BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
Senator Tony Mendoza, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 1308 Hearing Date: June 10,
2015
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|Author: |Perea |
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|Version: |February 27, 2015 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Gideon Baum |
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Subject: Apprenticeship programs: approval.
KEY ISSUE
Should the Legislature strengthen and expand the requirements
for approving new apprenticeship programs?
ANALYSIS
Existing law provides a framework for promoting and developing
apprenticeship training through the California Apprenticeship
Council (CAC) and the Division of Apprenticeship Standards (DAS)
within the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR). DAS
enforces apprenticeship standards for, among other things,
working conditions, classroom instruction and the specific
skills required for state certification as a journeyperson in an
apprentice occupation.
Existing law requires that all apprenticeship programs be
approved by the Chief of the Division of Apprenticeship
Standards. Existing law empowers the Chief to approve
apprenticeship programs in any trade anywhere in the state,
including cities and trade areas, if the apprentice training
needs justify the creation of a program. However, in order for
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the Chief to approve an apprenticeship program in the building
and construction trades, any of the following "needs-based"
conditions must be met:
1) There is no existing apprenticeship program serving the
same craft or trade and geographic area;
2) Existing apprenticeship programs 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.
(Labor Code §3075)
Existing law requires that, for public works projects in excess
of $30,000, the contractor utilize apprentices for
apprenticeable crafts or trades. Prior to commencing work, the
contractor may apply to any apprenticeship program in the craft
or trade that can provide apprentices to the site of the public
work. The apprenticeship program or programs, upon approving
the contractor, must arrange for the dispatch of apprentices to
the contractor. (Labor Code §1777.5)
Existing law requires the ratio of work performed by apprentices
to journeymen employed in a particular craft or trade on the
public work may be no less than the ratio of one hour of
apprentice work for five hours of journeyman work , and no higher
than the ratio stipulated in the apprenticeship standards under
which the apprenticeship program operates.
(Labor Code §1777.5)
This bill would:
1)Require that, in order to establish that apprenticeship
training needs justify the approval of a new program, existing
programs do not have the capacity, or neglect or refuse, to
dispatch sufficient apprentices to qualified employers who
"have requested apprentices", as shown by a "sustained pattern
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of unfilled requests."
2)Eliminate a provision of existing law that authorizes the
California Apprenticeship Council to approve a new
apprenticeship program if special circumstances, as
established by regulation, justify the establishment of the
program.
3)Provide that for purposes of this requirement, an existing
apprenticeship program serves the "same craft or trade" as a
proposed apprenticeship program when there would be a
substantial overlap in the work processes covered by the
programs or when graduates of the existing program would be
qualified to perform a substantial portion of the work that
would be performed by graduates of the new program.
COMMENTS
1. Legislative Background:
California's apprenticeship programs represent a unique and
important feature of the state's workforce development system.
The core idea is that, by combining both high quality
classroom instruction and high quality on-the-job training
experience, apprenticeship programs train high-quality
professionals in a variety of different fields and
professions. The building and construction trades make up 79%
of all of the apprentices in the state of California.
However, some stakeholders have raised concerns with certain
apprenticeship programs that reportedly do not provide high
quality instruction and training. Instead, these low-quality
programs provide apprentices to meet the requirements of the
public works law without actually giving the apprentices the
necessary skills to perform the trades. One of the responses
to this was the creation of the "needs-based" requirement for
approval of new apprenticeship programs in 1999.
In 2002, in response to the needs test, the U.S. Department of
Labor (DOL) began the process of "derecognition," contending
that the amended apprenticeship statute did not conform to
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federal standards. In early 2007, the "derecognition" of
California's apprenticeship programs became official. The DOL
decision continues to stand.
According to stakeholders, the practical consequence of the
"derecognition" by DOL has been that apprenticeship programs
approved by DAS must request separate approval from the DOL.
Before "derecognition," federal approval was essentially
automatic. Since that action, apprenticeship programs
approved by California reportedly have been approved by the
DOL as a matter of course.
2. Proponent Arguments :
This bill is sponsored by the State Building and Construction
Trades Council. They argue that it provides much needed
clarification to DAS for the purpose of determining when an
existing program is deficient. Adding "have requested
apprentices" to Section 3075(b)(2) clarifies that contractors
must actually request apprentices before existing programs may
be found to lack the capacity or willingness to dispatch them.
The sponsor states that during Governor Schwarzenegger's
administration, the DAS sought to rely on EDD projections of
future apprentice needs to justify approval of new programs
even though there was no evidence contractors had sought
apprentices from existing programs and were unable to receive
them.
3. Opponent Arguments :
Opponents write the following in opposition to this bill:
"[This bill] perpetuates California's needs test for
apprenticeship. Economics Professor Charles Baird correctly
characterizes a needs test as '?a common device by which
regulatory bodies restrict competition from disfavored
interlopers.' While Baird does not specifically identify who
the interlopers are, they are frequently trade associations
who see an opportunity to train young men and women for
careers in construction.
?Unfortunately, [this bill] exacerbates the damaging aspects
of the needs test by adding ambiguous language and deleting
the very modest authority of the California Apprenticeship
Council to approve a new apprenticeship program 'justified by
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special circumstances by regulation.' While it may be
suggested that adding a requirement that there be a 'sustained
pattern of unfilled requests' to justify new apprenticeship
opportunities, we would argue that this vague requirement of
'sustained' will never be satisfactory to those who prefer
monopoly over fair and open competition and training
opportunities for all."
4. Prior Legislation :
AB 921 (Keeley), Chapter 903, Statutes of 1999, included,
among other things, the "needs-based" conditions for the
building and construction trades.
SUPPORT
State Building and Construction Trades Council (Sponsor)
Construction Employers' Association
OPPOSITION
Air Conditioning Trade Association
Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors Association of California
Western Electrical Contractors Association
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