Two weeks after the state Senate voted nearly unanimously to approve it, the state House overwhelmingly voted to approve a revised bill that will loosen the restrictions on hiring apprentices.
Late Wednesday night, the House voted 147-0 with four representatives absent to approve Senate Bill 1465. The Senate had approved an amended version of the bill on May 14 by a 35-0 vote with one senator absent.
Existing state law sets a hiring ratio for apprentices that certain trades must follow. The rule allows contractors to hire up to three apprentices at a 1:1 ratio. After that, employers must abide by a 1:3 ratio, which means that for each new apprentice, a company must have three additional journeymen. So, a company with 12 licensed journeymen can only have six apprentices on staff.
The rules apply to companies in the electrical; plumbing; heating, piping, and cooling; sprinkler fitter; and sheet metal work trades.
The bill now approved by both chambers of the legislature, however, grants the commissioner of the state Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) the power to allow a licensed contractor to hire one or more additional apprentices, up to a total of eight, even if the contractor does not employ enough journeypersons to satisfy the hiring ratio.
Contractors must apply to DCP for relief from the ratio requirement, must not have had any state disciplinary or enforcement actions taken against them in the three years before seeking relief, and must show that “good cause” exists for allowing the relief, the bill states.
It also requires the DCP commissioner to complete a review of the ratio relief application within 10 days.
Advocates for the change argue the existing ratio restricts licensed contractors from bringing on new hires to work in the trades, stifling workforce development at a time when Connecticut has 82,000 job openings.
The trades, in particular, have been hard hit by labor shortages. Proponents of the bill say it will have a broad impact for not only young adults entering the trades, but for the state’s economy as well.
The bill now heads to Gov. Ned Lamont’s desk for his signature.