House panel backs job training funding

A New Hampshire House committee has given the green light to a bill aimed at restoring the state’s Job Training Fund.

The House Labor, Industrial and Rehabilitative Services Committee voted to support Senate Bill 97, which would appropriate $1 million a year from the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund to pay for job training initiatives.

SB 97 has already been approved unanimously in the Senate, and Gov. John Lynch has voiced his support for reviving the fund.

“Our workers – and the companies that employ them – must continually master new skills and new technologies to compete globally,” Lynch said in a statement after the House committee’s vote. “We can help our businesses and their employees get the training they need by reestablishing the Job Training Fund. The Job Training Fund allows us to partner with companies to train New Hampshire workers for available jobs.”

Lynch called the measure an “important piece of legislation.”

The bill provides funding for job training from the administrative portion of the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund and is not tied to the size of the fund’s surplus. Companies are required to provide an equal match for any grant they receive. – JEFF FEINGOLD