Apprenticeship approval

AN ACT Relating to the requirements and process for approving and 1
registering apprenticeship programs; adding a new chapter to Title 2
28B RCW; creating a new section; and recodifying RCW 49.04.010, 3
49.04.030, 49.04.035, 49.04.040, 49.04.050, 49.04.060, 49.04.065, 4
49.04.070, 49.04.080, 49.04.090, 49.04.100, 49.04.110, 49.04.120, 5
49.04.130, 49.04.141, 49.04.150, 49.04.160, 49.04.170, 49.04.180, 6
49.04.190, 49.04.200, 49.04.210, 49.04.220, 49.04.230, 49.04.240, 7
49.04.250, 49.04.260, 49.04.270, 49.04.280, 49.04.290, 49.04.300, and 8
49.04.910. 9
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:10
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) The legislature finds that, according 11
to the Washington Roundtable, over the next decade, 20 percent of 12
projected job openings (or 313,000 jobs) will require 13
apprenticeships, certificates, and other industry-aligned training 14
credentials. However, of those, only 86,000 jobs can be filled 15
through Washington's current education and training systems and in-16
migration, leaving a shortage of 228,000 workers with these 17
credentials. In 2022, Senate Bill No. 5600 was signed into law with 18
the stated intent of increasing new apprenticeship opportunities in 19
our state, and specifically that apprenticeship programs seeking 20
state registration receive prompt consideration with minimum delay 21
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.
p. 1 HB 1777
for more apprenticeship opportunities to be available for workers and 1
employers. However, in 2024, 17 new programs applied for approval. Of 2
those, nine were approved, four withdrew their application, and four 3
are awaiting an adjudicative hearing. Competitor objections were 4
filed against 10 applications. An additional six applications were 5
left over from 2023. Of those, four were approved, one was denied, 6
and one is awaiting an adjudicative hearing on an objection. For 7
comparison purposes, in federal fiscal year 2021, 2,879 new 8
apprenticeship programs were approved for a total of 27,385 approved 9
programs across all states. The excessive delays in the state's 10
approval process have proved particularly burdensome for those 11
programs that have already received federal approval based on 12
substantially similar standards, including programs administered by 13
established tribal and nontribal businesses and organizations.14
(2) It is therefore the legislature's intent to expand the 15
availability of apprenticeship programs by expediting consideration 16
of state approval of apprenticeship programs that have current 17
approval by the federal government, reforming the competitor 18
objection process, and updating the apprenticeship council reporting 19
requirements to include information on how Washington compares to 20
other states and the federal government in approving new 21
apprenticeship programs. 22
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. In the annual report required by RCW 23
49.04.050 (as recodified by this act), the apprenticeship council 24
must include the following:25
(1) A list of apprenticeship programs that have applied for state 26
approval, including the status of provisional or permanent approval 27
for each program, the reasons for any denials, and the status of 28
competitor objections; and 29
(2) An analysis of the state's approval rate of proposed 30
apprenticeship programs, including a comparison to the approval rate 31
of the federal office of apprenticeship and the approval rate of all 32
states with federally recognized state apprenticeship agencies during 33
the same time period. 34
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. (1) The apprenticeship council shall 35
approve and register an apprenticeship program when the 36
apprenticeship committee and program standards conform to this 37
chapter and the rules adopted under this chapter. Initial 38
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registration is provisional for 12 months. Following the initial 1
provisional year, the registration must be made permanent unless:2
(a) The provisional registration status is extended to allow for 3
adjudication or mediation of an objection under subsection (2) of 4
this section; 5
(b) The department of labor and industries identified 6
deficiencies in a performance review, in which case provisional 7
approval may be extended through the training term; or8
(c) The registration is rescinded based on a compliance review.9
(2) The apprenticeship council must expedite consideration of 10
state approval of any apprenticeship program that has current 11
approval by the federal government, including those administered by 12
tribal or nontribal entities and organizations. For purposes of 13
expedited consideration, the council must limit its review of the 14
program, including consideration of competitor objections, to those 15
elements where state law and rules specifically impose greater or 16
unique requirements as compared to federal law. The council shall 17
adopt policies and practices for expediting approval of programs 18
under this subsection. 19
(3)(a) A competitor may file an objection within 30 days of the 20
apprenticeship council's provisional approval of a new apprenticeship 21
committee or standards. A competitor objection may not be filed or 22
considered until provisional approval has been granted by the 23
council. An objection must comply with standards adopted by the 24
council and the department of labor and industries. The provisional 25
status of a program may be extended in six-month intervals to 26
accommodate the objection process, which may include voluntary 27
mediation. Registration may not be made permanent until the objection 28
has been adjudicated or otherwise resolved or withdrawn.29
(b) The apprenticeship council or an administrative law judge may 30
require a competitor to pay the applicant's reasonable attorneys' 31
fees and costs if it finds that the competitor's objection was not 32
substantially justified. For the purposes of this section, an 33
objection is "substantially justified" if it had a reasonable basis 34
in law or fact at the time that it was filed. 35
(c) The apprenticeship council may impose sanctions if it finds 36
that a competitor has filed two or more frivolous objections under 37
this section. Sanctions may include, but are not limited to: Payment 38
of the applicant's or applicants' reasonable attorneys' fees and 39
costs; a monetary penalty not to exceed $10,000 payable to the 40
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department of labor and industries; or other appropriate sanctions as 1
determined by the council. An objection may be considered frivolous 2
if: The objection is not substantially justified; the objection does 3
not comply with the council's requirements for objections including, 4
but not limited to, failing to identify the specific standards 5
proposed by the applicant in relation to a specific administrative 6
rule or standard; or the competitor knowingly objected to a standard 7
that is identical or substantively the same as an approved standard 8
of an existing apprenticeship committee. 9
NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. RCW 49.04.010 , 49.04.030, 49.04.035, 10
49.04.040, 49.04.050, 49.04.060, 49.04.065, 49.04.070, 49.04.080, 11
49.04.090, 49.04.100, 49.04.110, 49.04.120, 49.04.130, 49.04.141, 12
49.04.150, 49.04.160, 49.04.170, 49.04.180, 49.04.190, 49.04.200, 13
49.04.210, 49.04.220, 49.04.230, 49.04.240, 49.04.250, 49.04.260, 14
49.04.270, 49.04.280, 49.04.290, 49.04.300, and 49.04.910 are each 15
recodified as a new chapter in Title 28B RCW. The code reviser is 16
directed, in the next technical corrections bill, to correct all 17
references to chapter 49.04 RCW to the corresponding reference in the 18
new chapter in Title 28B RCW created by this act.19
NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. Sections 2 and 3 of this act are each 20
added to the new chapter created in section 4 of this act.21
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