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General Assembly Committee Bill No. 6786
January Session, 2025
LCO No. 6675
Referred to Committee on COMMERCE
Introduced by:
(CE)
AN ACT CONCERNING THE HIRING RATIO FOR SKILLED TRADES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2025) (a) The Labor 1
Commissioner shall adopt or amend existing regulations of Connecticut 2
state agencies, as the case may be, to establish a process to permit a 3
licensed contractor or business in the electrical, plumbing, heating, 4
piping and cooling, sprinkler fitter or sheet metal work trades to hire 5
one or more additional apprentices when such licensed contractor or 6
business does not employ a sufficient number of licensees to satisfy the 7
applicable hiring ratio established in the regulations adopted pursuant 8
to section 20-332 of the general statutes. Such process shall require such 9
licensed contractor or business to submit an application to the Labor 10
Department, in a form and manner prescribed by the commissioner, for 11
relief from such applicable hiring ratio, which application shall include, 12
but need not be limited to, (1) the name of the applicant and apprentices 13
for which hiring ratio relief is requested; (2) the applicable trade and 14
license category; (3) the current number of journeypersons, apprentices 15
and preapprentices employed by the applicant; and (4) any other 16
information the commissioner, in the commissioner's discretion, deems 17 Committee Bill No. 6786
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necessary for the purposes of this subsection. 18
(b) The commissioner shall approve any application submitted 19
pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, provided the applicant 20
satisfies the following criteria: (1) The applicant is in good standing with 21
the Labor Department; (2) within the previous three years from the date 22
of the application, the applicant has not been the subject of a final 23
determination for a violation of a federal or state labor law or regulation 24
concerning failure to pay wages to an apprentice; (3) within the previous 25
three years from the date of the application, the applicant has not 26
discharged, released or otherwise terminated an excessive amount of 27
apprentices, as determined by the commissioner, prior to such 28
apprentices satisfying the requirements to qualify for the applicable 29
journeyperson license examination; (4) within the previous three years 30
from the date of the application, the percentage of apprentices that have 31
(A) been employed by the applicant as apprentices for a period of not 32
less than six years, and (B) satisfied the requirements to qualify for the 33
applicable journeyperson license examination, is not less than forty per 34
cent; and (5) the applicant agrees to notify, in writing, in a form and 35
manner prescribed by the commissioner, both the Labor Department 36
and any apprentice employed by the applicant, of the total number of 37
hours any such apprentices have worked prior to the date of such notice. 38
(c) Not later than ten business days after a licensed contractor or 39
business submits an application to the Labor Department pursuant to 40
subsection (a) of this section, the Labor Commissioner shall (1) complete 41
the review of such application, (2) determine whether the applicant 42
qualifies to receive the hiring ratio relief requested, and (3) send notice 43
to the licensed contractor or business and the Commissioner of 44
Consumer Protection, in a form and manner prescribed by the Labor 45
Commissioner, disclosing the Labor Commissioner's determination. If 46
such application is denied, the notice shall include a written explanation 47
of the reasons for such denial. 48
(d) The hiring ratio relief provided pursuant to this section shall 49
apply (1) to the apprentices for which the applicant has requested hiring 50 Committee Bill No. 6786
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ratio relief, and (2) for as long as such apprentices remain apprentices 51
for the applicant, even if the applicant after being granted such hiring 52
ratio relief subsequently fails to meet the criteria set forth in subsection 53
(b) of this section, but not for a period of more than six years. 54
(e) Not later than October 1, 2026, and annually thereafter, the Labor 55
Department shall submit to the joint standing committees of the General 56
Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to general law, higher 57
education and employment advancement, commerce and labor and 58
public employees, in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a of 59
the general statutes, a report regarding the hiring ratio relief process. 60
Such report shall include, but need not be limited to, information on the 61
number of individuals served by such process and the outcomes of such 62
individuals. 63
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2025 New section
CE Joint Favorable C/R GL