Lawmakers Propose “Green Jobs” Fund

A bill moving through the state legislature would set up a planning process for the state to encourage so-called “green jobs.”

Nashville Democrat Brenda Gilmore wants a state task force to quickly create a plan for environmentally friendly jobs. Her measure calls for the plan to be in place by September 1, 2010.

Gilmore says federal money for “green jobs” is imminent and her bill would create a fund to use those dollars.

“The Obama administration has targeted somewhere around, almost $2 billion dollars for green initiatives, and we believe if we can pull this task force together, that it will position Tennessee in a very … positive stance to pull down some of those federal funds.”

The task force would concentrate on urban and rural areas with chronic unemployment, and communities with a poverty rate of at least 15 percent.

The bill is sponsored in the state Senate by Murfreesboro Republican Bill Ketron.

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The prospective task force is supposed to report by September 1, 2010.

The “green jobs” envisioned fall into the area of renewable energy and such areas as making existing housing more energy-efficient.

But the crucial, bookkeeping part of the bill creates an account to hold money, just in case the federal government sends some “green jobs” money to Tennessee sometime this year.

Although the bill is short on detail about the jobs plan itself, Gilmore says the initiative will be targeted on specific populations, found in widely dispersed communities across the state.

“This is an initiative that is reaching out to our rural communities, as well as some of our …cities, counties. It’s reaching out to Republicans as well as Democrats, and it’s trying to employ the under-served and the most difficult to hire. It will be addressing young people, college students, single moms, people who have been recently incarcerated – those are communities particularly that have an extremely high unemployment.”

The bill outlines “wraparound services” to be offered to the target audience that participates in green jobs training programs, like child care, tuition, materials needed for training, counseling and mentoring services, internships and job placement programs, and assistance with driver’s license restoration and other transportation assistance.

In the Senate, the bill is co-sponsored by Bill Ketron, a Republican from Murfreesboro. Gilmore’s co-sponsor in the House is Mike Stewart, another Nashville Democrat.

The bill is HB 3654 Stewart/SB 3120 Berke.

Legislative staff has summarized the bill.

Note in the paragraph that begins “This bill creates a green jobs fund…” the bill lists money that would be used from the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) funds. The summary says “Additional dollars may include other federal transfers…”

That’s the reference to the prospective Obama administration green jobs programs that Gilmore alludes to.

Gilmore says the bill sets up a “trust fund” to hold that money, if it materializes.