BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1308|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1308
Author: Perea (D), et al.
Amended: 6/23/15
Vote: 21
SENATE LABOR & IND. REL. COMMITTEE: 4-1, 6/10/15
AYES: Mendoza, Jackson, Leno, Mitchell
NOES: Stone
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 53-23, 5/4/15 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Apprenticeship programs: approval
SOURCE: State Building and Construction Trades Council
DIGEST: This bill strengthens and expands the requirements for
approving new apprenticeship programs.
Senate Floor Amendments of 6/23/15 make minor changes and add
coauthors.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)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. DAS
enforces apprenticeship standards for, among other things,
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working conditions, classroom instruction and the specific
skills required for state certification as a journeyperson in
an apprentice occupation.
2)Requires that all apprenticeship programs be approved by the
Chief of the DAS. 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 the Chief to approve an apprenticeship program in the
building and construction trades, any of the following
"needs-based" conditions must be met (Labor Code §3075):
a) There is no existing apprenticeship program serving the
same craft or trade and geographic area;
b) 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;
c) Existing apprenticeship programs approved under this
chapter that serve the same trade and geographic area have
been identified by the CAC as deficient in meeting their
obligations.
3)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(s), upon approving the contractor, must
arrange for the dispatch of apprentices to the contractor.
(Labor Code §1777.5)
4)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)
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This bill:
1)Requires 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
of unfilled requests."
2)Eliminates a provision of existing law that authorizes the CAC
to approve a new apprenticeship program if special
circumstances, as established by regulation, justify the
establishment of the program.
3)Provides 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.
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
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Labor (DOL) began the process of "derecognition," contending
that the amended apprenticeship statute did not conform to
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.
Prior Legislation
AB 921 (Keeley, Chapter 903, Statutes of 1999) included, among
other things, the "needs-based" conditions for the building and
construction trades.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
SUPPORT: (Verified6/10/15)
State Building and Construction Trades Council (source)
Construction Employers' Association
OPPOSITION: (Verified6/10/15)
Air Conditioning Trade Association
Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors Association of California
Western Electrical Contractors Association
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: 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 Labor Code Section 3075(b)(2)
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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 Employment Development Department 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.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION: 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
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.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 53-23, 5/4/15
AYES: Alejo, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brown, Burke, Calderon,
Chau, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Daly, Dodd, Eggman,
Frazier, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson,
Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin,
Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, McCarty, Medina,
Mullin, Nazarian, O'Donnell, Perea, Quirk, Rendon,
Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark
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Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Weber, Williams, Wood, Atkins
NOES: Achadjian, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Brough, Chávez,
Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Jones, Kim,
Lackey, Maienschein, Mathis, Melendez, Obernolte, Olsen,
Patterson, Wagner, Waldron, Wilk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Campos, Chang, Dahle, Mayes
Prepared by:Gideon Baum / L. & I.R. / (916) 651-1556
6/23/15 16:11:47
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