SB 184

Abstract

Senate Substitute No. 1 for Senate Bill No. 48 (SS 1 for SB 48) of the 150th General Assembly enacted a requirement that contractors bidding for large public works contracts provide craft training of apprentices and journeymen. This Act clarifies the craft training requirement and increases options for how contractors can satisfy this requirement. This Act clarifies when craft training is required as follows: 1. Moves the requirement that the Department of Labor maintain a list of crafts for which there are approved and registered training programs to Chapter 2 of Title 19. 2. Revises the definition of “craft training” in § 6902 of Title 29 to mean a program on the list of approved and registered training programs required under Chapter 2 of Title 19. 3. Clarifies the craft training requirement by creating a new statute for the craft training requirement that establishes when craft training must be included in a large public works contract, that the requirement applies to each craft included in the contract, and when the list of crafts for which there are approved programs in Delaware must be updated each year. 4. Makes corresponding revisions to the penalty section of § 6962 of Title 29 to reference the new location of the craft training program requirement. As enacted by SS 1 for SB 48, contractors can satisfy this craft training requirement by providing the craft training themselves or through agreement with other organizations. This Act clarifies and expands the ways that contractors can satisfy the craft training requirement. Under this Act, a contractor can satisfy the craft training requirement by doing any of the following for each craft in the contract for which craft training is required: 1. Having at least 1 active apprentice in a craft training program approved by and registered with any state apprenticeship agency or the United States Department of Labor for the duration of the project. 2. Having at least 1 active apprentice who completes an approved and registered craft training program within the 6 months before the contract was executed. 3. Making a payment for the craft into a new Apprenticeship and Training Fund. The amount of the payment will be established for each craft in an amount that is equal to 4 times the average annual cost of the vocational-technical programs providing craft training for 1 individual for the craft. The Apprenticeship and Training Fund will be used to expand and promote adult trade extension and apprenticeship programs. This Act also creates a penalty for failing to comply with the craft training requirement. Contractors who comply with the craft training requirement by making the payment to the Apprenticeship and Training Fund must make the payment before the contract is executed. For contracts where the craft training requirement will be satisfied through having an apprentice participating in or who has recently completed a craft training program, a contractor who fails to comply with this requirement must make the payment due for the craft to the Apprenticeship and Training Fund and pay a penalty in an amount that does not exceed 10% of that payment. This Act requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 11(a) of Article VIII of the Delaware Constitution requires the affirmative vote of three-fifths of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly to impose a fee.