AN ACT to appropriate funds for workforce development.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Commerce the nonrecurring sum of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) for the 2022‑2023 fiscal year to study methods for workforce development in eastern North Carolina. The Department may use the funds to hire one or more consultants for the purposes of completing the study required by this section. The study shall address, at a minimum, region‑specific means of increasing graduation rates with credentials that translate into employment opportunities and living wage earnings, sectoral partnerships with employers in critical industries, access to upskill and reskill opportunities, methods of responding to rapidly changing needs, encouraging and incentivizing employer efforts at skill‑building, and any other matters the Department determines will advance the goal of workforce development in the region. The Department shall report the results of this study, including any legislative recommendations, to the House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Natural and Economic Resources, the Senate Appropriations Committee on Natural and Economic Resources, and the Fiscal Research Division no later than December 1, 2022. Funds appropriated in this section do not revert but remain available to the Department for the purposes provided herein.

SECTION 2.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Community Colleges System Office the nonrecurring sum of forty‑one million five hundred thousand dollars ($41,500,000) for the 2022‑2023 fiscal year to be allocated to Pitt Community College for the construction of a new Center for Workforce Development and Innovation at the college.

SECTION 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law.