Bass stated the Bylaws do not need to look the same as the statute if they do not conflict.
Jennifer Kimble called motion to accept the existing mark-ups to the bylaws. Donald Rice motioned. Gayla Dwyer seconded. Motion carried. Jennifer stated they will share the actual statute and re-visit this at the next meeting.

Follow up on LD763 and EFM Report to LCRED

Jennifer Kimble ? LD763 ?An Act to Support Individuals with Disabilities by Exempting Certain Wages from Consideration for MaineCare?.
This was a proposed Bill to exclude earned income for people on specific MaineCare waivers. Update, the Bill is dead. Jennifer stated there is a small number of individuals with MaineCare waivers who experience a penalty when they work because they are eligible under a special category with different income-counting requirements. Rachel Dyer stated the Bill was well intended but was not very well executed. Jennifer asked Rachel to check out information that is in the testimony. Now that the Bill is dead, this raises different issues. This can be some background that we can take into the next Session. Jennifer stated she will be interested in talking to Rachel after the meeting.

EFM ? Jennifer mentioned she has spoken to Senator Volk and she will be attending our next meeting in May. We need to think about what to ask her ? share her thoughts and recommendations of the EFM. Karen Fraser stated the EFM Committee was asking for a response from state agencies. This will be posted to the EFM website. We?re hoping the website will be up in the next week. Karen stated that VR is increasingly serving youth with disabilities, the number has increased. She also stated after many years of service in BRS, this is the first time seeing this population increased.

Develop CDE plan for 2018/19 Jennifer Kimble ? The CDE Plan is something we report on every year in the State Annual Report that goes to the Governor and Legislature. We need a longer-term Plan?? Ideas to think about; 1. Update Bylaws (part of the Plan) 2. Membership ? be aggressive on who to invite to the table 3. Develop a strategy and follow-up on our Report that goes to the Governor and Legislature Peaches Bass ? Suggested focus areas; ? Pay some attention to the publicly funded workforce system. ? Specific accessibility to services ? how they interplay between rehabilitation and employment services. ? We should maximize on what WIOA requires. ? If V.R. customers are leaving V.R. with employment, and not dropping out of the system. Donald Rice ? How PWD are treated in the CareerCenters - how they are welcomed. We should focus on this specific area even more. We need to make sure these things are being done. Karen Fraser stated the State V.R. Plan needs to be referenced and followed-up. Something perhaps this committee can advise/recommend and how does this tie into the big picture? Jennifer Kimble stated we need to start a conversation about membership prior to the next meeting. Some ideas for outreach: youth with disabilities, educators, businesses in the Augusta area (within reason), Consumer Council, Wabanaki VR, Disability Rights Maine, Maine Equal Justice Partners, Representative from State agencies (per the bylaws) Jennifer stated feel free to email her if any other ideas.

Another question of importance Jennifer asked, how does the State as a whole serve PWD? Cultural perception; Jennifer pointed out, without any public awareness, we will not be able to get them informed. We need to increase awareness such as a campaign like what the Veterans Committee conduct every year.

Jennifer stated she feels this committee can get some people to the table if they have a Plan, and agreed to outline a plan to share with committee members for feedback.

Other Gayla Dwyer announced on June 12, ?Going for the Gold? webinar will be held by JAN, the Job Accommodation Network and the US Business Leadership Network.

Meeting adjourned at 11:48am

NEXT MEETING WILL BE HELD ON MAY 2, 2018 FROM 9:00 ? NOON IN THE FRANCES PERKINS ROOM, CMCC AUGUSTA.

Respectfully submitted by Cheryl Moran

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