AB 888

Under current law, a multiple-trade state public works project whose

estimated project cost of completion is $100,000 or more and a single-trade state

public works project whose estimated project cost of completion is $48,000 or more

are subject to the prevailing wage law, which requires workers employed on the site

of the project to be paid at a prevailing wage rate determined by the Department of

Workforce Development (DWD). Also, under current law, if DWD grants an

exception or modification to any requirement relating to the employment and

training of apprentices in any contract for the performance of work on a state public

works project in which work is performed by employees employed in apprenticeable

trades (project), DWD must post that information on its Internet site, together with

a detailed explanation of why the exception or modification was granted.

This bill requires a state agency that enters into a contract for the performance

of work on a project to include in that contract a provision requiring that as a

condition to performing that work a contractor, subcontractor, or agent of a

contractor or subcontractor that employs five or more employees in apprenticeable

trades (employer): 1) have an apprenticeship training program that has been

approved by DWD or have an application pending for that approval at the time the

bid to perform work on the project is submitted; and 2) be certified by DWD as the

sponsor of an acceptable apprenticeship program. Under the bill, if a state agency

determines that an employer is not in compliance with those requirements and has

not demonstrated that every good faith effort was made to meet those requirements,

the state agency must bring an action for breach of contract.

To be certified as the sponsor of an acceptable apprenticeship program, an

employer must show that at any time in the current or preceding year the employer

employed either of the following:

1. The maximum number of apprentices allowed under the employer's training

ratio for each trade employed by the employer. (The bill defines "training ratio" as

the ratio of apprentices to journeymen that may be employed by an employer in a

given trade under standards adopted, recognized, or approved by DWD.)

2. In the case of an employer that is seeking certification to perform work on

projects other than highway projects, a skilled workforce in which not less than ten

percent of the employees are apprentices or, in the case of an employer seeking

certification to perform work on highway projects, a skilled workforce in which not

less than five percent of the employees are apprentices. (The bill defines "skilled

workforce" as that portion of an employer's workforce that consists of employees who

are employed in apprenticeable trades.)

If an employer is unable to meet either of those requirements, the employer still

may be certified as the sponsor of an acceptable apprenticeship program for a

particular project by making a commitment that the employer will employ on the

project any of the following: