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).