An Act establishing the Task Force to Develop a Statewide Plan to Diversify Apprenticeships.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. There is established, in the State Employment and Training Commission, a Task Force to Develop a State-wide Plan to Diversify Apprenticeships. The task force shall include representatives of the Department of Labor and Workforce Development, the Department of Education, the Commission on Higher Education, and the Chief Diversity Officer in the Department of the Treasury, who shall serve ex officio, and six members appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate as follows: two members representing businesses or organizations of businesses which participate in apprenticeship programs; two members representing labor organizations which participate in apprenticeship programs; and two members representing community-based or other advocacy organizations which address issues of discrimination. The appointments shall expire upon the submission of a report to the Governor and Legislature pursuant to subsection d. of this section.
b. The purpose of the task force is to develop a State-wide plan to diversify apprenticeships which provides industry-specific recommendations for affirmative action plans to increase diversity in apprenticeship programs. The plan should be developed based on the demographics of the State and data on historically under-represented groups, including by gender, race, and disability status, and be tailored to the State’s businesses, employer and employee organizations, schools and institutions of higher education, training providers, and residents .
c. In developing the plan, the task force shall review current State efforts to expand the use of, and increase diversity in, apprenticeship programs, including existing initiatives to prepare minority group members and women for registered apprenticeship programs and related post-secondary education, such as grants to consortia provided pursuant to the "Youth Transitions to Work Partnership Act," P.L.1993, c.268 (C.34:15E-1 et seq.), and initiatives, such as those of the NJ PLACE program established pursuant to P.L.2009, c.200 (C.34:15D-24 et al.), to facilitate the coordination and articulation of registered apprenticeship programs with degree programs in institutions of higher education, including initiatives to articulate academic programs in a manner which may assist in providing transitions from trade occupations to professional occupations utilized in the construction industry. The task force shall also review, and consider ways to enhance or expand, existing State and local affirmative action efforts with respect to apprenticeship, including the requirements of P.L.2002, c.44 (C.52:38-1 et seq.) to include plans in all public works project labor agreements to improve the shares of employment and apprenticeship positions for minority group members and women, and including the use of funds from the 0.5% assessment made on public work construction contracts, pursuant to section 1 of P.L.2009, c.313 (C.52:38-7), for on-the-job or off-the-job outreach and training programs for minority group members and women in construction trade occupations or related occupations including engineering and management occupations.
d. The task force shall issue a report of the plan to the Governor and Legislature not later than one year after the members of the commission are appointed, and make the report available to the public by means including the posting of the report on the web sites of the State agencies represented on the task force.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
Approved January 13, 2020.