II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 777 

To direct the Secretary of Labor to enter into contracts with industry intermediaries for purposes of promoting the development of and access 

to apprenticeships in the technology sector, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 13, 2019 

Mr. GARDNER (for himself, Mr. HEINRICH, Mr. MORAN, and Mr. MARKEY) 

introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 

Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Labor to enter into contracts 

with industry intermediaries for purposes of promoting 

the development of and access to apprenticeships in the 

technology sector, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Championing Appren5 ticeships for New Careers and Employees in Technology 

6 Act’’ or the ‘‘CHANCE in TECH Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS. 

8 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) During any given 90-day period there can 

2 be more than 500,000 information technology job 

3 openings in the United States. 

4 (2) Employment in the technology sector is 

5 growing twice as fast as employment in the United 

6 States. 

7 (3) Jobs in the technology sector tend to pro8 vide higher pay and better benefits than other jobs 

9 and have been more resilient to economic downturn 

10 than jobs available in other private sector industries. 

11 (4) Information technology skills are transfer12 able across nearly all industries. 

13 (5) Exceptional education and on-the-job train14 ing programs exist and should be scaled to meet the 

15 demands of the modern technology workforce. 

16 (6) Adoption of existing employer-driven inter17 mediary models, such as ApprenticeshipUSA under 

18 the Department of Labor, will help grow the infor19 mation technology workforce. 

20 (7) Career pathway education should start in 

21 high school through pathways and programs of 

22 study that align with local and regional employer 

23 needs. 

24 (8) Preparing a student for a job in the tech25 nology sector is essential to the growth and competiVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:46 Mar 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S777.IS S777

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1 tiveness of the economy in the United States in the 

2 21st century. 

3 (9) Nearly 800,000 information technology 

4 workers will retire between 2017 and 2024. 

5 (10) In 2016, the average salary in the infor6 mation technology sector was $108,000, while the 

7 average salary among all other sectors was $53,040. 

8 SEC. 3. TECHNOLOGY APPRENTICESHIP CONTRACTS. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Labor (referred 

10 to in this section as ‘‘the Secretary’’) shall enter into con11 tracts with industry intermediaries for the purpose of pro12 moting the development of and access to apprenticeships 

13 in the technology sector, from amounts appropriated 

14 under section 5. 

15 (b) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to be awarded a con16 tract under this section, an industry intermediary shall 

17 submit an application to the Secretary, at such time and 

18 in such a manner as may be required by the Secretary, 

19 that identifies proposed activities designed to further the 

20 purpose described in subsection (a). 

21 (c) SELECTION.—The Secretary shall award con22 tracts under this section based on competitive criteria to 

23 be prescribed by the Secretary. 

24 (d) CONTRACTOR ACTIVITIES.—An industry inter25 mediary that is awarded a contract under this section may 


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1 only use the funds made available through such contract 

2 to carry out activities designed to further the purpose de3 scribed in subsection (a), including— 

4 (1) facilitating the provision and development of 

5 apprenticeships in the technology sector through col6 laborations with public and private entities that pro7 vide job-related instruction, such as on-the-job train8 ing, pre-apprenticeship training, and technical train9 ing; 

10 (2) encouraging entities to establish such ap11 prenticeships; 

12 (3) identifying, assessing, and training appli13 cants for such apprenticeships who are— 

14 (A) enrolled in high school; 

15 (B) enrolled in an early college high school 

16 that focuses on education in STEM subjects; 

17 (C) individuals aged 18 years or older who 

18 meet appropriate qualification standards; or 

19 (D) enrolled in pre-apprenticeship or ap20 prenticeship training initiatives that allow 

21 adults to concurrently increase academic and 

22 workforce skills through proven, evidence-based 

23 models that connect all learning to the specific 

24 apprenticeship involved and significantly accelVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:46 Mar 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S777.IS S777

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1 erate completion of preparation for the appren2 ticeship; and 

3 (4) tracking the progress of such applicants 

4 who participate in such apprenticeships. 

5 SEC. 4. CHANCE IN TECH AWARDS FOR 21ST CENTURY 

6 SCHOOLS. 

7 (a) AWARDS AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary of Edu8 cation may issue awards, to be known as ‘‘CHANCE in 

9 TECH Awards for 21st Century Schools’’, to schools (re10 ferred to in this section as ‘‘covered schools’’) that— 

11 (1) are secondary schools or junior or commu12 nity colleges; and 

13 (2) demonstrate high achievement in providing 

14 students necessary skills to compete in the 21st cen15 tury workforce. 

16 (b) CRITERIA.—In selecting a covered school for an 

17 award under subsection (a), the Secretary shall take into 

18 account— 

19 (1) the availability of STEM, career and tech20 nical education, and computer technology courses at 

21 the covered school; 

22 (2) State academic assessments, as described in 

23 section 111(b)(2) of the Elementary and Secondary 

24 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6311(b)(2)), of 

25 students at the covered school in STEM subjects; 


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1 (3) any coordination between the covered school 

2 and local and regional employers in the technology 

3 sector for the purpose of providing work-based learn4 ing programs such as apprenticeships and intern5 ships; and 

6 (4) the availability of individualized plans pro7 vided by the covered school to students relating to 

8 postsecondary education or training, career paths, 

9 and financial aid. 

10 SEC. 5. FUNDING. 

11 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

12 this Act such sums as may be necessary for fiscal year 

13 2020 and each subsequent fiscal year. 

14 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

15 In this Act: 

16 (1) APPRENTICESHIP.—The term ‘‘apprentice17 ship’’ means an apprenticeship registered under the 

18 Act of August 16, 1937 (commonly known as the 

19 ‘‘National Apprenticeship Act’’; 50 Stat. 664, chap20 ter 663; 29 U.S.C. 50 et seq.). 

21 (2) CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION.—The 

22 term ‘‘career and technical education’’ has the 

23 meaning given such term in section 3 of the Carl D. 

24 Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 

25 2006 (20 U.S.C. 2302). 


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1 (3) EARLY COLLEGE HIGH SCHOOL.—The term 

2 ‘‘early college high school’’ has the meaning given 

3 such term in section 8101 of the Elementary and 

4 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 

5 (4) HIGH SCHOOL.—The term ‘‘high school’’ 

6 has the meaning given such term in section 8101 of 

7 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 

8 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 

9 (5) INDUSTRY INTERMEDIARY.—The term ‘‘in10 dustry intermediary’’ means an entity that— 

11 (A) in order to accelerate apprenticeship 

12 program development and help establish new 

13 apprenticeship partnerships at the national, 

14 State, or regional level, serves as a conduit be15 tween an employer and an entity, such as— 

16 (i) an industry partner; 

17 (ii) the Department of Labor; and 

18 (iii) a State agency responsible for 

19 workforce development programs; 

20 (B) demonstrates a capacity to work with 

21 employers and other key partners to identify 

22 workforce trends and foster public-private fund23 ing to establish new apprenticeship programs; 

24 and 

25 (C) is an entity such as— 


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1 (i) a business; 

2 (ii) a consortium of businesses; 

3 (iii) a business-related nonprofit orga4 nization, including industry associations 

5 and business federations; 

6 (iv) a private organization functioning 

7 as a workforce intermediary for the ex8 press purpose of serving the needs of busi9 nesses, including community-based non10 profit service providers and industry11 aligned training providers; or 

12 (v) a consortium of any of the entities 

13 described in clauses (i) through (iv). 

14 (6) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 

15 term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 

16 meaning given such term in section 102 of the High17 er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002). 

18 (7) JUNIOR OR COMMUNITY COLLEGE.—The 

19 term ‘‘junior or community college’’ has the meaning 

20 given the term in section 312(f) of the Higher Edu21 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1058(f)). 

22 (8) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—The term 

23 ‘‘local educational agency’’ has the meaning given 

24 such term in section 8101 of the Elementary and 

25 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 


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1 (9) SECONDARY SCHOOL.—The term ‘‘sec2 ondary school’’ has the meaning given such term in 

3 section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu4 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 

5 (10) STATE EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—The term 

6 ‘‘State educational agency’’ has the meaning given 

7 such term in section 8101 of the Elementary and 

8 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 

9 (11) STEM.—The term ‘‘STEM’’ means 

10 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. 

11 (12) TECHNOLOGY SECTOR.—The term ‘‘tech12 nology sector’’ means the industry sector involved in 

13 the design or development of hardware, software, or 

14 security of digital data. 

Æ 


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