The Employment Training Panel on May 30 approved roughly 30 employer training contracts totaling millions of dollars and took votes to update program guidelines and one existing college contract.

The panel, chaired by Rebecca Bettencourt, approved each award by roll call vote and placed two guideline revisions — veterans guidelines and the renamed Justice‑Involved/Opportunity Youth guidelines — on the record for immediate effect. Panel members also adopted an amendment to Butte‑Glenn Community College District’s active contract to reallocate trainees and authorize a retroactive reimbursement date.

Why it matters: The panel’s routine approvals maintain the flow of state funding into on‑the‑job and classroom training for manufacturers, health providers, small businesses, agriculture employers and workforce boards across California. Several projects included follow‑up directions from panel members, such as requests for clearer curriculum descriptions, more precise wage‑progression data and limits or clarifications on productive‑lab hours in life‑sciences projects.

Votes at a glance (selected approvals recorded May 30, 2025)
- Collins Electrical Company, Inc. — ET25‑0281; $590,632; 398 trainees; training at Stockton, Modesto, Fresno, Livermore, Marina, West Sacramento. Motion: approve; outcome: adopted (roll call: Douglas Tracy, Jennifer Fothergill, Mike Hill, Gretchen Newsom, Rebecca Bettencourt, Ricky Smiles, Mike Greenlee, Derek Kirk all voted yes).
- ESL Power Systems, Inc. — ET25‑0291; $103,040; 92 trainees; training in Corona. Motion: approve; outcome: adopted (all present voted yes).
- La Tapatia Tortilleria, Inc. — ET25‑0279; $171,808; 118 trainees; training in Fresno and McClellan Park. Motion: approve; outcome: adopted (all present voted yes).
- San Marino Gardens Wellness Center LP (DBA Pasadena Park Healthcare) — $604,800; 270 trainees; Pasadena and affiliates in North Hollywood, Highland, Montecito and Los Angeles. Motion: approve; outcome: adopted.
- Senior Operations LLC (DBA Senior Aerospace SSP) — ET25‑0267; $479,668; 463 trainees; Burbank. Motion: approve; outcome: adopted.
- The Brownie Baker, Inc. — $87,696; 108 trainees; Fresno locations. Motion: approve; outcome: adopted.
- Wing Inflatables, Inc. — ET25‑0284; $313,600; 140 trainees; Arcata (critical designation). Motion: approve; outcome: adopted.
- Brewer Crane LLC (DBA Brewer Crane & Rigging) — $98,000; 70 trainees; San Diego. Motion: approve; outcome: adopted.
- CP Manufacturing, Inc. — $248,976; ~171 trainees; San Diego. Motion: approve; outcome: adopted.
- iBaseT, Inc. — $89,040; 53 trainees; Lake Forest. Motion: approve; outcome: adopted.
- LifeGenerations Healthcare LLC (DBA Generations Healthcare) — $439,040; ~490 trainees. Motion: approve; outcome: adopted.
- Precision Fluid Controls, Inc. — $218,400; 130 trainees; Placer & Sacramento counties. Motion: approve; outcome: adopted.
- Styr Foods LLC — originally requested $560,000; panel voted to fund at a reduced/adjusted amount up to $460,000 to reflect hours and performance expectations; outcome: adopted (motion carried with the reduced ceiling).
- San Diego Union‑Tribune LLC — $110,400; 115 trainees; San Diego. Motion: approve; outcome: adopted (vote taken after brief break/roll‑call of members present).
- True Organic Products, Inc. — $570,024; 261 trainees; Monterey/Hanford/Helm. Motion: approve; outcome: adopted with a condition that the contractor update curriculum listings to show training progression by tiers.
- BioMarin Pharmaceutical, Inc. — $599,760; 357 trainees; Marin County. Motion: approve; outcome: adopted with a panel direction to reduce the average productive‑lab hours to no more than 30 per trainee and to revise the productive‑lab curriculum to clarify what content is floor‑based productive work vs. simulated/classroom lab.
- Crisp Company — $452,200; 190 trainees; multiple counties (Alameda, Fresno, San Bernardino, San Joaquin, Ventura, Yolo). Motion: approve; outcome: adopted.
- Clark Western‑Dietrich Building Systems LLC — $431,200; 280 trainees (Woodland, Carlsbad, Riverside). Motion: approve; outcome: adopted.
- L & S Framing, Inc. — $206,640; 180 trainees. Motion: approve; outcome: adopted.
- Motivo Engineering LLC — $151,200; 90 trainees. Motion: approve; outcome: adopted.
- PTI Technologies, Inc. — $228,340; 233 trainees; Oxnard. Motion: approve; outcome: adopted.
- Synergy Enterprises, Inc. (DBA Synergy Companies) — $289,800; 207 trainees; multiple locations. Motion: approve; outcome: adopted.
- Vision Care Center Medical Group, Inc. — $95,844; 163 trainees; Fresno/Clovis/Selma locations. Motion: approve; outcome: adopted.
- Fourth Watch Educational Services (DBA Machinist Career College) — $848,750; ~350 trainees; multiple southern California employers. Motion: approve; outcome: adopted.
- San Francisco Workforce Development Board (CityBuild Academy) — $482,300; ~65 pre‑apprentice trainees preparing for construction trades apprenticeship. Motion: approve; outcome: adopted.
- Coast King Packing LLC (DBA Coastview/Queen Victoria/Ippolito International LP) — $589,680; ~390 trainees; Gonzales & Salinas (agriculture initiative). Motion: approve; outcome: adopted.
- Mann Packing Co., Inc. — $193,104; 149 trainees; Gonzales. Motion: approve; outcome: adopted.

Contract amendments and policy decisions
- Butte‑Glenn Community College District — Amendment 2 to ET24‑0136 approved. The panel approved reallocation of training slots between jobs and a request for a retroactive reimbursement date of March 1, 2024, to recognize rapid‑response work tied to wildfire mitigation and emergency cleanup. Outcome: adopted.
- Veterans guidelines (revised) — panel approved revisions that include editorial cleanup, removal of retired program references, and an explicit funding priority and highest reimbursement rate for projects with a veteran component. Outcome: adopted.
- Justice‑Involved/Opportunity Youth guidelines (formerly "ex‑offender and at‑risk youth") — panel approved renaming and policy updates, including allowing life‑skills instruction (up to 50% of curriculum), adjusting what counts as full‑time work for the group, and a process to request alternative wage treatments with panel approval. Outcome: adopted.

What the panel asked contractors to fix or clarify
Panel members repeatedly pressed applicants to: (1) make curriculum lists match the project description (show exactly where new curriculum items appear); (2) provide explicit wage‑progression numbers (percent or dollar increases) and employer fringe‑benefit contributions; and (3) narrow and clarify productive‑lab entries for life‑sciences contractors so the panel could distinguish floor‑production time from simulated/classroom lab time. Several contractors agreed to return with clarifying edits or to accept panel ceiling adjustments (for example Styr Foods and BioMarin).

Speakers and attributions
Speakers on the record included ETP Executive Director Jessica Grimes, Assistant Director and Chief Counsel Kumani Armstrong, Assistant Director/Chief Program Operations Laura Campbell, Ilya Launitz (workforce literacy lead), Nancy Tran (data analytics), and dozens of company representatives who presented proposals. Direct quotes in the minutes were supplied at the meeting by project representatives and the executive team; all votes were taken by roll call and recorded in the meeting transcript.

Next steps
Approved contracts now move to final paperwork for award and scheduling of training. Contractors asked to revise curricula or provide further wage/fringe detail will return those modifications to ETP staff for review and, when required by the panel, for formal contract amendments.