SAA State Plan ICR 10.26.23 121923

Required Elements for Submission of the State Plan for Recognition or Continued Recognition as a State Apprenticeship Agency under the National Apprenticeship Act

Date

OMB Control Number 1205-0NEW

Overview

The National Apprenticeship System includes Federal and State agencies, apprenticeship sponsors, employers, labor organizations, intermediaries, workforce partners, and other community organizations that support the advancement of Registered Apprenticeship programs for training workers across industries and occupations that lead to good quality jobs in the United States. Collectively, the National Apprenticeship System strives to promote those high-quality principles for all Registered Apprenticeship programs while encouraging the necessary flexibility to maximize Registered Apprenticeship participation within local economies.

Under the National Apprenticeship Act’s regulations at 29 CFR part 29, subpart C, a state agency may be designated to seek recognition or continued recognition as a State Apprenticeship Agency (SAA) to serve as a Registration Agency in the state by submitting a State Apprenticeship Plan (SAP) to the DOL’s Office of Apprenticeship (OA). The SAP submitted to the OA Administrator includes the State’s current apprenticeship laws, regulations, policies, as well as the State’s strategic vision and strategy for expanding Registered Apprenticeship programs, promoting program quality, and meeting the skilled workforce needs of employers through apprenticeship. The SAP summarizes the operational elements through which the SAA will implement its policies. Finally, the SAP includes a list of assurances that the State must provide for recognition or continued recognition as a SAA.

The adoption of a State Planning process as the process for initial recognition and continuing recognition encourages strengthening of the National Apprenticeship System across state lines through the sharing of long-term Registered Apprenticeship strategies, increasing transparency around operational plans, promoting operational consistency among SAAs while allowing for strategic flexibilities that foster innovation within State systems, and enhancing overall transparency among all Registered Apprenticeship stakeholders.

How State Plan Requirements are Organized.

The major content areas of the SAP include strategic and operational elements and a checklist of assurances that affirm the State’s fidelity to provisions found in 29 CFR § 29.27. The plan is structured in such a way that it encourages States to comprehensively strategize optimal utilization of Registered Apprenticeship resources within the State. In preparing the SAP, States may also identify potential areas of opportunity that could necessitate more stringent strategic planning to successfully navigate. In further detail, the SAP must include:

• Foundational Standards and Policies – As an attachment to the SAP, States must include copies of or a link to proposed or current apprenticeship laws that meet the requirements outlined in 29 CFR §§ 29.27(b)(1)(i) and (ii). Apprenticeship laws may include regulatory and sub-regulatory documents necessary to meet the requirements of this subpart.

• Strategic Planning Elements – Each SAP must include a narrative of the State’s strategic vision for expanding Registered Apprenticeship programs, and for meeting the skilled workforce needs of employers through Registered Apprenticeship, including both existing and emerging high-growth industries and high-quality occupations identified by the State. At minimum, the elements to be described are:

  • Goals for expansion

    • Quantitative Comparison. Provide trends of current apprenticeship enrollment considering key occupational and industry trends along with goals for future enrollment by occupation and industry.

    • Strategic Growth. Describe strategy for the increase of overall workforce participation in Registered Apprenticeship programs, including those strategies intended to ensure equitable and proportionate growth reflective of the communities in which they operate. Provide labor market analysis that clearly demonstrates the substantive value of Registered Apprenticeship within the State’s workforce development ecosystem and how said value will be leveraged to meet the skilled workforce needs of employers.

    • Strategic Expansion. Identify new and emerging occupations and in-demand industries for expansion into Registered Apprenticeship

    • Tools of Measurement. Describe the metrics utilized by the State to track progress toward stated goals.

  • Promoting Registered Apprenticeship Programs for Underserved Communities

    • Aggregate Data. Provide an analysis of current apprentice participants (to include cancellation and completion data) in the State by race, ethnicity, sex, disability status, and veteran status.

    • Diversity Activities. Describe goals and milestones (to include wage parity and occupational segregation data) to demonstrate measurable, equitable increases in Registered Apprenticeship program participation among underserved communities and enhance greater participation in the State across demographics and industry.

  • Alignment of Education and Workforce Development Activities

    • WIOA coordination. Describe any plans to leverage State planning activities that take place under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. §§ 3112, 3113) including the establishment of quantifiable linkages to the State list of eligible providers of training services under section 122(d) of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. § 3152(d)). Describe targets for increased engagement and include pre-determined periods to evaluate progress towards stated targets.

    • Employer Needs. Describe how Registered Apprenticeship programs in the state meet the demonstrated workforce needs of State employers as identified by the State workforce development board or State Workforce Agency.

    • Educational Alignment Activities. Describe activities to coordinate with the State’s education system, including institutions of higher education, state educational agencies (SEAs), local educational agencies (LEAs), State or local Career Technical Education (CTE), and other educational entities that support CTE programs and career pathways. Include pre-determined periods to evaluate progress towards stated goals.

    • Economic Development Activity. Describe the plan for increasing coordination with economic development entities within the State in furtherance of shared economic development priorities. Include pre-determined periods to evaluate progress towards stated goals.

    • Intermediaries. Describe the plan for engaging intermediaries as defined in 29 CFR § 29.2. Include pre-determined periods to evaluate progress towards stated goals.

• Operational Planning Elements – Each State Plan must include a description of the State’s efforts to support the State’s strategic vision for the expansion, improvement, and modernization of Registered Apprenticeship with the State and meet the goals as identified in the Strategic Planning Elements section. This section ensures that the State has the necessary infrastructure, policies, and activities to meet its strategic goals, implement its alignment strategy, and support ongoing Registered Apprenticeship development and coordination. Operational planning elements include:

  • State equal employment opportunity (EEO) plan. In conformity with 29 CFR part 30, provide a plan that describes how the State will promote EEO for apprentices and applicants for apprenticeship in Registered Apprenticeship programs. Technical Assistance. Describe the State’s plan and strategies for the provision of technical assistance to potential sponsors, sponsors, intermediaries, and other Registered Apprenticeship stakeholders for the purposes of recruitment, retention, program development, expansion, or implementation of Registered Apprenticeship models.

  • Data Reporting. Describe the process for meeting quarterly and annual reporting requirements at 29 CFR §§ 29.25 and 29.28 and include a description for collecting, aggregating, analyzing, and reporting apprentice and sponsor enrollment records to the Department. Describe the State’s plan for the use of one or more operating systems that will manage the intake and ongoing collection of Registered Apprenticeship-related data.

  • Program Reviews. Describe the methods and modalities employed by the State to conduct program reviews for Registered Apprenticeship programs in the State. Include proposed schedules, monitoring tools, and personnel training.

  • Registration Standards. Describe the plans to operationalize the State’s policy regarding the establishment of basic standards, criteria, and requirements for program registration and provisions for the temporary suspension, cancellation, or deregistration of programs.

  • Reciprocity. In accordance with 29 CFR § 29.26(d), describe how the State will operationalize its police for providing reciprocity for Registered Apprenticeship programs.

  • State Apprenticeship Council. Describe how the structure of the State Apprenticeship Council is consistent with the requirements set forth in 29 CFR §§ 29.26(b) and (c).

  • Include all forms, applications, instructional guides, templates, and other tools used in furtherance of any of the aforementioned requirements.

• Assurances- The State must provide the following assurances and any applicable statutory or regulatory citations.

The State Plan must affirm the following:	Assurance Provided	Statutory or Regulatory Citation (if applicable)
The State will provide a process for local registration of National Guidelines Apprenticeship Standards recognized by the Administrator pursuant to 29 CFR § 29.15.
The State has sufficient resources to carry out the functions of a State Apprenticeship Agency, including outreach and education; registration of programs and apprentices; provision of technical assistance, and monitoring of programs as required to fulfill the requirements of 29 CFR part 29.
The State will make available on a publicly available website a description of any laws (including regulations), policies, and operational procedures relating to the process of reviewing, registering, and assessing Registered Apprenticeship programs under the State’s apprenticeship system, including those that impose requirements in addition to this rule, as well as any approved State Apprenticeship Plans.
The State requires a written assurance from any sponsors registered by the State that they are complying with the requirements of the Support for Veterans in Effective Apprenticeships Act of 2019 (Public Law 116-134, 134 Stat. 277, 29 U.S.C. 50 c).

• Optional Recognition of an SAA for Registered Career and Technical Education (CTE) Apprenticeship Programs - For those States seeking recognition to register CTE Apprenticeship programs, as described in 29 CFR part 29, Subpart B, the SAP must include the following:

  • Apprenticeship Law Governing CTE. Submit the proposed or current Registered CTE Apprenticeship laws as described in 29 CFR § 29.24(g)(8). Apprenticeship laws may include regulatory and sub-regulatory documents necessary to meet the requirements of this subpart.

  • Strategic Vision. Describe the State’s strategic vision and strategy for the expansion of Registered CTE Apprenticeship programs. Please describe any activities to support this expansion, including partnerships with secondary education institutions, institutions of higher education, intermediaries, or other educational entities.

  • Coordination. Describe how the Registration Agency and State CTE Agency will coordinate on the overall administration of Registered CTE Apprenticeship programs in the State as described in 29 CFR § 29.24(a)(1). Coordination activities include program approvals, program reviews, data collection, technical assistance, and compliance activities.

  • Written Agreement. Provide an agreement between the Registration Agency and the State CTE agency as described in 29 CFR § 29.24(a)(2). The agreement must include details regarding the roles and responsibility of each agency.

Paperwork Reduction Act: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) provides that an agency may not conduct, and no person is required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. Public reporting burden for this information collection is estimated to be 86 hours per state; including time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Responding to this collection is only required if a State is seeking authority from the U.S. Department of Labor to register apprenticeship programs for Federal purposes. In addition, responses to this information collection are public, and the agencies offer no assurances of confidentiality. Send comments regarding the burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Apprenticeship, and reference OMB control number 1205-0NEW. Note: Please do not return the completed plan to this address.