H-0909.2
HOUSE BILL 1777
State of Washington
69th Legislature
2025 Regular Session
By Representatives Schmidt, Walen, Reed, Rule, Tharinger, Ybarra, Nance, Doglio, Pollet, Gregerson, Reeves, Stonier, Griffey, Eslick, Volz, Dent, Stuebe, Ley, Klicker, Mendoza, Schmick, Connors, Rude, Keaton, Couture, Parshley, Jacobsen, Barnard, McClintock, Wylie, Barkis, Salahuddin, Street, and Zahn
Read first time 02/03/25. Referred to Committee on Postsecondary Education & Workforce.
AN ACT Relating to the requirements and process for approving and registering apprenticeship programs; adding a new chapter to Title 28B RCW; creating a new section; and recodifying RCW 49.04.010 , 49.04.030 , 49.04.035 , 49.04.040 , 49.04.050 , 49.04.060 , 49.04.065 , 49.04.070 , 49.04.080 , 49.04.090 , 49.04.100 , 49.04.110 , 49.04.120 , 49.04.130 , 49.04.141 , 49.04.150 , 49.04.160 , 49.04.170 , 49.04.180 , 49.04.190 , 49.04.200 , 49.04.210 , 49.04.220 , 49.04.230 , 49.04.240 , 49.04.250 , 49.04.260 , 49.04.270 , 49.04.280 , 49.04.290 , 49.04.300 , and 49.04.910 .
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) The legislature finds that, according to the Washington Roundtable, over the next decade, 20 percent of projected job openings (or 313,000 jobs) will require apprenticeships, certificates, and other industry-aligned training credentials. However, of those, only 86,000 jobs can be filled through Washington's current education and training systems and in-migration, leaving a shortage of 228,000 workers with these credentials. In 2022, Senate Bill No. 5600 was signed into law with the stated intent of increasing new apprenticeship opportunities in our state, and specifically that apprenticeship programs seeking state registration receive prompt consideration with minimum delay for more apprenticeship opportunities to be available for workers and employers. However, in 2024, 17 new programs applied for approval. Of those, nine were approved, four withdrew their application, and four are awaiting an adjudicative hearing. Competitor objections were filed against 10 applications. An additional six applications were left over from 2023. Of those, four were approved, one was denied, and one is awaiting an adjudicative hearing on an objection. For comparison purposes, in federal fiscal year 2021, 2,879 new apprenticeship programs were approved for a total of 27,385 approved programs across all states. The excessive delays in the state's approval process have proved particularly burdensome for those programs that have already received federal approval based on substantially similar standards, including programs administered by established tribal and nontribal businesses and organizations.
(2) It is therefore the legislature's intent to expand the availability of apprenticeship programs by expediting consideration of state approval of apprenticeship programs that have current approval by the federal government, reforming the competitor objection process, and updating the apprenticeship council reporting requirements to include information on how Washington compares to other states and the federal government in approving new apprenticeship programs.