414.027  WAGES Program statewide implementation plan.--

(1)  The WAGES Program State Board of Directors shall submit to the Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives a statewide plan for implementing the WAGES Program established under this chapter. At a minimum, the statewide implementation plan must include:

(a)  Performance standards, measurement criteria, and contract guidelines for all services provided under the WAGES Program whether by state employees or contract providers.

(b)  Directives for creating and chartering local WAGES coalitions to plan and coordinate the delivery of services under the WAGES Program at the local level.

(c)  The approval of the implementation plans submitted by local WAGES coalitions.

(d)  Recommendations for clarifying, or if necessary, modifying the roles of the state agencies charged with implementing the WAGES Program so that all unnecessary duplication is eliminated.

(e)  Recommendations for modifying compensation and incentive programs for state employees in order to achieve the performance outcomes necessary for successful implementation of the WAGES Program.

(f)  Criteria for allocating WAGES Program resources to local WAGES coalitions. Such criteria must include weighting factors that reflect the relative degree of difficulty associated with securing employment placements for specific subsets of the welfare transition caseload.

(g)  The development of a performance-based payment structure to be used for all WAGES Program services, which takes into account the following:

1.  The degree of difficulty associated with placing a WAGES Program participant in a job;

2.  The quality of the placement with regard to salary, benefits, and opportunities for advancement; and

3.  The employee's retention of the placement.

The payment structure shall provide not more than 40 percent of the cost of services provided to a WAGES participant prior to placement, 50 percent upon employment placement, and 10 percent if employment is retained for at least 6 months. The payment structure should provide bonus payments to providers that experience notable success in achieving long-term job retention with WAGES Program participants. The board shall consult with the ¹Enterprise Florida workforce development board in developing the WAGES Program statewide implementation plan.

(2)  The board of directors shall update the statewide implementation plan annually and submit quarterly progress reports to the Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The annual updated plan must contain proposals for implementing the goals and objectives of the WAGES Program during the succeeding 3-year period.

History.--s. 7, ch. 96-175; s. 44, ch. 97-98; s. 3, ch. 97-173.