Legislation proposes elimination of State Apprentice Council

State Rep. Mike Tobash (R- Schuylkill County) recently sent a memo to House members seeking cosponsors for a bill that would eliminate the State Apprenticeship Council.

The council was established in the Apprenticeship and Training Act of 1961. Establishment of the council was one of two options required by the federal Department of Labor’s (DOL) apprenticeship and job training standards. The other option was to allow the federal Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training to manage the apprenticeship program.

DOL revised its apprenticeship standards in 2008 and mandated specific criteria for states to achieve by 2010. Pennsylvania is still not in compliance.

“My legislation will abolish the State Apprenticeship Council and defer that advisory capacity to the federal DOL, which publishes mandated standards,” Tobash said. “This change will improve the process for employers who wish to implement an apprenticeship program to train new skilled workers, save the commonwealth money by eliminating an unnecessary state bureaucracy, and streamline the certification of highly skilled workers to join Pennsylvania’s workforce.”

Passage of the bill would avoid the DOL refusing to acknowledge the state’s ability to create, administer, and enforce its apprenticeship programs.

This would eliminate Pennsylvania’s eligibility for federal government funding for promoting apprenticeship and technical skills training.