II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1518 

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 

JULY 10, 2017 

Mr. GARDNER (for himself and Mr. HEINRICH) 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 22:03 Jul 14, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1518.IS S1518

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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 subsection (e). 

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 06:30 Jul 14, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1518.IS S1518

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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 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

6 are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary such 

7 sums as may be necessary for the purposes of carrying 

8 out this section. 

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

10 SCHOOLS. 

11 (a) AWARDS AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary of Edu12 cation may issue awards, to be known as ‘‘CHANCE in 

13 TECH Awards for 21st Century Schools’’, to schools (re14 ferred to in this section as ‘‘covered schools’’) that— 

15 (1) are secondary schools or junior or commu16 nity colleges; and 

17 (2) demonstrate high achievement in providing 

18 students necessary skills to compete in the 21st cen19 tury workforce. 

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

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

22 account— 

23 (1) the availability of STEM, career and tech24 nical education, and computer technology courses at 

25 the covered school; 


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1 (2) State academic assessments, as described in 

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

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

4 students at the covered school in STEM subjects; 

5 (3) any coordination between the covered school 

6 and local and regional employers in the technology 

7 sector for the purpose of providing work-based learn8 ing programs such as apprenticeships and intern9 ships; and 

10 (4) the availability of individualized plans pro11 vided by the covered school to students relating to 

12 postsecondary education or training, career paths, 

13 and financial aid. 

14 SEC. 5. FUNDING. 

15 (a) FISCAL YEAR 2017.—Amounts made available to 

16 the Secretary of Labor under the Department of Labor 

17 Appropriations Act, 2017 to carry out the Act referred 

18 to in section 6(1) may be used to carry out this Act. 

19 (b) SUBSEQUENT YEARS.—There are authorized to 

20 be appropriated to carry out this Act such sums as may 

21 be necessary for fiscal year 2018 and each subsequent fis22 cal year. 

23 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

24 In this Act: 


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1 (1) APPRENTICESHIP.—The term ‘‘apprentice2 ship’’ means an apprenticeship registered under the 

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

4 ‘‘National Apprenticeship Act’’; 50 Stat. 664, chap5 ter 663; 29 U.S.C. 50 et seq.). 

6 (2) CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION.—The 

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

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

9 Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 

10 2006 (20 U.S.C. 2302). 

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

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

13 such term in section 8101 of the Elementary and 

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

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

16 has the meaning given such term in section 8101 of 

17 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 

18 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 

19 (5) INDUSTRY INTERMEDIARY.—The term ‘‘in20 dustry intermediary’’ means an entity that— 

21 (A) in order to accelerate apprenticeship 

22 program development and help establish new 

23 apprenticeship partnerships at the national, 

24 State, or regional level, serves as a conduit be25 tween an employer and an entity, such as— 


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1 (i) an industry partner; 

2 (ii) the Department of Labor; and 

3 (iii) a State agency responsible for 

4 workforce development programs; 

5 (B) demonstrates a capacity to work with 

6 employers and other key partners to identify 

7 workforce trends and foster public-private fund8 ing to establish new apprenticeship programs; 

9 and 

10 (C) is an entity such as— 

11 (i) a business; 

12 (ii) a consortium of businesses; 

13 (iii) a business-related nonprofit orga14 nization, including industry associations 

15 and business federations; 

16 (iv) a private organization functioning 

17 as a workforce intermediary for the ex18 press purpose of serving the needs of busi19 nesses, including community-based non20 profit service providers and industry21 aligned training providers; or 

22 (v) a consortium of any of the entities 

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

24 (6) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 

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


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1 meaning given such term in section 102 of the High2 er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002). 

3 (7) JUNIOR OR COMMUNITY COLLEGE.—The 

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

5 given the term in section 312(f) of the Higher Edu6 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1058(f)). 

7 (8) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—The term 

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

9 such term in section 8101 of the Elementary and 

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

11 (9) SECONDARY SCHOOL.—The term ‘‘sec12 ondary school’’ has the meaning given such term in 

13 section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu14 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 

15 (10) STATE EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—The term 

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

17 such term in section 8101 of the Elementary and 

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

19 (11) STEM.—The term ‘‘STEM’’ means 

20 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. 

21 (12) TECHNOLOGY SECTOR.—The term ‘‘tech22 nology sector’’ means the industry sector involved in 

23 the design or development of hardware, software, or 

24 security of digital data. 

Æ 


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