SB660: Youth Employment Solutions apprenticeship program; feasibility of implementation.


SENATE BILL NO. 660
AMENDMENT IN THE NATURE OF A SUBSTITUTE
(Proposed by the Senate Committee on Education and Health
on February 12, 2018)
(Patron Prior to Substitute--Senator Wagner)
A BILL directing the Department of Labor and Industry, with the assistance of the Department of Education, to determine the feasibility of implementing a Youth Employment Solutions apprenticeship program; authorization to establish program.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. § 1. The Department of Labor and Industry (the Department), with the assistance of the Department of Education, shall determine the feasibility of implementing a Youth Employment Solutions (YES) apprenticeship program. As used in this act, "YES apprenticeship program" means a program under which the appropriate agencies of the Commonwealth enter into an agreement with a private staffing firm under which the firm provides services to an employer, as defined in § 40.1-120 of the Code of Virginia, that result in the assumption by the private staffing firm of duties and responsibilities, with regard to apprentices, including duties and responsibilities arising with respect to the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act and insurance liability, that would otherwise apply to the employer. The Department shall (i) identify potential benefits and problems of implementing a YES apprenticeship program as implemented in Kentucky; (ii) determine whether one or more private staffing firms are willing to participate with the agencies in conducting a YES apprenticeship program in the Commonwealth; and (iii) ascertain whether state or federal law prevents the agencies' implementation of a YES apprenticeship program and, if so, identify such law in a report to the Chairs of the Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor, the Senate Committee on Education and Health, the House Committee on Commerce and Labor, and the House Committee on Education by October 1, 2018.

SENATE BILL NO. 660

Offered January 10, 2018
Prefiled January 10, 2018
A BILL directing the Department of Labor and Industry and Department of Education to determine the feasibility of implementing a Youth Employment Solutions apprenticeship program; authorization to establish program.
Patron-- Wagner
Referred to Committee on Rules

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. § 1. The Department of Labor and Industry and the Department of Education (the agencies) shall determine the feasibility of implementing a Youth Employment Solutions (YES) apprenticeship program. As used in this act, "a YES apprenticeship program" means a program under which the appropriate agencies of the Commonwealth enter into an agreement with a private staffing firm under which the firm provides services as an intermediary between the Commonwealth's apprenticeship program and an employer, as defined in § 40.1-120 of the Code of Virginia, that result in the assumption by the private staffing firm of duties and responsibilities, with regard to apprentices, including duties and responsibilities arising with respect to the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act and insurance liability, that would otherwise apply to the employer. The agencies shall (i) identify potential benefits and problems of implementing a YES apprenticeship program as implemented in Kentucky; (ii) determine whether one or more private staffing firms are willing to participate with the agencies in conducting a YES apprenticeship program in the Commonwealth; and (iii) ascertain whether state or federal law prevents the agencies' implementation of a YES apprenticeship program and, if so, identify such law in a report to the chairs of the Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor, the Senate Committee on Education and Health, the House Committee on Commerce and Labor, and the House Committee on Education by October 1, 2018. If the agencies determine that implementing a YES apprenticeship program would be feasible and not require changes to existing law, the agencies shall implement such a program in the Commonwealth.