The Washington state evergreen jobs initiative is established as a comprehensive green economy jobs growth initiative with the goals of:

(1) Creating fifteen thousand new green economy jobs by 2020, with a target of thirty percent of those jobs going to veterans, members of the national guard, and low-income and disadvantaged populations;

(2) Capturing and deploying federal funds in a focused, effective, and coordinated manner;

(3) Preparing the state's workforce to take full advantage of green economy job opportunities and to meet the recruitment and training needs of industry and small businesses;

(4) Attracting private sector investment that will create new and expand existing jobs, with an emphasis on services and products that have a high economic or environmental impact and can be exported domestically and internationally;

(5) Making Washington state a net exporter of green industry products and services, with special attention to renewable energy technology and components;

(6) Empowering local agencies and organizations to recruit green economy businesses and jobs into the state by providing state support and assistance;

(7) Capitalizing on existing partnership agreements in the Washington works plan and the Washington workforce compact; and

(8) Operating in concert with the fourteen guiding principles identified by the department in its Washington state's green economy strategic framework.

Short title—2009 c 536: "This act may be known and cited as the evergreen jobs act." [ 2009 c 536 s 15.]