Relating to financial assistance provided by the economic development authority to certain apprenticeship sponsors and lead apprenticeship sponsors, and including applicability provisions

This bill relates to financial assistance (assistance) provided by the economic development authority (authority) to certain apprenticeship sponsors (sponsor) and lead apprenticeship sponsors (lead sponsor). The bill provides that to be eligible for assistance, a sponsor or lead sponsor must include a minimum of 100 contact hours per apprentice for each training year of an apprenticeship program conducted by the sponsor or lead sponsor. Under current law, there is not a minimum contact hour requirement to be eligible for assistance. The bill defines “contact hours” as the number of hours of in-person instruction received by an apprentice participating in an apprenticeship program. Current law defines “contact hours” as the time spent instructing apprentices in person or, in the case of a lead sponsor with an apprenticeship program totaling 100 or more total instructional hours, “contact hours” includes online training if the total amount of online instruction is not more than percent of the total instructional hours.4, subsection 2. Under the bill, the calculation is modified to account for the minimum 100 contact hours eligibility requirement and the revised definition of “contact hours”. The bill applies to financial assistance provided by the authority to eligible sponsors and lead sponsors that apply for financial assistance on or after July 1, 2021.