II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 531
To assist States in, and pay for the Federal share of the cost of, defraying
the cost of pre-apprenticeships or related instruction associated with
qualified apprenticeship programs, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY11, 2025
Ms. K
LOBUCHAR(for herself and Ms. COLLINS) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Edu-
cation, Labor, and Pensions
A BILL
To assist States in, and pay for the Federal share of the
cost of, defraying the cost of pre-apprenticeships or re-
lated instruction associated with qualified apprenticeship
programs, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘American Apprentice-4
ship Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. PRE-APPRENTICESHIP AND QUALIFIED APPREN-6
TICESHIP PROGRAMS. 7
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this Act: 8
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(1) QUALIFIED APPRENTICESHIP .—The term 1
‘‘qualified apprenticeship’’, used with respect to a 2
program, means an apprenticeship program that 3
is— 4
(A) registered under the Act of August 16, 5
1937 (commonly known as the ‘‘National Ap-6
prenticeship Act’’; 50 Stat. 664, chapter 663; 7
29 U.S.C. 50 et seq.); and 8
(B) concentrated in an industry sector or 9
occupation that represents less than 10 percent 10
of apprenticeable occupations or of the pro-11
grams under the national apprenticeship sys-12
tem. 13
(2) P
OSTSECONDARY EDUCATIONAL INSTITU -14
TION.—The term ‘‘postsecondary educational institu-15
tion’’ means an institution of higher education, as 16
defined in section 102 of the Higher Education Act 17
of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002). 18
(3) P
RE-APPRENTICESHIP.—The term ‘‘pre-ap-19
prenticeship’’, used with respect to a program, 20
means an initiative or set of strategies that— 21
(A) is designed to prepare individuals to 22
enter and succeed in a qualified apprenticeship 23
program; 24
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(B) is carried out by a sponsor described 1
in paragraph (6)(B) that has a documented 2
partnership with one or more sponsors of quali-3
fied apprenticeship programs; and 4
(C) includes each of the following: 5
(i) Training (including a curriculum 6
for the training), aligned with industry 7
standards related to apprenticeships in a 8
qualified apprenticeship program, and re-9
viewed and approved annually by sponsors 10
of such apprenticeships within the docu-11
mented partnership, that will prepare indi-12
viduals by teaching the skills and com-13
petencies needed to enter one or more 14
qualified apprenticeship programs. 15
(ii) Provision of hands-on training and 16
theoretical education to individuals that— 17
(I) is carried out in a manner 18
that includes proper observation of su-19
pervision and safety protocols; and 20
(II) is carried out in a manner 21
that does not displace a paid em-22
ployee. 23
(iii) A formal agreement with a spon-24
sor of a qualified apprenticeship program 25
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that would enable participants who suc-1
cessfully complete the pre-apprenticeship 2
program to enter directly into the qualified 3
apprenticeship program (if a place in the 4
program is available and if the participant 5
meets the qualifications of the qualified ap-6
prenticeship program), and includes agree-7
ments concerning earning credit recognized 8
by a postsecondary educational institution 9
for skills and competencies acquired during 10
the pre-apprenticeship program. 11
(4) R
ELATED INSTRUCTION .—The term ‘‘re-12
lated instruction’’ means an organized and system-13
atic form of classroom or web-based instruction de-14
signed to provide an apprentice with the knowledge 15
of the theoretical and technical subjects related to 16
the occupation of the apprentice or the instruction 17
needed to prepare an individual to enter and succeed 18
in an qualified apprenticeship program. 19
(5) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 20
the Secretary of Labor. 21
(6) S
PONSOR.—The term ‘‘sponsor’’ means— 22
(A) with respect to a qualified apprentice-23
ship program, an employer, joint labor-manage-24
ment partnership, trade association, profes-25
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sional association, labor organization, or other 1
entity, that administers the qualified appren-2
ticeship program; and 3
(B) with respect to a pre-apprenticeship 4
program, a local educational agency, a sec-5
ondary school, an area career and technical 6
education school, a State board, a local board, 7
a joint labor-management committee, a labor 8
organization, or a community-based organiza-9
tion, with responsibility for the pre-apprentice-10
ship program. 11
(7) W
ORKFORCE INNOVATION AND OPPOR -12
TUNITY ACT DEFINITIONS .—The terms ‘‘area career 13
and technical education school’’, ‘‘community-based 14
organization’’, ‘‘individual with a barrier to employ-15
ment’’, ‘‘local board’’, ‘‘local educational agency’’, 16
‘‘secondary school’’, and ‘‘State board’’ have the 17
meanings given the terms in section 3 of the Work-18
force Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 19
3102). 20
(b) G
RANTS FORTUITIONASSISTANCE.— 21
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary may make 22
grants to States on a competitive basis to assist the 23
States in, and pay for the Federal share of the cost 24
of, defraying the cost of a pre-apprenticeship, or the 25
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cost of related instruction, associated with a quali-1
fied apprenticeship program. 2
(2) A
PPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a 3
grant under this subsection, a State shall submit an 4
application to the Secretary for such a project at 5
such time, in such manner, and containing a stra-6
tegic plan that contains such information as the Sec-7
retary may require, including— 8
(A) information identifying the State agen-9
cy (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘State enti-10
ty’’) that will administer the grant as deter-11
mined by the Governor of the State; 12
(B) a description of strategies that the 13
State entity will use to collaborate with key in-14
dustry representatives, State agencies, postsec-15
ondary educational institutions, labor-manage-16
ment entities, and other relevant partners to 17
launch or expand pre-apprenticeships for and 18
apprenticeships in qualified apprenticeship pro-19
grams; 20
(C) a description of how the State entity 21
will— 22
(i) coordinate activities carried out 23
under this subsection with activities car-24
ried out under the Carl D. Perkins Career 25
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and Technical Education Act of 2006 (20 1
U.S.C. 2301 et seq.) and the Workforce 2
Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 3
U.S.C. 3101 et seq.) to support pre-ap-4
prenticeships for and apprenticeships in 5
qualified apprenticeship programs; 6
(ii) leverage funds provided under the 7
Acts specified in clause (i) to support pre- 8
apprenticeships for and apprenticeships in 9
qualified apprenticeship programs; and 10
(iii) utilize, and encourage individual 11
participants in programs supported under 12
this subsection to utilize, available Federal 13
and State financial assistance, including 14
assistance available under the Workforce 15
Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 16
U.S.C. 3101 et seq.), education assistance 17
benefits available to veterans, and Federal 18
Pell Grants available under section 401 of 19
the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 20
U.S.C. 1070a), prior to using assistance 21
made available under this Act; 22
(D) a description of strategies to elevate 23
apprenticeships in qualified apprenticeship pro-24
grams as a workforce solution in nontraditional 25
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industries, such as information technology, 1
health care, advanced manufacturing, transpor-2
tation, and other industries determined to be 3
high-demand by the State board for the State; 4
(E) a description of activities that the 5
State entity will carry out to build awareness 6
about the economic potential of apprenticeships 7
in qualified apprenticeship programs; 8
(F) a description that outlines how the 9
State entity will increase opportunities for pre- 10
apprenticeships for and apprenticeships in 11
qualified apprenticeship programs, among mem-12
bers of minority groups, youth, individuals with 13
disabilities, veterans, and individuals with bar-14
riers to employment; 15
(G) a description of— 16
(i) how the State entity will ensure 17
that the qualified apprenticeship program 18
meets certain performance measures and 19
quality standards, including that the quali-20
fied apprenticeship program has been in 21
existence for not fewer than 6 months 22
prior to the application date; 23
(ii) the targeted outreach strategies 24
that the State entity will use for popu-25
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lations previously underserved through ap-1
prenticeships; and 2
(iii) any State performance measures 3
that the State will use, at the election of 4
the State, to measure the effectiveness of 5
the project; and 6
(H) in the case of a State that has already 7
received a grant under this subsection for a 8
project, information indicating that the State 9
met the performance measures with respect to 10
the project. 11
(3) A
PPLICATION REVIEW PROCESS .—A joint 12
team of employees from the Department of Labor 13
and the Department of Education shall— 14
(A) review such an application; and 15
(B) make recommendations to the Sec-16
retary regarding approval of the application. 17
(4) U
SE OF FUNDS.—A State that receives a 18
grant under this subsection shall use the funds made 19
available through the grant to defray any of the fol-20
lowing costs of related instruction: 21
(A) Tuition and fees. 22
(B) Cost of textbooks, equipment, cur-23
riculum development, and other required edu-24
cational materials. 25
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(C) Costs of any other item or service de-1
termined by the State to be necessary. 2
(5) A
DMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—The State may 3
use not more than 10 percent of the grant funds for 4
administrative costs relating to carrying out the 5
project described in paragraph (1). 6
(6) P
ERFORMANCE AND EVALUATION .—The 7
Secretary, after consultation with the Secretary of 8
Education, shall— 9
(A) establish performance measures based 10
on indicators set by the Administrator of the 11
Office of Apprenticeship of the Department of 12
Labor; and 13
(B) establish an evaluation system aligned 14
with the performance measures, and reporting 15
requirements for the program carried out under 16
this subsection. 17
(c) F
EDERALSHARE.— 18
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Federal share of the 19
cost described in subsection (b)(1) shall be not less 20
than 20 percent and not more than 50 percent. 21
(2) N
ON-FEDERAL SHARE .—The State may 22
make the non-Federal share available— 23
(A) in cash or in kind, fairly evaluated, in-24
cluding plant, equipment, or services; and 25
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(B) directly or through donations from 1
public or private entities. 2
(d) R
EPORT.—The Secretary shall prepare and sub-3
mit to Congress, not later than September 30, 2030, a 4
report— 5
(1) detailing the results of the evaluation de-6
scribed in subsection (b)(6)(B); and 7
(2) analyzing the extent to which States have 8
used grant funds effectively under this section. 9
(e) P
OLICY OF THEUNITEDSTATES.—It is the pol-10
icy of the United States that funds made available under 11
this section should be used to supplement and not sup-12
plant other funds available under the Workforce Innova-13
tion and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3101 et seq.) and 14
other Federal and State funds available to the State to 15
support workforce development programs. 16
SEC. 3. IDENTIFYING IN-DEMAND OCCUPATIONS. 17
The Secretary shall— 18
(1) identify in-demand occupations nationally 19
and regionally that lack the use of apprenticeships 20
in qualified apprenticeship programs; 21
(2) analyze the use of the qualified apprentice-22
ship program model in those identified in-demand 23
occupations; and 24
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(3) prepare and submit to States and Congress 1
a report that contains the analysis described in para-2
graph (2). 3
SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 4
There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 5
this Act $15,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 6
2031. 7
Æ
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