SB 777

WES MOORE, Governor  Ch. 298
Chapter 298
  (Senate Bill 777)
AN ACT concerning
    Labor and Employment – Workforce Development – Hospital Employee
  Retraining and Placement Program and Workforce Development and Local
  Workforce Development Boards
  (Local Workforce Solutions Investment Act)
FOR the purpose of altering the program the Maryland Department of Labor is required to
     establish for the retraining and placement of certain hospital employees; requiring
     the Maryland Department of Labor to allocate money from the Hospital Employees
     Retraining Fund to local workforce development boards under certain
     circumstances; altering certain workforce development programs to require
     inclusion of local workforce development boards; requiring, if funding is available,
     the Department to provide funding to a local workforce development board as part
     of the State’s quick response program for certain reductions in operations; requiring
     local workforce development boards to provide grants to employers under the
     Apprenticeship Career Training in Our Neighborhoods Program; and generally
     relating to workforce development in the State.
BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments,
      Article – Labor and Employment
      Section 11–201, 11–304, 11–305(a), 11–601(d), and 11–1405(d)
      Annotated Code of Maryland
      (2025 Replacement Volume)
BY repealing and reenacting, without amendments,
      Article – Labor and Employment
      Section 11–303, 11–601(a) through (c) and (e), and 11–1403
      Annotated Code of Maryland
      (2025 Replacement Volume)
      SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND,
That the Laws of Maryland read as follows:
  Article – Labor and Employment
11–201.
      (a)    The Department shall establish a program for the retraining and placement
of hospital employees who are unemployed or who may become unemployed as a result of
the closing, AND delicensing, downsizing, or possible downsizing of a hospital or the
merging of hospitals under § 19–325 of the Health – General Article.
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     (b)    The Secretary and the Secretary of Health shall adopt regulations to
implement this section.
       (c)      (1)   There is a Hospital Employees Retraining Fund.
  (2)   The Fund shall be used:
  [(1)] (I)    for the purposes described in this section; and
  [(2)] (II)   to pay any and all expenses of the Department in administering
this section.
       (D)IF A CLOSING, AND DELICENSING, DOWNSIZING, OR POSSIBLE
DOWNSIZING OF A HOSPITAL, OR THE MERGING OF HOSPITALS DESCRIBED IN
SUBSECTION (A) OF THIS SECTION OCCURS, THE DEPARTMENT SHALL ALLOCATE
MONEY FROM THE FUND TO THE LOCAL WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT BOARD IN THE
COUNTY OR REGION AFFECTED.
       [(d)] (E)  Any unexpended funds remaining in the Hospital Employees
Retraining Fund at the end of the fiscal year may not revert to the General Fund of the
State.
11–303.
       There shall be a quick response program to provide both employers and employees
with services to assist in mitigating the impact on employees that occurs with a reduction
in operations.
11–304.
       (a)      The State’s quick response program is under the direction of the Secretary.
       (b)   (1)  The Secretary in cooperation with the Workforce Development Board
shall develop mandatory guidelines for employers faced with a reduction in operations.
  (2)   The guidelines developed under paragraph (1) of this subsection shall
include:
  (i)   subject to § 11–305 of this subtitle, a written notice that an
employer expects to terminate employees due to a reduction in operations;
  (ii)   the continuation of benefits, such as health, severance, and
pension, that an employer should provide to employees who will be terminated due to a
reduction in operations; or
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  WES MOORE, Governor  Ch. 298
  (iii) the specific mechanisms that employers can use to ask for the
assistance of the State’s quick response program.
      (c)    (1) The Department shall maintain the capacity to provide employment
and training services through the quick response program.
  (2)    This capacity shall include[, but not be limited to]:
  [(1)] (I)   on–site unemployment insurance bulk claims registration: for
incidents where 25 or more workers are laid off at 1 time, taking initial unemployment
insurance claims at the employee’s place of business;
  [(2)] (II)     registration for federal Trade Readjustment Act services: if the
business closing is due to foreign competition, assisting workers in seeking federal training
benefits and additional unemployment insurance compensation benefits;
  [(3)] (III) provision of labor market and retraining information: in
conjunction with local [service providers] WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT BOARDS,
providing both local labor market information and retraining information that can assist
the workers to obtain reemployment [and/or] OR retraining;
  [(4)] (IV) job placement services: through the regular office services or
through special on–site services, providing a range of job placement services utilizing the
“job bank”;
  [(5)] (V)      job seeking and finding information: providing 1–day workshops
to assist job seekers in learning how to seek and secure jobs; or
  [(6)] (VI) referral to retraining opportunities: through LOCAL
WORKFORCE        DEVELOPMENT BOARDS, liaisons with the private industry
[councils/service] COUNCILS OR SERVICE delivery areas, and the community college
network, providing referrals for dislocated workers for retraining opportunities.
     (D) TO THE EXTENT FUNDING IS AVAILABLE, THE DEPARTMENT SHALL
PROVIDE FUNDING TO THE LOCAL WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT BOARD IN THE
AFFECTED COUNTY OR REGION FOR DIRECT DEPLOYMENT TO SERVE WORKERS
AFFECTED BY A REDUCTION IN OPERATIONS.
      [(d)] (E)     (1) The Department shall distribute the reduction in operations
guidelines to all employers in the State every 2 years.
  (2)    The distribution shall begin no later than July 1, 1986.
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 Ch. 298  2026 LAWS OF MARYLAND
      [(e)] (F)     The Department shall monitor layoff and employment patterns and
payments of unemployment compensation contributions to identify employers that are
likely to experience large losses in employment or a reduction in operations.
       [(f)] (G)    If the Department identifies an employer that is likely to experience
large losses in employment or a reduction in operations, the Department shall
confidentially contact the employer and offer the assistance of the Department in providing
alternative employment and retraining opportunities, including coordinating the delivery
of available State and federal resources and services.
       [(g)] (H)    The Secretary shall adopt regulations to implement the provisions of
this subtitle.
11–305.
      (a)    (1) Except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, an employer shall
provide written notice at least 60 days before initiating a reduction in operations to:
  [(1)] (I)     all employees at the workplace that are subject to the reduction
in operations;
  [(2)] (II)  each exclusive representative or bargaining agency that
represents the employees at the workplace that are subject to the reduction in operations;
  [(3)] (III) individuals who work less than 20 hours on average each week
or have worked for the employer for less than 6 months in the immediately preceding 12
months at the workplace that is subject to the reduction in operations;
  [(4)] (IV)    the Division’s dislocated worker unit; and
  [(5) (i)] (V)      1.     the chief elected official of the political subdivision
where the workplace that is subject to the reduction in operations is located; or
  [(ii)] 2.      if the workplace is located in more than one political
subdivision, the chief elected official of the political subdivision to which the employer paid
the most taxes for the fiscal year immediately preceding the year in which the reduction in
operations occurs.
  (2)
  IF THE DIVISION’S DISLOCATED WORKER UNIT RECEIVES NOTICE
UNDER PARAGRAPH (1)(IV) OF THIS SUBSECTION, THE UNIT SHALL FORWARD THE
NOTICE TO THE LOCAL WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT BOARD IN THE POLITICAL
SUBDIVISION WHERE THE WORKPLACE THAT IS SUBJECT TO THE REDUCTION IS
LOCATED.
11–601.
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      (a)    In this section, “ACTION Program” means the Apprenticeship Career
Training in Our Neighborhoods Program established under this section.
       (b)  There is an Apprenticeship Career Training in Our Neighborhoods Program
in the Department.
      (c)      The purposes of the ACTION Program are:
  (1)    to develop a well–trained, productive construction workforce which
meets the needs of the State’s economy;
  (2)   to encourage employers to hire apprentices in the construction industry;
and
  (3)   to help employers offset additional costs, if any, associated with hiring
apprentices.
      (d)      (1)   (I)    The Department shall administer the ACTION Program [and]
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH LOCAL WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT BOARDS.
  (II) LOCAL WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT BOARDS SHALL provide
grants [on a competitive basis] to employers that meet the requirements under paragraph
(2) of this subsection.
  (2)    An employer is eligible to receive a grant if the employer employs one
or more apprentices who:
  (i)    have been employed by the employer for at least 7 months;
  (ii)   are engaged in a building or construction trade;
  (iii) are enrolled in the first year of an apprenticeship program
registered with the Maryland Apprenticeship and Training Council under § 11–405(b) of
this title; and
  (iv) live in a zip code in which the percentage of poverty is at least
20% as established by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, in the
most recently released data.
      (e)     (1)   As provided in the State budget, the ACTION Program shall award
grants to eligible employers.
  (2)   It is the intent of the General Assembly that, for fiscal year 2017 and
each fiscal year thereafter, the State budget include an appropriation of at least $100,000
for the ACTION Program to:
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Ch. 298  2026 LAWS OF MARYLAND
  (i)    provide grants to eligible employers; and
  (ii)   cover administrative costs.
11–1403.
       (a)   The purpose of the Program is to provide matching grants to eligible entities
to create and expand on successful recruitment and retention strategies that address the
range of potential barriers to increasing the number of direct care workers.
     (b)    The goal of the Program is to ensure the availability of trained direct care
workers across the State.
11–1405.
      (d)   The Division shall encourage each eligible entity receiving a matching grant
under the Program, in developing and carrying out a project, to consult with:
  (1)    institutions of higher education;
  (2)    the Maryland Department of Health;
  (3)      [one–stop career centers] LOCAL WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
BOARDS; and
  (4)   organizations with expertise in the needs of women, racial minorities,
immigrants, and the impoverished.
      SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall take effect
October 1, 2026.
Approved by the Governor, April 28, 2026.
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