Washington State

House of Representatives

Office of Program Research

BILL

ANALYSIS

Capital Budget Committee

HB 1849

This analysis was prepared by non-partisan legislative staff for the use of legislative members in their deliberations. This analysis is not a part of the legislation nor does it constitute a statement of legislative intent.

Brief Summary of Bill

Specifies that apprenticeship utilization hours apply to all contractors and subcontractors.
Makes awarding agencies are responsible for monitoring a contractor and subcontractor's compliance with apprenticeship utilization hours.
Provides that noncompliance with apprenticeship utilization requirements is one of the violations that count towards debarring a contractor from bidding on public works. Requires for purposes of meeting the responsible bidder criteria, that the bidder must not have been found out of compliance with apprenticeship utilization requirements.

Background:

Apprenticeships.

Apprenticeships are a combination of on-the-job training under the supervision of journey level workers and related classroom instruction. Apprenticeships last from one to six years. During an apprenticeship, apprentices are paid lower wages than journey level workers.

The Washington State Apprenticeship and Training Council, which is part of the Department of Labor and Industries establishes apprenticeship program standards, approves apprenticeship training programs, and otherwise governs the programs. Apprenticeship standards address the ratio of apprentices to journey level workers allowed, the type of work apprentices may do, and the required supervision of apprentices.

Apprenticeship Utilization Requirements.

Contracts for public works that are estimated to cost $1 million or more must require that at least 15 percent of the labor hours be performed by apprentices enrolled in approved apprenticeship training programs. This requirement applies to most contracts awarded by the state, school districts, and state four-year higher education institutions. Awarding entities may adjust the apprentice utilization requirements on specific projects for certain reasons, such as if there is a lack of apprentices in a specific geographic area. For the Department of Transportation, apprenticeship utilization requirements apply to public works estimated to cost $3 million or more until July 1, 2020, at which time the dollar threshold changes to $2 million.

Lowest Responsible Bidder.

To be a considered the "lowest responsible bidder" who is qualified to be awarded a public works project the bidder must: (1) be a registered contractor; (2) have a current state unified business identifier number; (3) if applicable, have industrial insurance coverage for employees working in Washington, have an Employment Security Department number, and an excise tax registration number; (4) not be disqualified for being unlicensed or unregistered, and have kept accurate records regarding subcontractors over the last two years; (5) maintained compliance with apprenticeship utilization requirements over the past one year; and (6) met any supplemental criteria as established by the state or municipality.

Summary of Bill:

The apprenticeship utilization requirement applies to every contractor and subcontractor on the public works project.

Labor hours must be measured on a per-contractor basis.

The awarding agency of the public work contract must monitor contractor and subcontractor apprenticeship hours. The contractor shall be report any non-compliance no later than the final project acceptance to the Department of Labor and Industries.

Contractors may not be required to exceed the apprenticeship utilization requirements.

The percentage of labor hours required to be performed by apprentices or not having been found out of compliance to the lowest responsive bidder requirements.

The criteria for not allowing contractors to bid on a public works project for one year includes a determination of being out of compliance with required labor hours performed by an apprentice.