Bill Text: NC H646 | 2017-2018 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Amend PED Statutes
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Republican 7-2)
Status: (Passed) 2018-06-26 - Ch. SL 2018-101 [H646 Detail]
Download: North_Carolina-2017-H646-Introduced.html
GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2017
H D
HOUSE BILL DRH50081-MKa-113B (03/08)
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Short Title: ApprenticeshipNC. |
(Public) |
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Sponsors: |
Representatives S. Martin, Horn, Conrad, and Brody (Primary Sponsors). |
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Referred to: |
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A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to transfer the administration of the state apprenticeship program from the department of commerce to the community colleges system office.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1. All functions, powers, duties, obligations, resources, and appropriations vested in the Apprenticeship Program and the Apprenticeship Council are transferred to, vested in, and consolidated into the North Carolina Community Colleges System Office as a Type I transfer, as defined in G.S. 143A‑6. The State Board of Community Colleges, the Community Colleges System Office, and the Office of State Budget and Management are authorized to take all other steps necessary to consolidate the Apprenticeship Program and the Apprenticeship Council into the Community Colleges System Office. Joint delivery of Apprenticeship and Community College workforce training programs shall ensure coordination of program delivery and appropriate classroom training supporting the needs of students and employers.
SECTION 2. Article 1 of Chapter 115D is amended by adding a new section to read:
"§ 115D‑5.3. ApprenticeshipNC Program; Apprenticeship Council; transfer.
The ApprenticeshipNC Program and the Apprenticeship Council, as contained in Chapter 94 of the General Statutes and the laws of this State, are hereby transferred by a Type I transfer to the North Carolina Community Colleges System Office."
SECTION 3. Chapter 94 of the General Statutes reads as rewritten:
"Chapter 94.
"Apprenticeship.ApprenticeshipNC.
"§ 94‑1. Purpose.
The purposes of this Chapter are:
to open to young people the opportunity to obtain training that will equip them
for profitable employment and citizenship; to set up, as a means to this end, a
program of voluntary apprenticeship under approved apprentice agreements
providing facilities for their training and guidance in the arts and crafts of
industry and trade, with parallel instruction in related and supplementary
education; to promote employment opportunities for young people under
conditions providing adequate training and reasonable earnings; to relate the
supply of skilled workers to employment demands; to establish standards for apprentice
training; to coordinate workforce education and customized training tools to
fill talent pipeline gaps, as appropriate, with local business and industry; to
establish an Apprenticeship Council and apprenticeship committees and sponsors
to assist in effectuating the purposes of this Chapter; to leverage the
collaborative and regional structure of the community college service areas
with the Collaboration for Prosperity Zones set out in G.S. 143B‑28.1;
to provide for a Director of ApprenticeshipApprenticeshipNC
within the Department of Commerce;Community Colleges System Office; to
provide for reports to the legislature and to the public regarding the status
of apprentice training in the State; to establish a procedure for the
determination of apprentice agreement controversies; and to accomplish related
ends.
"§ 94‑2. Apprenticeship Council.
The Secretary of CommerceState
Board of Community Colleges shall appoint an Apprenticeship Council
composed of four representatives each from employer and employee organizations
respectively and three representatives from the public at large. One State
official designated by the Department of Public Instruction and one State
official designated by the Department of Community CollegesCommerce
shall be a member ex officio of said council, without vote. The terms of office
of the members of the Apprenticeship Council first appointed by the Secretary
of CommerceState Board of Community Colleges shall expire as
designated by the SecretaryState Board at the time of making the
appointment: twothree representatives each of employers and
employees, being appointed for one year and one representativetwo
representatives of the public at large being appointed for two years;
and one representative each of employers, employees, and the public at large
being appointed for a term of three years.large. Any member
appointed to fill a vacancy occurring prior to the expiration of the term of
his or her predecessor shall be appointed for the remainder of said
term. Each member of the Council not otherwise compensated by public moneys,
shall be reimbursed for transportation and shall receive such per diem
compensation as is provided generally for boards and commissions under the
biennial maintenance appropriation acts for each day spent in attendance at
meetings of the Apprenticeship Council. The Secretary of CommerceState
Board of Community Colleges shall annually appoint one member of the
Council to act as its chairman.
The Apprenticeship Council shall
meet at the call of the Secretary of CommerceState Board of Community
Colleges and shall aid himthe State Board and the Community
Colleges System Office in formulating policies for the effective
administration of this Chapter. Subject to the approval of the Secretary,State
Board of Community Colleges, the Apprenticeship Council shall establish
standards for apprentice agreement which in no case shall be lower than those
prescribed by this Chapter, shall issue such rules and regulations as may be
necessary to carry out the intent and purposes of said Chapter, and shall
perform such other functions as the SecretaryState Board of Community
Colleges may direct. Not less than once a year the Apprenticeship Council
shall make a report through the SecretaryCommunity Colleges System
Office of its activities and findings to the legislature and to the public.
"§ 94‑3. Director of Apprenticeship.ApprenticeshipNC.
The Secretary of CommerceState
Board of Community Colleges is hereby directed to appoint a Director of ApprenticeshipApprenticeshipNC
which appointment shall be subject to the confirmation of the State
Apprenticeship Council by a majority vote. The Secretary of CommerceThe
Director shall report to the Vice President of Economic Development and the
Vice President of Academic Programs and Student Services within the Community
Colleges System Office. Upon the recommendation of the Director, the State
Board of Community Colleges is further authorized to appoint and employ
such clerical, technical, and professional help as shall be necessary to
effectuate the purposes of this Chapter. The Director shall supervise
clerical, technical, and professional staff appointed to administer the
ApprenticeshipNC program.
"§ 94‑4. Powers and duties of Director of Apprenticeship.ApprenticeshipNC.
The Director, under the supervision
of the Secretary of CommerceVice President of Economic Development
and with the advice and guidance of the Apprenticeship Council is authorized to
administer the provisions of this Chapter; in cooperation with the
Apprenticeship Council and apprenticeship committees and sponsors, to set up
conditions and training standards for apprentice agreements, which conditions
or standards shall in no case be lower than those prescribed by this Chapter;
to act as secretary of the Apprenticeship Council; to approve for the Council
if in his or her opinion approval is for the best interest of the
apprenticeship any apprentice agreement which meets the standards established
under this Chapter; to terminate or cancel any apprentice agreement in
accordance with the provisions of such agreement; to keep a record of
apprentice agreements and their disposition; to issue certificates of
completion of apprenticeship; and to perform such other duties as are necessary
to carry out the intent of this Chapter, including other on‑job training
necessary for emergency and critical civilian production: Provided, that the
administration and supervision of related and supplemental instruction for
apprentices, coordination of instruction with job experiences, and the
selection and training of teachers and coordinators for such instruction shall
be the responsibility of State and local boards responsible for vocational
education.
"§ 94‑5. Apprenticeship committees and program sponsors.
(a) As used in this Chapter:
(1) "Apprenticeship program" means a plan containing all terms and conditions for the qualification, recruitment, selection, employment, and training of apprentices, including such matters as the requirement for a written apprenticeship agreement.
(2) "Apprenticeship agreement" means a written agreement between an apprentice and either his or her employer or an apprenticeship committee or sponsor acting as agent for employer(s), which agreement satisfies the requirements of G.S. 94‑7.
(2a) "ApprenticeshipNC" means the statewide apprenticeship program administered by the Community Colleges System Office under this Chapter.
(3) "Sponsor" means any person, firm, corporation, organization, association or committee operating an apprenticeship program and in whose name the apprenticeship program is approved.
(4) "Employer" means any person, firm, corporation or organization employing an apprentice whether or not such person, firm, corporation or organization is a party to an apprenticeship agreement with the apprentice.
(5) "Apprenticeship committee" means those persons designated by the sponsor, and approved by the Apprenticeship Council, to act for it in the administration of the apprenticeship program. A committee may be "joint," i.e., it is composed of an equal number of representatives of the employer(s) and of the employees represented by a bona fide collective bargaining agent(s) and has been established to conduct, operate or administer an apprenticeship program and enter into apprenticeship agreements with apprentices. A committee may be "unilateral" or "nonjoint" which shall mean a program sponsor in which employees or a bona fide collective bargaining agent is not a party.
(b) An apprenticeship committee may be appointed by the Apprenticeship Council in any trade or group of trades in a city or trade area, whenever the apprentice training needs of such trade or group of trades justifies such establishment.
(c) The function of the apprenticeship committee, or sponsor when there is no apprenticeship committee, shall be: to cooperate with school authorities in regard to the education of apprentices; in accordance with the standards set up by the apprenticeship committee for the same trade or group of trades, where such committee has been appointed, to work in an advisory capacity with employers and employees in matters regarding schedule of operations, application of wage rates, and working conditions for apprentices and to specify the number of apprentices which shall be employed locally in the trade under the apprenticeship agreements under this Chapter; and to adjust apprenticeship disputes, subject to the approval of the director; to ascertain the prevailing rate for journeymen in the city or trade area and specify the graduated scale of wages applicable to apprentices in such trade in such area; to ascertain employment needs in such trade or group of trades and specify the appropriate current ratio of apprentices to journeymen; and to make recommendations for the general good of apprentices engaged in the trade or trades represented by the committee. An apprenticeship committee may appoint a representative and delegate to such representative the authority for implementation and performance of any standards adopted by the committee pursuant to any of the aforementioned functions.
"§ 94‑6. Definition of an apprentice.
The term "apprentice," as
used herein, shall mean a person at least 16 years of age who is covered by a
written apprenticeship agreement approved by the Apprenticeship Council, which
apprenticeship agreement provides for not less than 2,000 hours of reasonably
continuous employment for such person for his participation in an approved
schedule of work experience and for organized, related supplemental instruction
in technical subjects related to the trade. A minimum of 144 hours of related
supplemental instruction for each year of apprenticeship is recommended. The
required hours for apprenticeship agreements and the recommended hours for
related supplemental instruction may be decreased or increased in accordance
with standards adopted by the apprenticeship committee or sponsor, subject to
approval of the Secretary of Commerce.State Board of Community
Colleges.
…
"§ 94‑9. Rotation of employment.
For the purpose of providing
greater diversity of training or continuity of employment, any apprentice
agreement made under this Chapter may in the discretion of the Director of ApprenticeshipApprenticeshipNC
be signed by an association of employers or an organization of employees
instead of by an individual employer. In such a case, the apprentice agreement
shall expressly provide that the association of employers or organization of
employees does not assume the obligation of an employer but agrees to use its
best endeavors to procure employment and training for such apprentice with one
or more employers who will accept full responsibility, as herein provided, for
all the terms and conditions of employment and training set forth in said
agreement between the apprentice and employer association or employee
organization during the period of each such employment. The apprentice
agreement in such a case shall also expressly provide for the transfer of the
apprentice, subject to the approval of the Director, to such employer or
employers who shall sign in written agreement with the apprentice, and if the
apprentice is a minor with his or her parent or guardian, as specified
in G.S. 94‑8, contracting to employ said apprentice for the whole or
a definite part of the total period of apprenticeship under the terms and
conditions of employment and training set forth in the said agreement entered
into between the apprentice and employer association or employee organization.
"§ 94‑10. Repealed by Session Laws 1945, c. 729, s. 2.
"§ 94‑11. Limitation.
Nothing in this Chapter or in any
apprentice agreement approved under this Chapter shall operate to invalidate
any apprenticeship provision in any collective agreement between employers and
employees, setting up higher apprenticeship standards; provided, that none of
the terms or provisions of this Chapter shall apply to any person, firm,
corporation or crafts unless, until, and only so long as such person, firm,
corporation or crafts voluntarily elects that the terms and provisions of this
Chapter shall apply. Any person, firm, corporation or crafts terminating an
apprenticeship agreement shall notify the Director of Apprenticeship.ApprenticeshipNC.
"§ 94‑12. Repealed by Session Laws 2015‑241, s. 15.13, effective July 1, 2015."
SECTION 4. Notwithstanding G.S. 94‑2, as amended by this act, the current members serving on the Apprenticeship Council as of July 1, 2017, shall serve the remainder of their terms. Thereafter, as terms expire, or when a vacancy occurs prior to the expiration of a term, members on the Apprenticeship Council shall be appointed by the State Board of Community Colleges in accordance with G.S. 94‑2, as amended by this act.
SECTION 5. Of the Workforce Investment Act funds awarded to the Department of Commerce by the United States Department of Labor, the sum of three hundred fifty thousand dollars ($350,000) shall be transferred to the Community Colleges System Office for the administration of ApprenticeshipNC on a recurring basis for the 2017‑2019 fiscal biennium.
SECTION 6. There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Community Colleges System Office the sum of five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) in recurring funds for the 2017‑2018 fiscal year to increase apprenticeship opportunities across the State.
SECTION 7. The Department of Commerce shall submit a Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act State Plan amendment to the United States Department of Labor to designate the Community Colleges System Office as the State agency responsible for the administration of ApprenticeshipNC as provided for in this act.
SECTION 8. Sections 1 through 6 of this act become effective July 1, 2017. The remainder of this act is effective when it becomes law.
