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Gov. Mike Braun is reinstating a statewide body to oversee Indiana’s workforce development initiatives and realign with federal law.
On Tuesday, Braun signed an executive order to reconstitute the Indiana Workforce Development Board, which was dissolved earlier this year. In a press release, the Governor’s Office said the new board will act as “a central coordinating body to align employers, education and training providers, and state agencies around measurable workforce outcomes.”
The workforce development board will be made up of Braun appointees, labor union representatives, local government representatives and two members selected by state legislative leaders. The Governor’s Office said members will reflect large and small businesses as well as rural, suburban and urban communities.
“We will use the Indiana Workforce Development Board to bring together an elite team of job creators and workforce development experts to help create new opportunities and bigger paychecks for Hoosier workers,” Braun said in a written statement.
Braun has not announced his appointments for the board. Tuesday’s executive order says the Indiana Workforce Development Board will advise the governor and Secretary of Commerce on statewide workforce development programs and initiatives. Department of Workforce Development, or DWD, staff will provide support to the board.
The DWD is made up of a central Indiana office and 12 regional workforce development boards. It’s unclear as of Tuesday how those regional boards will interact with the state board.
The decision to reinstate the Indiana Workforce Development Board is necessary to put the state in compliance with federal law that requires states to have a “one-stop shop” board that provides career training services and data and oversees workforce development, according to the Governor’s Office. The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act requires states to have such boards to receive federal workforce development grants.
Indiana’s workforce development board has undergone multiple transformations in the past decade. Prior to 2018, the state had a Workforce Innovation Council to coordinate statewide workforce efforts.
That year, then-Gov. Eric Holcomb and Republican lawmakers created a 21-member board called the Governor’s Workforce Cabinet to oversee the state’s job-training programs, while broadening eligibility requirements for some worker training grants.
The Governor’s Workforce Cabinet had broader powers and the board’s makeup shifted to more gubernatorial appointees, which required Holcomb to seek a federal waiver.
In the most recent legislative session, a provision dissolving the Governor’s Workforce Cabinet was included as part of the biennial budget bill. The cabinet ceased operations July 1.
The release does not say when the new Workforce Development Board will begin operating.
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