Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy (R-LA) introduced two related bills aimed at strengthening Registered Apprenticeship Programs (RAPs) this week. The introduction of this legislation coincides with the start of National Apprenticeship Week (NAW), which continues through May 2.
- The first bill, the Apprenticeship Data Value Improvements to Create Employment (ADVICE) Act, co-authored by Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), would establish a federal advisory committee to recommend improvements for how states and sponsors collect and analyze apprenticeship outcomes such as pay, retention, and program completion. The task force would provide recommendations to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to implement future reforms on these topics.
- The second bill, the Streamlining Timely Apprenticeship Registration and Transparency (START) Act, co-authored by Sen. Jim Banks (R-KS), seeks to accelerate and improve the underlying registration process for establishing and implementing RAPs. The START Act would also codify a number of preexisting regulatory definitions and related processes for RAPs in statute, establish decision timelines for the DOL and State Apprenticeship Agencies (SAAs), and create a new $150 million annual formula grant program for states. Specifically, the START ACT would require that registration decisions be made within 90 days for complete program standards and within 30 days for feedback on incomplete submissions, with DOL required to publicly report average response times each month. The new state grant program would allocate funds based on state population and apprentice counts, with a $1 million per-state floor and a 50 percent state match. Allowable uses would include technical assistance to sponsors, training costs, outreach, defraying the costs of apprentice wages, and employer incentives such as pay-for-performance models. States that miss registration deadlines or related timeline requirements would see proportional reductions in the following year’s award. Additional provisions of the START Act would codify existing limits on State Apprenticeship Council authority and require public posting of state reciprocity and standards processes.
Contact Congress
NAWB is tracking both bills closely and welcomes member feedback on any aspect of the proposals. You can also share information with Congress about the Apprenticeships your board supports. Use Our Template Letter on Apprenticeship.
Our Takeaways
For the public workforce system, the most consequential elements are the proposed federal investment in apprenticeship expansion, the explicit allowance for apprentice wage subsidies, and the performance-based registration incentives. The bills largely envision states administering these dollars through their State Apprenticeship Agencies, which may raise practical questions in states where the federal Office of Apprenticeship serves these functions.
Studying Barriers to Apprenticeship
Cassidy is also requesting the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct a study on removing barriers to create new apprenticeship programs. We invite NAWB members to share with us insights on this topic.
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