Senate Passes Bill to Expand Apprenticeship Quotas to Higher Ed

The State Senate passed legislation opposed by AGC which extends apprenticeship quota requirements to higher education projects and adds violations of apprentice regulations as elements in both determining bidder responsibility as well as a possible Prevailing Wage strike for bidding eligibility purposes.

AGC has posted an action alert on its website regarding this legislation encouraging members to contact their Legislators via the AGC Grassroots Action Network (click here). Even if members recently used the network to comment on the Retro bill they are asked to do so again as the target shifts from Senators to House members.

AGC was able to improve the original bill SB 5873 which would have required that apprentices be used for at least 15 percent of the labor hours of each trade or craft on all public works projects with apprentice utilization requirements instead of the current requirement of 15 percent of the total labor hours. This per trade or craft element has been stripped from substitute bill SSB 5873. AGC was also able to secure language in the substitute bill that strengthens the accountability of apprenticeship committees and provides due process protections for contractors.

AGC continues to oppose the measure due to the expansion of quota requirements and the onerous enforcement language.

Contact Rick Slunaker at 360-352-5000 with questions or comments about the bill.

The vote in the Senate on SSB 5873 is as follows.

Voting Yea: Senators Benton Berkey Brown Eide Fairley Franklin Fraser Hatfield Hobbs Jacobsen Kastama Kauffman Keiser Kilmer Kline Kohl-Welles Marr McAuliffe McDermott Murray Oemig Prentice Pridemore Regala Roach Rockefeller Shin and Tom
Voting Nay: Senators Becker Brandland Carrell Delvin Haugen Hewitt Holmquist Honeyford King McCaslin Morton Parlette Pflug Schoesler Sheldon Stevens Swecker and Zarelli
Absent: Senators Hargrove and Jarrett
Excused: Senator Ranker