BILL NUMBER: AB 2636 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 29, 2012
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Furutani
FEBRUARY 24, 2012
An act to amend Section 3075 3099.4
of the Labor Code, relating to employment.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2636, as amended, Furutani. Apprenticeship.
Electricians: registration fees.
Existing law requires individuals who perform work as electricians
to become certified. An uncertified person may perform electrical
work for which certification is required, however, if the person is
registered with the Division of Apprenticeship Standards, has
completed or is enrolled in an approved curriculum of classroom
instruction, and the person's employer attests that the person is
under the direct supervision of a certified electrician who is
responsible for supervising no more than one uncertified person. The
division is required to establish registration fees, not to exceed
$25, necessary to implement this provision.
This bill would exempt a veteran, as defined, from the payment of
this fee.
Existing law provides for the establishment of apprenticeship
programs in various trades, to be approved by the Chief of the
Division of Apprenticeship Standards of the Department of Industrial
Relations in any trade in the state or in a city or trade area
whenever the apprentice training needs justify the establishment.
Existing law provides that the apprentice training needs in the
building and construction trades shall be deemed to justify a new
apprentice program only if one or more specified conditions are met.
This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to these
provisions of law.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no
yes . State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 3099.4 of the Labor
Code is amended to read:
3099.4. (a) After the deadline for certification, an uncertified
person may perform electrical work for which certification is
required under Section 3099 in order to acquire the necessary
on-the-job experience for certification, if all of the following
requirements are met:
(1) The person is registered with the Division of Apprenticeship
Standards. A list of current registrants shall be maintained by the
division and made available to the public upon request.
(2) The person either has completed or is enrolled in an approved
curriculum of classroom instruction.
(3) The employer attests that the person shall be under the direct
supervision of an electrician certified pursuant to Section 3099 who
is responsible for supervising no more than one uncertified person.
An employer who is found by the division to have failed to provide
adequate supervision may be barred by the division from employing
uncertified individuals pursuant to this section in the future.
(b) For purposes of this section, an "approved curriculum of
classroom instruction" means a curriculum of classroom instruction
approved by the electrician certification curriculum committee
established pursuant to paragraph (6) of subdivision (a) of Section
3099 and provided under the jurisdiction of the State Department of
Education, the Board of Governors of the California Community
Colleges, or the Bureau for Private Postsecondary and
Vocational Education.
(c) The curriculum committee may grant approval to an educational
provider that presently offers only a partial curriculum if the
educational provider intends in the future to offer, or to cooperate
with other educational providers to offer, a complete curriculum for
the type of certification involved. The curriculum committee may
require an educational provider receiving approval for a partial
curriculum to periodically renew its approval with the curriculum
committee until a complete curriculum is offered and approved. A
partial curriculum means a combination of classes that do not include
all classroom educational components of the complete curriculum for
one of the categories of certification established in accordance with
subdivision (c) of Section 3099.2.
(d) An educational provider that receives approval for a partial
curriculum must shall disclose in all
communications to students and to the public that the educational
provider has only received approval for a partial curriculum and
shall not make any representations that the provider offers a
complete approved curriculum of classroom instruction as established
by subparagraph (A) of paragraph (6) of subdivision (a) of Section
3099.
(e) For purposes of this section, a person is "enrolled" in an
approved curriculum of classroom instruction if the person is
attending classes on a full-time or part-time basis toward the
completion of an approved curriculum.
(f) Registration under this section shall be renewed annually and
the registrant shall provide to the division certification of the
classwork completed and on-the-job experience acquired since the
prior registration.
(g) For purposes of verifying the information provided by a person
registered with the division, an educational provider of an approved
curriculum of classroom instruction shall, upon the division's
request, provide the division with information regarding the
enrollment status and instruction completed by a person registered.
By registering with the division in accordance with this section, a
person consents to the release of this information.
(h) (1) The division shall establish
registration fees necessary to implement this section, not to exceed
twenty-five dollars ($25) for the initial registration. There shall
be no fee for annual renewal of registration. Fees collected are
continuously appropriated in an amount sufficient to administer this
section and that amount may be expended by the division for this
purpose.
(2) The division shall not impose the fee described in this
subdivision on a veteran, as defined in Section 3076.5.
(i) The division shall issue regulations to implement this
section.
(j) For purposes of Section 1773, persons employed pursuant to
this section do not constitute a separate craft, classification, or
type of worker.
(k) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an uncertified
person who has completed an approved curriculum of classroom
instruction and is currently registered with the division may take
the certification examination. The person shall be certified upon
passing the examination and satisfactorily completing the requisite
number of on-the-job hours required for certification. A person who
passes the examination prior to completing the requisite hours of
on-the-job experience shall continue to comply with subdivision (f).
SECTION 1. Section 3075 of the Labor Code is
amended to read:
3075. (a) An apprenticeship program may be administered by a
joint apprenticeship committee, unilateral management or labor
apprenticeship committee, or an individual employer. Programs may be
approved by the Chief of the Division of Apprenticeship Standards in
any trade in the state or in a city or trade area, whenever the
apprentice training needs justify the establishment. If a collective
bargaining agreement exists, a program shall be jointly sponsored
unless either party to the agreement waives its right to
representation in writing. Joint apprenticeship committees shall be
composed of an equal number of employer and employee representatives.
(b) For purposes of this section, the apprentice training needs in
the building and construction trades shall be deemed to justify the
approval of a new apprenticeship program only if any of the following
conditions are met:
(1) There is no existing apprenticeship program approved under
this chapter serving the same craft or trade and geographic area.
(2) Existing apprenticeship programs approved under this chapter
that serve the same craft or trade and geographic area do not have
the capacity, or neglect or refuse, to dispatch sufficient
apprentices to qualified employers at a public works site who are
willing to abide by the applicable apprenticeship standards.
(3) Existing apprenticeship programs approved under this chapter
that serve the same trade and geographic area have been identified by
the California Apprenticeship Council as deficient in meeting their
obligations under this chapter.
(c) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), the California Apprenticeship
Council may approve a new apprenticeship program if special
circumstances, as established by regulation, justify the
establishment of the program.