[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4386 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 4386
To establish an advisory committee regarding data standardization and
integration for apprenticeships, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
April 27, 2026
Mr. Cassidy (for himself and Mr. Tuberville) introduced the following
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health,
Education, Labor, and Pensions
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To establish an advisory committee regarding data standardization and
integration for apprenticeships, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Apprenticeship Data Value
Improvements to Create Employment Act'' or the ``ADVICE Act''.
SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF AN ADVISORY COMMITTEE REGARDING
APPRENTICESHIPS.
(a) Establishment.--There is established an apprenticeship advisory
committee within the Department of Labor (in this section referred to
as the ``Committee'').
(b) Membership.--The Secretary of Labor shall appoint to the
Committee--
(1) 4 members representing State workforce agencies, of
which 2 members shall be from States with a State
apprenticeship agency;
(2) 2 members representing statewide longitudinal data
systems that specialized in privacy, security, and
interoperability;
(3) 2 members who are sponsors of a registered
apprenticeship program, of which 1 member shall be from a
sponsor that is an intermediary;
(4) 2 members that are sponsors of a registered
apprenticeship program who represent industries with a
historically low proportion of registered apprenticeship
programs that experienced a high growth of such programs in the
5 years before the date of enactment of this Act;
(5) 2 members representing labor organizations and labor-
management organizations;
(6) 2 members representing industry, of which 1 member
shall be from an industry with a historically low proportion of
registered apprenticeship programs that experienced a high
growth of such programs in the 5 years before the date of
enactment of this Act; and
(7) 2 members representing institutions of higher education
institutions that work with sponsors of registered
apprenticeship programs.
(c) Period of Appointment; Vacancies.--
(1) In general.--A member of the Committee shall be
appointed for the life of the Committee.
(2) Vacancies.--A vacancy in the Committee--
(A) shall not affect the powers of the Committee;
and
(B) shall be filled in the same manner as the
original appointment.
(d) Duties.--Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of
this Act, the Committee shall submit a report with recommendations to
the Secretary of Labor and Congress that includes the following:
(1) Recommendations to incentivize and permit States to
increase the standardization, integration, and interoperability
of registered apprenticeship program data with--
(A) the Workforce Integrated Performance System of
the Department of Labor;
(B) the State wage interchange system of the
Department;
(C) data collection for the Consolidated Annual
Report of the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult
Education of the Department of Education;
(D) unemployment insurance claims data;
(E) local career and technical education management
systems;
(F) higher education attainment data;
(G) the data collected for purposes of the
temporary assistance for needy families program under
section 611 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 411);
(H) the data collected for the quality control
database of the supplemental nutrition assistance
program under section 16 of the Food and Nutrition Act
of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2025);
(I) the data collected for the transformed Medicaid
Statistical Information System (T-MSIS) (or a successor
system);
(J) the data collected for the National Housing
Preservation Database (or a successor database);
(K) social services data not otherwise described in
this paragraph; and
(L) other systems determined by the Secretary of
Labor to be appropriate for workforce data
standardization.
(2) Recommendations to increase such standardization and
integration by--
(A) improving user interface and user friendliness;
(B) lowering the burden on sponsors to meet
reporting requirements, including by--
(i) lowering the amount of software a State
is required to use to collect, input, and
transfer data to Federal offices; and
(ii) lowering the human hours needed to
conduct data collection and aggregation;
(C) improving the timeliness and accuracy at which
data is collected; and
(D) preparing States to report data to the
Department of Labor in a standardized format that
reduces the need for duplicative input.
(3) Recommendations to incentivize and establish a
mechanism for registered apprenticeship programs to collect
outcomes-based data, including for--
(A) statistics on retention when an apprentice
completes an apprenticeship and within 5 years of the
apprentice completing the apprenticeship; and
(B) statistics on pay during and after the
apprenticeship program.
(4) Recommendations to--
(A) better track the outcomes-based data of paid
training programs that are not otherwise a registered
apprenticeship program, incorporate related technical
instruction into the program, and pay participants in
the program; and
(B) encourage incorporation of such outcomes-based
data into State longitudinal data systems.
(5) Recommendations to incorporate registered
apprenticeship program data into the individual data for
students in elementary and secondary education and
postsecondary education and individual analysis of such data.
(6) Recommendations to encourage the inclusion and analysis
of registered apprenticeship program data within statewide
longitudinal systems (as described in section 208(a) of the
Educational Technical Assistance Act of 2002 (20 U.S.C. 9607)),
to ensure that data is accurately and efficiently managed,
analyzed, disaggregated.
(7) Recommendations to increase the access of an individual
to their own learning and employment records.
(e) Personnel Matters.--
(1) Detail of government employees.--Upon determination of
need by the Committee, in coordination with the Secretary of
Labor, a Federal Government employee may be detailed to the
Committee without reimbursement, and such detail shall be
without interruption or loss of civil service status or
privilege.
(2) Travel expenses.--A member of the Committee shall be
allowed travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of
subsistence, at rates authorized for employees of agencies
under subchapter I of chapter 57 of title 5, United States
Code, while away from their homes or regular places of business
in the performance of services for the Committee.
(f) Definitions.--For purposes of this section:
(1) Registered apprenticeship program.--The term
``registered apprenticeship program'' means an apprenticeship
program registered under the Act of August 16, 1937 (commonly
known as the ``National Apprenticeship Act''; 50 Stat. 664,
chapter 663; 29 U.S.C. 50 et seq.).
(2) Sponsor.--The term ``sponsor'' means any person,
association, committee, or organization operating an
apprenticeship program and in whose name the program is (or is
to be) registered or approved as a registered apprenticeship
program.
(3) State apprenticeship agency.--The term ``State
apprenticeship agency'' means an entity of the government of a
State that is recognized, under criteria established by the
Secretary of Labor, for purposes of approving program standards
that conform with the standards set by the Secretary for
registering an apprenticeship program as a registered
apprenticeship program.
(g) Termination.--The Committee shall terminate on the day after
the date described in subsection (d).
SEC. 3. RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE SECRETARY OF LABOR.
Not later than 30 days after receipt of the report submitted under
section 2(d), the Secretary of Labor, in consultation with the
Secretary of Education, shall--
(1) issue a policy plan based on the recommendations in
such report; and
(2) submit to Congress a request with targeted
appropriations to empower and incentivize States to carry out
the recommendations in the policy plan.
SEC. 4. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DATA STANDARDIZATION AND INTEGRATION
POLICY PLAN.
The Act of August 16, 1937 (commonly known as the ``National
Apprenticeship Act''; 50 Stat. 664, chapter 663; 29 U.S.C. 50 et seq.)
is amended--
(1) by redesignating section 4 as section 5; and
(2) by inserting after section 3 the following:
``SEC. 4. RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE APPRENTICESHIP ADVISORY COMMITTEE
DATA STANDARDIZATION AND INTEGRATION POLICY PLAN.
``In administering a system to carry out the activities authorized
and directed to be carried out under section 1, the Secretary of Labor,
in collaboration with the Secretary of Education, shall consider the
recommendations in the policy plan issued under section 3 of the ADVICE
Act.''.
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