In the most bipartisan manner since the start of session, legislators Thursday announced a package of 10 bills on workforce development, ranging from internships to assistance with student loan payments and helping the unemployed find jobs.

More than two dozen legislators from both chambers and both sides of the aisle were on hand to announce the package; some bills are already in the process of moving through the legislature while others are not yet introduced.

Senate President Bill Cadman, R-Colorado Springs, said Republicans believe the legislature has a responsibility “to do our part in bridging the gap between the education world and employment world.”

One bill has already made it through the General Assembly and is awaiting the governor’s signature. Senate Bill 15-082, known as “Bright Future Colorado,” will allow counties to establish their own workforce development programs, using incentives such as county property tax credits. Counties can also take donations to fund the program. Under the bill, county residents could receive financial assistance to pursue postsecondary or technical education.

The bill is sponsored by Sens. Vicki Marble, R-Fort Collins, and Mary Hodge, D-Brighton; and Reps. Dominick Moreno, D-Commerce City, and Polly Lawrence, R-Littleton.

House Bill 15-1170 is awaiting action from House Appropriations. It passed the House Education Committee last week. It’s sponsored by Reps. Tracy Kraft-Tharp, D-Arvada, and Jim Wilson, R-Salida; and Sens. Rollie Heath, D-Boulder, and Owen Hill, R-Colorado Springs. The bill would create the position of postsecondary and workforce readiness statewide coordinator in the Department of Labor and Employment. That person would then work with a variety of education, business and industry groups and the state’s workforce development council to raise the postsecondary and workforce readiness of high school graduates.

HB 1227 will be heard by the House Finance Committee on March 11. The bill, sponsored by Heath and Rep. KC Becker, D-Boulder, would grant an income tax credit to employers who help their employees pay off student loans. The employee must obtain an associate or bachelor’s degree in STEM (science, technology, engineering, math), or a vocational certificate related to industry, manufacturing or information technology from a Colorado institution of higher education. New employees must be Colorado residents, work full-time and earn less than $60,000 per year. The credit must be approved by the Colorado Office of Economic Development, and the employer must commit to paying 50 percent of the student loan payment directly to the lender for each year of the credit.

Heath is a sponsor of many of the bills in the package. He told the audience that workforce development has been his passion for 27 years. “Quality of life begins with a good job,” he said.

Heath noted that he had problems finding qualified workers for good-paying jobs back in 1988, and concluded that young people were getting an all-or-nothing message: either a four-year college degree or nothing. “It was clear to me we needed to change this message. This is a huge step in that direction.”

Heath said thousands of jobs in Colorado are going unfilled because the state doesn’t have the skilled workforce for them, adding that he hoped the package will help produce a workforce better educated in the specific skills sought by many businesses, able to launch successful careers or retool to enter the next phase of their careers. “Each of these bills move us in the right direction and address a different facet of the problem,” he said.

House Majority Leader Crisanta Duran, D-Denver, said the package is intended to address workforce development needs across the state. She said specifically that the legislation will expand the use of mobile learning labs by community colleges allowing the colleges to deliver training programs to employees where they work. The bill, which has not been introduced, will be sponsored by Reps. Millie Hamner, D-Dillon, and Susan Lontine, D-Denver; and Sens. Marble, and Kerry Donovan, D-Vail.

A list of the other bills in the package was not immediately available.

— Marianne@coloradostatesman.com