§ 81-1203 — Job training grant; business plan; project criteria; training grant; partners; training grants for rural areas or high-poverty areas; audit; report

(1) A business applying for a job training grant, other than a grant provided under subsection (3) of section 81-1201.21 , shall submit a business plan to the Department of Economic Development which includes, but is not limited to:
(a) The number of jobs to be created or the number of existing positions that will be retrained;
(b) The nature of the business and the type of jobs to be created or positions to be retrained;
(c) The estimated wage levels of the jobs to be created or positions to be retrained; and
(d) A program schedule for the job training project.
(2) A business applying for a job training grant, other than a grant provided under subsection (3) of section 81-1201.21 , must demonstrate that the job training project to be conducted pursuant to the grant meets the following criteria:
(a) The wage level of the jobs created will meet the local prevailing average;
(b) The jobs created will diversify the local economy;
(c) The goods or services produced by the company will be export-oriented;
(d) Seventy-five percent of the jobs created will be full-time jobs; and
(e) The new jobs will be created within three calendar years.
(3) A business applying for a training grant under subsection (3) of section 81-1201.21 may partner with a postsecondary educational institution; a private, nonprofit organization holding a certificate of exemption under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code; or a learning community coordinating council or school district that has partnered with a private, nonprofit organization. The application shall specify the role of the partnering entity in identifying and training potential job applicants for the applicant business.
(4) A business applying for a training grant under subsection (3) of section 81-1201.21 may apply as a business that has established a program under which residents of rural areas or high-poverty areas are trained for employment or potential employment by documenting:
(a) That the business has established a program designed to fill a minimum of four positions in rural areas and a minimum of eight positions in high-poverty areas for such business;
(b) A program schedule for the training project;
(c) The nature of the business and the number of positions available or to be created;
(d) That the wage level of the positions available or to be created will meet the local prevailing average;
(e) The value of the positions available or to be created in diversifying the local economy;
(f) That a minimum of seventy-five percent of the positions available or to be created will be full-time jobs;
(g) That the business will accept funding on behalf of trainees and will provide a match of a minimum of twenty-five percent of the value of the grant, either monetarily or through in-kind services, as part of the training for each trainee;
(h) That any new position created will be done within three calendar years;
(i) That the number of trainees will not exceed one hundred twenty-five percent of the number of positions that will be available at the time of application; and
(j) That the goods or services produced by the business are generally exportable in nature resulting in additional money to the community or the state and the positions available or to be created are not local retail positions.
(5) Each business participating in a training grant under subsection (3) of section 81-1201.21 shall be subject to an audit by the Department of Economic Development and shall annually report or provide to the department the following information:
(a) The percentage of trainees who have successfully completed the training;
(b) The percentage of trainees that such business hired;
(c) An itemized description of such business's match including expenditures per trainee; and
(d) A copy of the training curriculum.
(6) For purposes of subsections (3) through (5) of this section:
(a) High-poverty area means an area consisting of one or more contiguous census tracts, as determined by the most recent American Community Survey 5-Year Estimate, which contain a percentage of persons with incomes below the poverty line of greater than thirty percent, and all census tracts contiguous to such tract or tracts; and
(b) Private, nonprofit organization means an organization whose purpose is providing basic job and life skills training to individuals in need of such training in rural or high-poverty areas.

Legislative History

Source: Laws 1995, LB 326, § 2; Laws 2008, LB1154, § 27; Laws 2010, LB961, § 2; Laws 2025, LB355, § 6. Operative Date: July 1, 2025