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TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS

BEFORE THE

TEXAS WORKFORCE COMMISSION

AUSTIN, TEXAS

PUBLIC MEETING ) FOR THE TEXAS ) WORKFORCE COMMISSION )

COMMISSION MEETING

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2017

BE IT REMEMBERED THAT at 9:00 a.m. on

Tuesday, the 14th day of November, 2017, the above-entitled

matter came on for hearing at the Texas Workforce

Commission, TWC Building, 101 East 15th Street, Room 244,

Austin, Texas, before ANDRES ALCANTAR, Chairman; JULIAN

ALVAREZ and RUTH R. HUGHS, Commissioners

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

PROCEEDINGS, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2017

AGENDA ITEM NO. 1 ..................................... 4 CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR AGENDA ITEM NO. 2 ..................................... 4 SHERRI MILLER AGENDA ITEM NO. 3 ..................................... 4 JENNIFER TURNER AGENDA ITEM NO. 4 ..................................... 4 JENNIFER TURNER AGENDA ITEM NO. 5 ..................................... 5 SHERRI MILLER AGENDA ITEM NO. 6 ..................................... 5 SHERRI MILLER AGENDA ITEM NO. 7 ..................................... 5 LES TROBMAN AGENDA ITEM NO. 8 ..................................... 5 JENNIFER TROKE AGENDA ITEM NO. 9 ..................................... 6 RANDY TOWNSEND AGENDA ITEM NO. 10 .................................... 7 DOYLE FUCHS AGENDA ITEM NO. 11 .................................... 9 ADAM LEONARD AGENDA ITEM NO. 12 .................................... 11 ANSON GREEN AGENDA ITEM NO. 13 .................................... 12 STEPHANIE BONNET-KRAMER AGENDA ITEM NO. 14 .................................... 21 ED SERNA AGENDA ITEM NO. 15 .................................... 23 ED SERNA

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TABLE OF CONTENTS (Cont.)

PAGE

AGENDA ITEM NO. 16 .................................... 24 ED SERNA AGENDA ITEM NO. 17 .................................... 25 CHUCK ROSS AGENDA ITEM NO. 18 .................................... 27 JOEL MULLINS AGENDA ITEM NO. 19 .................................... 28 TOM McCARTY AGENDA ITEM NO. 20 .................................... 37 JOHN FULLER AGENDA ITEM NO. 21 .................................... 38 KATHERINE THIGPEN AGENDA ITEM NO. 22 .................................... 38 LARRY TEMPLE AGENDA ITEM NO. 23 .................................... 40 EXECUTIVE SESSION AGENDA ITEM NO. 25 .................................... 40 ADJOURNMENT REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE ................................ 41

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P R O C E E D I N G S

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2017

(9:00 a.m.)

AGENDA ITEM NO. 1

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: Good morning, everyone.

This meeting will now be called to order.

AGENDA ITEM NO. 2

Discussion, Consideration and Possible Action

Regarding Whether to Assume Continuing Jurisdiction on

Unemployment Compensation Cases, Wage Claim Cases, and/or

Tax Liability Cases and Reconsideration of Unemployment

Compensation Cases, Wage Claim Cases, and/or Tax Liability

Cases, if any.

No Discussion.

AGENDA ITEM NO. 3


Regarding Tax Liability Cases Listed on the Texas Workforce

Commission Docket 46.

The Commission considered and took action on

all tax liability cases listed on Docket 46.

AGENDA ITEM NO. 4


Regarding Fair Housing Cases listed on the Texas Workforce

Commission Docket 46.

No Discussion.

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AGENDA ITEM NO. 5


Regarding Higher Level Appeals in Wage Claim Cases Listed on

the Texas Workforce Commission Docket 46.


all wage claim cases listed on Docket 46.

AGENDA ITEM NO. 6


Regarding Higher Level Appeals in Unemployment Compensation

Cases Listed on the Texas Workforce Commission Docket 46.


all unemployment compensation cases listed on Docket 46.

AGENDA ITEM NO. 7

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: Good morning, everyone.

This meeting is now called back to order. Les, has anyone

signed up for public comment?

MR. TROBMAN: No, sir.

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: We have no public

comment. Thank you.

AGENDA ITEM NO. 8

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: Item 8. Discussion,

Consideration and Possible Action Regarding the Acceptance

of Pledges for Board Contract Year 2018 Matching Funds.

Good morning.

MS. TROKE: Good morning. How are you,

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Chairman, Commissioners, Mr. Temple.

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: I am good. Thank you.

MS. TROKE: For the record Jennifer Troke,

Workforce Development Division. Is the mic on? I'm not

sure. Annually the Boards submit local match budgets to

secure federal match pursuant to Commission Rule 800.73. As

you know, this is a standing agenda item. The Boards have

until January 31st to secure their funds.

Today we request your acceptance of child

care pledges for donations, transfers and certifications of

expenses in the amount of $6,980,727. Thank you.

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: Commissioner Hughs?

COMM. HUGHS: I move that we approve -- I

move that we approve the discussed staff recommendations for

Board contract year 2018 child care matching funds.

COMM. ALVAREZ: I'll second that.

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: And I agree. Thank you,

Jennifer.

MS. TROKE: Thank you.

AGENDA ITEM NO. 9


Consideration and Possible Action Regarding TWC's Fiscal

Year 2018 Operating Budget, Randy Townsend. Good morning,

Randy.

MR. TOWNSEND: Good morning, Chairman,

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Commissioners. For the record Randy Townsend, Chief

Financial Officer. In your notebook, you have the proposed

update to our 2018 operating budget. You did previously

approve the budget in -- in August of this year. And, of

course, since then, we are -- we have added some additional

funding primarily related to the hurricane and disaster for

the most part.

And so included there is a request to update

the budget, adding in 77.6 million to our 2018 budget, which

would bring our total appropriation part of the budget to

just over 1.7 billion for 2018. And I've included some

different schedules that update what was previously

presented to you in -- in August. We've briefed on that.

If you have questions that you'd like me to

go over in detail, I'd be happy to do that. But that's for

your consideration this morning.


COMM. HUGHS: I move that we approve

discussed updated fiscal year 2018 operating budget.


CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: It's unanimous. Thank

you, Randy.

MR. TOWNSEND: Thank you.

AGENDA ITEM NO. 10


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Consideration and Possible Action Regarding Program Year

2016 Annual Workforce Information Grant Performance Report

for the Department of Labor, E and T. Good morning, Doyle.

MR. FUCHS: Good morning, Mr. Chairman,

Commissioner Hughs, Commissioner Alvarez. For the record

Doyle Fuchs, Labor Market and Career Information. You have

before you today for your consideration and possible action

the program year 2016 Workforce Information Grant Annual

Performance and Economic Analysis Report. Both reports are

required deliverables under the Workforce Information Grant.

The performance report details the activities

funded by the grant including database administration,

employment projections and dissemination of labor market

information, including hardcopy publications and web

applications. The annual economic report is also one of the

grant deliverables. This year's report, which provides an

analysis of the state workforce is -- is the first of its

kind. In previous years, we were able to substitute reports

prepared by other state entities, and that was not possible

this year.

We are asking for your approval of the PY16

Workforce Information Grant Annual Performance and Economic

Analysis Reports with permission to make nonsubstantive

technical edits or corrections prior to submission. Thank

you.

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I'll be happy to answer any questions you

might have.

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: Thank you for the good

work. Commissioner Hughs?

COMM. HUGHS: I move that we approve the

discussed program year 2016 Annual Workforce Information

Grant Performance Report and Economic Analysis and for staff

to be able to make any technical changes or corrections

before submitting the report to the Department of Labor

Education and Training Administration. I also want to say

it's a great report and very informative. Thank you for

your hard work on that.

MR. FUCHS: Thank you.

COMM. ALVAREZ: Thank you, Doyle. And I'll

second that.

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: It's unanimous.

MR. FUCHS: Thank you.

AGENDA ITEM NO. 11


Consideration and Possible Action Regarding Local Board

Performance Measures and Targets for 2017-18, Adam. Good

morning.

MR. LEONARD: Good morning, Mr. Chairman and

Commissioners. I'm here to present the last set of targets

associated with year-end adjustments for '17 and for '18.

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WIOA provides for performance targets being set initially

upfront based on assumptions around the case mix and the

economic conditions put into a DOL statistical model, and it

provides an opportunity for Boards to provide input on

factors that might not be considered. And then at the end

of the year, there is a adjustment where the targets might

go up or down based on the actual case mix and economic

conditions.

And I just wanted to mention that for this

year, the first year we've been applying this, the year '17

adjustment's a little bit more like an upfront negotiation

in the fact that because last year's negotiations were based

so much on preliminary data, we wanted to -- once we had

more apples to apples comparison to the end-of-the-year

data, we wanted to have them to have the opportunity to look

at that again.

So I'm happy to answer any questions you

might have with the recommendations for final '17 and

initial '18 are on pages 3 and 4 in your notebook.



local Workforce development area performance measures and

targets for Board contract years 2017 and the initial 2018

silo WIOA performance measure targets as presented by staff.


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CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: It's unanimous.

MR. LEONARD: Thank you.

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: Thank you, Adam.

AGENDA ITEM NO. 12


Consideration and Possible Action Regarding Adult Education

and Literacy Advisory Committee Membership. Good morning,

Anson.

MR. GREEN: Good morning, Chairman Alcantar,

Commissioners, Mr. Temple. I'm Anson Green, State Director

for Adult Education and Literacy. Today I come to seek your

direction related to nominees to serve on the Adult

Education and Literacy Advisory Committee. This fall of

2017 two Advisory Committee tendered their resignation. And

in December of 2017, there will be three more vacancies due

to the terms ending for certain individuals. On

October 31st, the Commission selected David Barron for one

of these vacant positions.

And this morning I bring before you for

consideration and direction four additional individuals to

complete the membership roster, those include Don -- Donald

Tracy from Austin Community College, who's the director of

business operations and marketing; Samuel Keeler from Tyson

Foods, who's the training and human resource manager; Traci

Berry, the chief learning and engagement officer and

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superintendent of schools at the Excel Academy at the

Goodwill Central Texas; and Jesse Hernandez, who is

assistant production manager for TD Industries in San

Antonio.

I'd be happy to take any questions, and I'm

seeking your direction.



Adult Education and Literacy Advisory Committee nominees.


CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: We are unanimous.

MR. GREEN: Thank you.

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: Thank you, Anson.

AGENDA ITEM NO. 13


Consideration and Possible Action Regarding Statewide

Initiatives Funded with WIOA, TANF, AEL or Other State Level

Funds. Good morning.

MS. BONNET-KRAMER: Good morning. Good

morning, Chairman and Commissioners, Mr. Temple. For the

record Stephanie Bonnet-Kramer, Workforce Development

Division. For your consideration this morning is a

discussion paper on the Texas Early Childhood Learning

Summit. The Texas Workforce Commission was tasked with

supporting increased professional development requirements

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outlined both -- by both House Bill 4 and Texas Rising Star.

In response, TWC collaborated with the Office of the

Governor and the Texas Education Agency to host statewide

conferences tailored to the needs of early childhood

educators and caregivers.

To date, the Texas Early Childhood Learning

Summit has been held on three occasions, June 2016 in

Houston, July 2016 in Dallas and most recently August 2017

in Houston. All of the summits have been well attended as

well as well received by the participants with over

98 percent rating the event good or better. In addition,

attendees have received 10 hours of professional development

credit.

Today staff seeks direction on funding a

summit for both fiscal years 2018 and 2019 with an allocated

budget of $850,000 for each event. Approval of the events

and budget for a two-year period will facilitate planning

and securing appropriate venues in addition to other

services specific to the conferences.

That concludes my remarks, and I'm happy to

answer any questions.


COMM. HUGHS: Well, certainly I think the

conferences are very valuable and something that, as a

Commission, I know we all support. However, after August we

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were going to wait to make sure we had that return on

investment and see exactly what it cost and then also get

the results from the survey, which I have no doubt are very

positive. I do -- I did not see -- I haven't gotten a

summary of August's -- the -- the latest conference's

survey. And I don't know if that's because we haven't been

able to gather that information yet, or is it something that

we're still pulling together?

MS. BONNET-KRAMER: I provided an overview to

staff, but if you need more information, I'm happy to

provide that.

COMM. HUGHS: Okay. Because I got the

overview from the first set of conferences, and then the

back page had a summary of the comments. And I know it was

very valuable. I was able to attend those, and it was

fantastic. And I know August was just as good. I just

didn't see the -- maybe the overview of the survey results

this time around.

I also think we're still trying to figure out

what the final cost was --

MS. BONNET-KRAMER: Yes, ma'am.

COMM. HUGHS: -- and so while I'm very

supportive of the conferences, I have a little bit of

sticker shock, quite frankly. So I'm kind of opening up the

discussion, and it seems that we had budgeted for 700,000 in

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August, and we may very well come in under that.

MS. BONNET-KRAMER: Yes, ma'am.

COMM. HUGHS: So that makes me wonder why

we're going to go 1.7 for the next two year or 850 as

opposed to staying at the 700 or maybe even -- you know, I'm

just not sure that we need to go that high or even if

there's a reason to go that high if we at least should

revisit it for '19 rather than voting now for the high of an

amount. I'd be happy at 6 or 700,000. I'm not quite sure

what the -- what the new number is. I -- I assume it

anticipates growth.

MS. BONNET-KRAMER: Growth as well as

increased costs specific to the venues as well as AV costs.

We have seen an increase in those just over the last year,

from one year to year two. And so we anticipate those will

continue to increase, but we don't know at what rate. And

so, yes, it was a generous amount to request. However, we

will continue to be conservative in our expenditures.

MR. TEMPLE: We -- we put those out for bid,

those hotels and the AV. And we -- we actually have seen an

increase in cost with our conferences as well. And so

that's built in, so if you'd want to do it an up-to amount.

You know, like something up to that amount if something came

in beyond that, we could, you know, bring it back to you.

But just trying to cover what we anticipate, what we're

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seeing already. We can't even get anything in Austin

anymore. It's just cost prohibitive in Austin.

COMM. HUGHS: But up to 700,000, we fear will

make us fall short? And -- and, again, I mean, I'm not the

only one deciding. But that's why I just wanted to have

this conversation now.

MR. TEMPLE: We -- we obviously don't know.

We know -- we know that we won't get it as cheap as we did

this past year. So we know they'll be increased costs, so

between the AV and -- and the room costs, so. It's -- it's

all kind of in -- well, how we follow the stars as to the --

where we can get the -- the -- the state rates, and then --

COMM. HUGHS: Sure. And I know from putting

on the Texas Business Conferences, where we get 800

attendees, kind of what that can look like. That's part of

why I think I had a little bit of sticker shock.

MR. TEMPLE: Well, the other issue -- the

other issue -- but -- but we're paying -- we're paying rooms

for the -- we're --

COMM. HUGHS: Right.

MR. TEMPLE: -- we're -- we're ---

COMM. HUGHS: Sure.

MR. TEMPLE: -- we're paying room costs. So

it's not -- we -- we're getting a really good deal on the --

on the meeting room.

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COMM. HUGHS: Right.

MR. TEMPLE: But we're -- we're having to buy

room costs. So the cost that we're seeing, an increase in

AV and an increase in the room rates because in here, we pay

-- we pay for the rooms for -- for the attendees. And I'm

not -- what do we -- do we pay for travel, with travel?

COMM. HUGHS: I think we do.

MS. BONNET-KRAMER: For the attendees, no,

sir.

MR. TEMPLE: No. But -- but we pay for their

rooms.

MS. BONNET-KRAMER: They're responsible for

travel and meals.

MR. TEMPLE: So that's looking at that. It's

not so much the cost of -- like you're seeing the TBC for a

room. If we had 600 sleeping nights in one of the -- the

TBC's, we could get your cost down considerably. But it --

they're local, so nobody's spending the night. So that's

the big cost here is the actual room cost, not the -- I

mean, the sleeping room cost, not the meeting room cost.

COMM. HUGHS: Got you.

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: Any other comments?

COMM. HUGHS: No. I guess I'd be curious if

you all want to support 850,000, or if anyone else has any

questions or concerns about it. What I like to hear and I

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know is true is that staff is going to be conservative in

looking at what it actually costs and not necessarily using

that as the price, you know, of what we're going to spend.

And I know even now, we're under 700. That was why I didn't

know if you wanted to hold that much. But --

MR. TEMPLE: Well, the -- the -- the

attendance drives the room cost, obviously.

COMM. HUGHS: Yeah.

MR. TEMPLE: So if we have -- if we have

growth, which we've had from one year to the next, and the

comptroller increases -- which we don't know will or will

not, increases the state reimbursement rate on the hotel,

notwithstanding an increase in AV costs over the next two

years, so increase in room cost, increase in attendance will

get us up -- you know, we're hoping for an increase in

attendance.

So we would -- we would be surprised if -- no

way we'd stay at the same cost, even with the same

attendance just figuring in the inflation of the increase.

And that --

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: And, well -- excuse me --

in terms of -- of the quality of the events and the

feedback, the feedback that I've received both during and

after has been extremely positive. And I do believe that

they offer an outstanding opportunity. And I think you

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indicated that. The -- in terms of costs, I do believe that

providing staff with flexibility -- they've demonstrated in

the prior two years that they -- that they will come in

under based on the facilities that we're able to secure and

so forth.

I am sensitive to your comments though,

Commissioner Hughs, and would propose that we give staff

authority to spend up to 700 -- 750, providing for a slight

increase, maybe some additional attendance for some people

that are really interested in attending that weren't able to

over the past year. And then if -- and then based on actual

costs that they are seeing give them the flexibility to come

back and -- and get additional guidance in terms of whether

or not they open it up to additional participants.

Would that alleviate some of your concerns

brining --

COMM. HUGHS: Absolutely.

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: Okay. So what -- why

don't we -- you want to amend the proposal and keep it at

750?

COMM. HUGHS: Okay. And I would be moving

that we approve 750,000 of child care development funds for

FY18 and '19, not total though. I want to make sure I don't

say that incorrectly.

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: Or --

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COMM. HUGHS: 750,000 for the next two

subject to staff coming back, unless at that point, would

you rather us just approve for '18 and revisit for '19?

MR. TEMPLE: We're going to try to --

COMM. HUGHS: Do them now?

MR. TEMPLE: We'd like to go ahead and put

out and -- and try to get --

COMM. HUGHS: For both?

MR. TEMPLE: -- for both as early --

COMM. HUGHS: Okay.

MR. TEMPLE: The earlier we can go out, the

better price we can get. Availability is just a real, real

challenge.

COMM. HUGHS: Okay. Then --

MR. TEMPLE: And that's why we're asking to

do the -- the two year.

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: So that's 750, a total of

1.5 million.

COMM. HUGHS: Right. Okay. Then -- then I

move that we approve that amount for the next two years.

COMM. ALVAREZ: So I agree. So I agree with

your original request of the 850,000. I will agree with my

fellow Commissioners that 750 is good for the next two

years. I'm fine with that.

So I'll second your votes, Commissioner.

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CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: All right. We're --

we're in agreement. Thank you.

COMM. HUGHS: And please come back if that --

if for any reason we need to amend or revisit. Thank you.

MR. TEMPLE: Well, if -- if we see early

registration above, then we'll bring it to you to let you

know if it looks like it's going to go over.

COMM. HUGHS: Okay. I also look forward to

getting the results of this past August's final numbers.

Thank you.

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: Great. Thank you.

AGENDA ITEM NO. 14


Consideration and Possible Action Regarding the

Recertification of CRPs to Participate in t Purchasing from

People with Disabilities State-Use Program, Ed Serna.

MR. SERNA: Good morning, Mr. Chairman,

Commissioners, Mr. Temple. For the record Ed Serna, Deputy

Executive Director, Texas Workforce Commission. Agenda Item

14 is the recertification of three community rehabilitation

programs that participate in the Purchasing from Peoples

with Disabilities state-use program. Staff has reviewed the

materials submitted by the CPRs as well as examined each CRP

-- each of these CRPs' qualifications to continue

participating in the program based on the programs rules.

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Staff recommends the Commission approve

recertification of the first and second CRP. We recommend

postponing any action on recertification of the -- of the

third CRP to a future Commission meeting to allow staff the

time to work with the CRP to resolve issues regarding their

recertification.

And I'll be happy to answer any questions you

might have.

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: Commissioners, any

comments?

COMM. ALVAREZ: No comments.

COMM. HUGHS: Just that Ed Serna always makes

my life easier, and I appreciate that very much.

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: I -- I do have one

comment.

COMM. HUGHS: I move -- oh, go ahead.

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: I really would like staff

to explore options to maintain program integrity and ensure

that our CRPs are operating in a fiscally sound manner under

the state Purchasing from People with Disabilities use

program. So if you could work with general counsel and

other necessary staff to ensure that these programs are

fiscal -- fiscally sound and able to take care of their

obligations. Thank you.

MR. SERNA: Yes, sir. We will.

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COMM. HUGHS: And with that, I move that we

approve the recertification of the community rehabilitation

programs as recommended by staff for the first two.



MR. SERNA: Thank you.

AGENDA ITEM NO. 15


Consideration and Possible Action Regarding the Approval of

Products Offered by CRPs Use Program, Ed.

MR. SERNA: Again, for the record Ed Serna,

Deputy Executive Director, Texas Workforce Commission.

Before you we have new products, eight new products,

submitted by two CRPs, and 12 cost revisions to products

submitted by six CRPs.

Staff recommends approval of five of the

eight new products and eleven of the twelve cost revisions.

We're asking to postpone the -- these other -- the other

items, the four items in total, one cost revisions and three

of the new products, to allow staff time to conduct

additional research regarding pricing for these products.

COMM. HUGHS: I move that we approve staff's

recommendations for products offered by certified community

rehabilitation programs under the Purchasing from People

with Disabilities state-use program as recommended by staff.

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MR. SERNA: Thank you.

AGENDA ITEM NO. 16


Consideration and Possible Action Regarding Approval of

Services Offered by CRPs, Ed.

MR. SERNA: Again, for the record Ed Serna,

Deputy Executive Director, Texas Workforce Commission. We

have before you on this agenda item approval of various

service contracts between the Purchasing from Peoples with

Disabilities CRPs and state agencies. There are five

contracts that were completed under temporary authority

employing 21 individuals that were paid above minimum wage.

There were a total 102 new and renewal contracts employed

290 individuals with disabilities being paid at or above

minimum wage. And then finally, there were four transferred

contracts employing five individuals all being paid at or

above minimum wage.

Staff recommends approval of all service

contracts with the exception of 13 of the contracts up for

renewal on pages 17 to 29 in the handout, in the material

that you have. Staff recommends action on these 13

contracts be deferred to a future Commission meeting to

allow us time to work with the CRP to resolve issues

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regarding their renewal.

And I'll be happy to answer any questions you

might have regarding this issue.

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: Questions?

Commissioner Hughs?

COMM. HUGHS: I move that we approve services

offered by the certified community rehabilitation programs

under the Purchasing from People with Disabilities state-use

program as recommended by staff.



MR. SERNA: Thank you all.

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: Thank you.

AGENDA ITEM NO. 17

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: Item 17 is deferred.

Item 18. Discussion, Consideration and Possible -- no, I'm

sorry. Item 17 is Discussion, Consideration and Possible

Action Regarding Approvals for the Texas Payday Act, Wage

Claims, Previously Published for Public Comment. Chuck,

good morning.

MR. ROSS: Good morning, Mr. Chairman,

Commissioners, Mr. Temple. For the record I'm Chuck Ross

for the Regulatory Integrity Division. For your

consideration this morning are final rules relating to the

amendment of the Commission's Payday rules regarding the

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electronic submission of electronic wage claims.

Currently, wage claim can be submitted in

person at a Workforce Solutions office, mailed to TWC or

faxed. During the 85th regular legislative session, House

Bill 2443 required the Commission by rule to allow for

electronic submission of wage claims. The bill, signed by

governor Abbott on June 9th and effective September 1st,

requires the Commission to adopt the necessary rules by

December 1st of this year and to have electronic wage claim

submission available for wage claims filed with TWC on or

after January 1st of 2018.

The proposed rules related to validity of

claim and timeliness were posted for public comment in the

September 8th, 2017, issue of the Texas Register. No

comments were received. Staff is recommending final

adoption of these rule amendments. Staff is also seeking

your approval to make any nonsubstantive changes necessary

to post the final rules to the Texas Register.

I'm happy to answer any questions you all may

have.



adoption of rules relating to the Texas Payday Act as

required.


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AGENDA ITEM NO. 18


Consideration and Possible Action Regarding Guidance --

Regarding the Adoption of Rules Relating to Career Schools

and Colleges. Joel, good morning.

MR. MULLINS: Good morning, Chairman,

Commissioners, Mr. Temple. For the record I'm Joel Mullins

with Workforce Development. Senate Bill 128 passed both

houses of the Texas legislature during the recent

legislative session, and it was signed into law on May 18th.

The new law directs TWC to implement rules that require each

career school or college that offers a commercial driver’s

license training program to include as part of that program

education and training on the recognition and prevention of

human trafficking. The Commission must adopt rules no later

than December 1st of this year.

On August 22nd, the Commission approved

proposed rules for publication in the Texas Register. The

public comment period ended on October 9th, and no comments

were received. Staff seeks direction on adoption of the

Chapter 807, Career Schools and Colleges, rules as proposed.

And I'm happy to answer any questions.



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adoption of the rules relating to career schools and

colleges as recommended.


CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: We are unanimous. Thank

you.

MR. MULLINS: Thank you.

AGENDA ITEM NO. 19


Consideration and Possible Action Regarding Guidance on

Resource Utilization and Implementation of Services and

Strategies in Response to Hurricane Harvey. Good morning,

Tom.

MR. McCARTY: Good morning, Commissioners.

Tom McCarty, External Relations. Before you is the working

draft of the Hurricane Harvey Report for Tri-Agency. We

took some -- some of your feedback from the last Commission

meeting last week, have produced the document that was sent

out Friday to you. Yesterday's version included line

numbers on the left-hand side for easier tracking of this.

We can go through this by section if you'd like.

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: Commissioners, do you

have some general comments before we get into this?

COMM. HUGHS: Sure. Well, first of all,

thank you for continuing to -- to work on this. And I think

-- I won't speak for my fellow Commissioners, but I think we

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all agree that it's important to engage our sister agencies.

I know there were three of us, as far as Commissioner and

two on the other side, but I think it'll be important to

have their input on this report and would move that we

immediately engage them so that next week when we look at

this again, we'll have their input incorporated.

On veterans, I know I talked to Tom about if

the DD214 was only identifying construction related work,

then it accurately is reflected in the report what we're

doing because it's very specific to construction. If,

however, it's for Harvey impacted flagged work related items

beyond construction, then I think we need to be broader in

our description of the veteran outreach.

Similarly, we had some great -- we had a

great bullet on employers. That has gone away. So unless

my fellow Commissioners disagree, I'd kind of ask that that

be --

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: Sure.

COMM. HUGHS: -- reincorporated in there.

And I'm happy to work on language with that bullet. But I

wouldn’t want that to keep us from sharing, assuming we're

generally in agreement that this is kind of what it's going

to look like. We may add initiatives, but we want to make

sure our sister agency has -- the -- the education agencies

have also chimed in so that we can get closer to a final

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product.

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: And -- and so rather than

going through it today page by page, line by line, I think

the -- I think you're proposing that we send this over to

TEA and the Co. Board to get some additional feedback to get

their final thoughts in terms of the strategies that they

would -- that -- that would -- they've -- that they would

additionally to add. During this period, we'll keep working

on it -- on this as three -- as -- as an agency over here.

And I propose and submit and go over these

edits next week.

COMM. HUGHS: Sounds like we need to come

prepared to go line by line next Tuesday.

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: Yes.

COMM. HUGHS: That quiet Tuesday before

Thanksgiving.

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: And I think that would be

a good idea.

COMM. HUGHS: Can we do that or it's not a

policy week, right? We can do that on our standing item.

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: Yeah, let's do that.

COMM. HUGHS: Okay.

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: Let's do that.

Commissioner, anything else you want to add

in terms of guidance?

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COMM. ALVAREZ: So good recommendation. Tom,

great report. So this is good with the addition that

Commissioner Hughs referenced, I'm in total agreement with

that.

I see here on page 6 and 8, obviously, you

had room there for the additional public higher ed.

recommendations, so I know that that's where they're going

to be inserted. With that said, I look forward to, you

know, finalizing this very soon. But this is a really good

report, and I thank you and your team for putting it

together.

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: Okay. And so next week,

Tom, page by page, line by line, just you'll get concurrence

from all three, hopefully, on most of these. And you get

final edits, and so during this period, we can ask the other

two agencies to get us close to the final. That would be

great.

MR. McCARTY: Okay.

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: All right.

MR. McCARTY: Thank you.

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: And appreciate all the

good work.

COMM. ALVAREZ: Chairman, if I may add to --

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: Please do.

COMM. ALVAREZ: -- and so there's a -- you

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know, Tom, if you'd like to come by the offices, I have some

pages, like 4 and 5, that have either, you know, the

sentences are unfinished or misspelled words. I'd be more

than happy to send -- you know, send those to you. But it's

not many, like two or three of them but --

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: You want to give him the

line numbers, so we can start looking at that?

COMM. ALVAREZ: Well, I can do it right now,

if you'd like.

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: Yes, sir.

COMM. ALVAREZ: So I'm on page 4, line 5, it

says, Harvey then turned on Houston, so it sounds like

they're mad at them or something. But I put there, Harvey

then headed to Houston as a recommendation.

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: Sure.

COMM. ALVAREZ: And then the other one, Tom,

on page 5, line 11, it says there -- we start a sentence,

there was, and that's it. There was. And so just omitting

those two words. That's it. Other than that, great.


MR. McCARTY: Thank you.

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: Commissioner, anything

you want to give them in terms of guidance for now, where

you would like the edits to --

COMM. HUGHS: Maybe not for now, unless

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anyone else has views on whether we end up with specific

initiatives, or if we stay at this -- what is now

100,000-foot view.

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: So you want some more

specificity in a couple of areas.

COMM. HUGHS: Well, I think, ultimately,

we're going to end up with recommendations. I'm not sure

we're quite there with this. It's very general, I think on

purpose, so that it captures everything. But it may capture

nothing if we've gone too far, too high up.

MR. TEMPLE: My -- my thought would be the

next would be the response to the recommendations, and that

would be very detailed into what we did.

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: In the reports.

MR. TEMPLE: Here's the response, the -- the

reports --

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: The update, yeah.

MR. TEMPLE: -- the waivers, the -- the

things, the amount, you know, those type of things that --

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: And we might also

consider doing that in the submission letter, highlighting

some -- some of the things that we could do.

MR. TEMPLE: I -- yeah. I was thinking that

probably we knew this would be a living document, that

the -- the next would be -- this was the charge, then the

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responses relative to those strategies that -- that we laid

out.

COMM. HUGHS: And not all in this one

submissions.

MR. TEMPLE: Well, I would think -- I would

think they would have been a follow-up to this report as --

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: There will be because we

haven't allocated all the dollars, and we're going to go

after some additional funds.

MR. TEMPLE: Well, that -- that too. But

generally, so here's your report. Here's what you were told

to do. Now here -- here are the responses by the Tri-Agency

of what we did specifically, which will be much more

detailed. And I think would expect to be more detailed.

Commissioner Hughs, I would think what you

were thinking would be if we wanted to add would be actions

such as we did this, this, but not the long listing of such

-- you know, that we did actions such as this or such as

that. But I would think that the next piece that would be

expected in here would be, okay, there's your report. That

-- now, specifically what did you do to address each one of

these bullet points, which will be much more detailed.

COMM. HUGHS: Right. Yeah, and I'm using

this as a model because it was so well received, you know.

MR. TEMPLE: But since that time, we've had

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requests --

COMM. HUGHS: Yeah.

MR. TEMPLE: -- specifically what had we

done --

COMM. HUGHS: Exactly.

MR. TEMPLE: -- each one. So that's --

following the way that went and the requests that we

received from the Governor's Office, then we -- our next

document would be specifically the actions that we took as

the Tri-Agency related to this report, like we did that --

COMM. HUGHS: Okay.

MR. TEMPLE: -- using -- use -- I'm just

using our experience when that Tri-Agency came out, then the

next step was give us a report now of what you’ve done in --

in -- in detail.

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: If you could build a

chronology of the actions that we've taken that all kind of

detail, whether we include it here or have it as a basis for

any updates on the actions that we've taken, a one pager,

just secured, federal waiver or these different items

without getting into two pages, just a one page allocated --

MR. TEMPLE: Would you like that as an -- as

an -- I mean, it's not going to get every initiative, every

meeting, every initiative --

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: No, no, no, no.

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COMM. HUGHS: I think we'd like it as

something that helps us work on this report --

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: Yeah.

COMM. HUGHS: -- when we go through it in

great detail next week.

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: Yeah, just give it to us

in terms of context for everything that we've -- the actions

that have been taken, not necessarily for inclusion in the

report, but depending on how it's done, we might reconsider

that or use some of that in the body of a letter that we use

for submission to the Governor and to the Commission. All

right.

MR. TEMPLE: Okay.

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: So it's just a simple one

or two pager, just allocated 16.5 million to local Boards,

you know, those different things. All right.

MR. TEMPLE: Okay.

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: All right. Any further

discussion?

COMM. HUGHS: You can bring the -- and you

can bring the baby next week if you need to.

MR. TEMPLE: By the way, we -- we have a

name. Would you want to share the name?

MR. McCARTY: Yeah, yeah. The name -- the

name of the baby will be Julliard Rogelio (ph) McCarty.

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MR. TEMPLE: But we're going to call him

Mr. Chairman.

COMM. HUGHS: Lovely. We can start

practicing next Tuesday.

MR. McCARTY: Thank you, Commissioners.

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: See, I'm so glad it's

with Tom. All right. All right. Thank you. Appreciate

the good work.

AGENDA ITEM NO. 20


Consideration and Possible Action Regarding Approval of

Local Board Nominees, John Fuller.

MR. FULLER: Good morning, Mr. Chairman,

Commissioners, Mr. Temple. And for the record John Fuller,

Workforce Development. Commissioners, before you today, you

have nominees from the Capital Area, North Central -- North

Texas, Permian Basin and Texoma.



local Workforce Development Board nominees for Capital Area,

North Texas, Permian Basin and Texoma.


CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: We are unanimous. Thank

you, John.

MR. FULLER: Thank you.

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AGENDA ITEM NO. 21


Consideration and Possible Action Regarding State or Federal

Legislation.

MS. THIGPEN: Good morning, Chairman,

Commissioners. For the record I'm Katherine Thigpen with

Government Relations. The U.S. Senate Finance Committee is

marking up the Chairman's mark of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

this morning. As reported yesterday, among the amendments

that have been pre-filed is an amendment to permanently

extend the Work Opportunity Tax Credit. We are monitoring

the committee and will report back on any action that they

take. This concludes my remarks.

Do you have any questions?

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: Any questions?

COMM. HUGHS: Thank you.


MS. THIGPEN: Thank you, all.

AGENDA ITEM NO. 22

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: Item 22. Report and

Update by the Executive Director. Larry, what do you have

for us?

MR. TEMPLE: Mr. Chairman and Commissioners,

I just would like to in retro, looking at this plan and all

the work that's gone into it and just thinking about all of

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the actions that we have taken putting that list together in

my mind, and I really want to commend staff. I mean, not

only are we doing an outstanding job that has just put us as

a leader nationally, I mean, the day to day, their -- their

-- their day jobs, but also working on this.

And it's been an awful lot of time put in,

and I just want to thank everyone on staff that'd been

working on this and -- and getting their other work done as

well, so I just wanted to recognize them and thank them.

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: I would agree. I really

appreciate everyone's good work and also the work of our

local Boards and their partners.

COMM. ALVAREZ: I would like to say

something, Chairman, if I may.

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: Please, absolutely.

COMM. ALVAREZ: So this week, as you know,

the 13th through the 19th is National Apprenticeship Week,

and we'd like to celebrate it in Texas as Texas

Apprenticeship Week. I'd like to thank all of those who

have been helping us market this great training model

throughout the state.

There'll be proclamations, obviously, sent

out, but I wanted to thank Dezzy (ph), who's not here today,

who's in Houston, and all the other folks. But thank you

all for all you do, Anson and Courtney, Reagan and everyone

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who's a part of it. So I thank you and our office certainly

thanks you for that.


Commissioner Hughs?

COMM. HUGHS: Thank you.

AGENDA ITEM NO. 23

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: The Commission is now

going into Executive Session pursuant to Texas Government

Code 551.071(2) to seek the advice of its attorney as

privileged communications and to discuss the appointment --

appointment, employment, evaluation and reassignment of

duties of the executive director, internal auditor,

executive staff and other personnel pursuant to Government

Code 551.074(a)(1). Thank you.

(Off the Record 10:00 a.m. to 10:15 a.m.)

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: All right. It is 10:14;

we're back in session.

AGENDA ITEM NO. 25

CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: Do we have a motion to

adjourn?

COMM. HUGHS: I move that we adjourn.


CHAIRMAN ALCANTAR: We're adjourned. Thank

you. Have a good day.

(Proceedings concluded at 10:15 a.m.)

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C E R T I F I C A T E

STATE OF TEXAS )

COUNTY OF TRAVIS )

I, Kimberly C. McCright, Certified Vendor and

Notary in and for the State of Texas, do hereby certify that

the above-mentioned matter occurred as hereinbefore set out.

I FURTHER CERTIFY THAT the proceedings of such

were reported by me or under my supervision, later reduced

to typewritten form under my supervision and control and

that the foregoing pages are a full, true and correct

transcription of the original notes.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand

and seal this 21st day of November, 2017.

/s/ Kimberly C. McCright Kimberly C. McCright Certified Vendor and Notary Public Verbatim Reporting & Transcription, LLC 1322 Space Park Drive, Suite C165 Houston, Texas 77058 281.724.8600

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