AGC of America is reviewing a recently released 779-page U.S. Department of Labor proposed rule to “modernize” regulations governing registered apprenticeship programs.

On December 14, the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Employment and Training Administration (ETA) released a 779-page proposed rule to “revise the regulations for registered apprenticeship by enhancing worker protections and equity, improving the quality of registered apprenticeship programs, revising the State governance provisions, and more clearly establishing critical pipelines to registered apprenticeship programs, such as registered career and technical education (CTE) apprenticeships.”

Specifically, the rule would further standardize the registered apprenticeship system by, but not limited to:

• Strengthening labor standards, quality and worker protections by making occupational skills and training more portable, enhancing alignment with postsecondary education and providing more performance data.
• Better defining roles for state apprenticeship agencies and other stakeholders within the National Apprenticeship System.
• Codifying of the Office of Apprenticeship’s role for national leadership, promotion and standards.
• Promoting apprenticeship pathways, including pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship readiness programs, by expanding performance and data requirements to improve accountability, transparency and program outcomes.
• Creating a student-centric model of Registered Apprenticeship, called Registered Career and Technical Education Apprenticeship designed to make them more seamless for full-time high school and community college students to enroll in a Registered Apprenticeship.

AGC of America is conducting a comprehensive review of the proposed rule and will provide more information shortly. The 60-day comment period on the proposed rule begins after it is published in the Federal Register. The proposed rule has not been published in the Federal Register to date.

The ETA is hosting a webinar on the proposed rule on January 11 at 2:00 p.m. ET. To register, click here.

For more information, contact Claiborne Guy at [email protected] or Jim Young at [email protected].