II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2227 

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 

JUNE 24, 2021 

Mr. HEINRICH (for himself, Mr. MORAN, and Mrs. GILLIBRAND) 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 

12 transferrable 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 05:28 Jul 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2227.IS S2227

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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) According to the Bureau of Labor Statis6 tics, in May 2020, the median annual wage for com7 puter and information technology occupations was 

8 $91,250, which was higher than the median annual 

9 wage for all occupations of $41,950. 

10 SEC. 3. TECHNOLOGY APPRENTICESHIP CONTRACTS. 

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

12 to in this section as ‘‘the Secretary’’) shall enter into con13 tracts with industry intermediaries for the purpose of pro14 moting the development of and access to apprenticeships 

15 in the technology sector, from amounts appropriated 

16 under subsection (e). 

17 (b) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to be awarded a con18 tract under this section, an industry intermediary shall 

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

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

21 that identifies proposed activities designed to further the 

22 purpose described in subsection (a). 

23 (c) SELECTION.—The Secretary shall award con24 tracts under this section based on competitive criteria to 

25 be prescribed by the Secretary. 


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1 (d) CONTRACTOR ACTIVITIES.—An industry inter2 mediary that is awarded a contract under this section may 

3 only use the funds made available through such contract 

4 to carry out activities designed to further the purpose de5 scribed in subsection (a), including— 

6 (1) facilitating the provision and development of 

7 apprenticeships in the technology sector through col8 laborations with public and private entities that pro9 vide job-related instruction, such as on-the-job train10 ing, pre-apprenticeship training, and technical train11 ing; 

12 (2) encouraging entities to establish such ap13 prenticeships; 

14 (3) identifying, assessing, and training appli15 cants for such apprenticeships who are— 

16 (A) enrolled in high school; 

17 (B) enrolled in an early college high school 

18 that focuses on education in STEM subjects; 

19 (C) individuals aged 18 years or older who 

20 meet appropriate qualification standards; or 

21 (D) enrolled in pre-apprenticeship or ap22 prenticeship training initiatives that allow 

23 adults to concurrently increase academic and 

24 workforce skills through proven, evidence-based 

25 models that connect all learning to the specific 


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1 apprenticeship involved and significantly accel2 erate completion of preparation for the appren3 ticeship; and 

4 (4) tracking the progress of such applicants 

5 who participate in such apprenticeships. 

6 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

7 are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary such 

8 sums as may be necessary for the purposes of carrying 

9 out this section. 

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

11 SCHOOLS. 

12 (a) AWARDS AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary of Edu13 cation may issue awards, to be known as ‘‘CHANCE in 

14 TECH Awards for 21st Century Schools’’, to schools (re15 ferred to in this section as ‘‘covered schools’’) that— 

16 (1) are secondary schools or junior or commu17 nity colleges; and 

18 (2) demonstrate high achievement in providing 

19 students necessary skills to compete in the 21st cen20 tury workforce. 

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

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

23 account— 


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1 (1) the availability of STEM, career and tech2 nical education, and computer technology courses at 

3 the covered school; 

4 (2) State academic assessments, as described in 

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

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

7 students at the covered school in STEM subjects; 

8 (3) any coordination between the covered school 

9 and local and regional employers in the technology 

10 sector for the purpose of providing work-based learn11 ing programs such as apprenticeships and intern12 ships; and 

13 (4) the availability of individualized plans pro14 vided by the covered school to students relating to 

15 postsecondary education or training, career paths, 

16 and financial aid. 

17 SEC. 5. FUNDING. 

18 (a) FISCAL YEAR 2021.—Amounts made available to 

19 the Secretary of Labor under the Department of Labor 

20 Appropriations Act, 2021 to carry out the Act referred 

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

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

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

24 be necessary for fiscal year 2022 and each subsequent fis25 cal year. 


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1 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act: 

3 (1) APPRENTICESHIP.—The term ‘‘apprentice4 ship’’ means an apprenticeship registered under the 

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

6 ‘‘National Apprenticeship Act’’; 50 Stat. 664, chap7 ter 663; 29 U.S.C. 50 et seq.). 

8 (2) CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION.—The 

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

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

11 Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 

12 2006 (20 U.S.C. 2302). 

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

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

15 such term in section 8101 of the Elementary and 

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

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

18 has the meaning given such term in section 8101 of 

19 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 

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

21 (5) INDUSTRY INTERMEDIARY.—The term ‘‘in22 dustry intermediary’’ means an entity that— 

23 (A) in order to accelerate apprenticeship 

24 program development and helps establish new 

25 apprenticeship partnerships at the national, 


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1 State, or regional level, serves as a conduit be2 tween an employer and an entity, such as— 

3 (i) an industry partner; 

4 (ii) the Department of Labor; and 

5 (iii) a State agency responsible for 

6 workforce development programs; 

7 (B) demonstrates a capacity to work with 

8 employers and other key partners to identify 

9 workforce trends and foster public-private fund10 ing to establish new apprenticeship programs; 

11 and 

12 (C) is an entity such as— 

13 (i) a business; 

14 (ii) a consortium of businesses; 

15 (iii) a business-related nonprofit orga16 nization, including industry associations 

17 and business federations; 

18 (iv) a private organization functioning 

19 as a workforce intermediary for the ex20 press purpose of serving the needs of busi21 nesses, including community-based non22 profit service providers and industry23 aligned training providers; or 

24 (v) a consortium of any of the entities 

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


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1 (6) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 

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

3 meaning given such term in section 102 of the High4 er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002). 

5 (7) JUNIOR OR COMMUNITY COLLEGE.—The 

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

7 given the term in section 312(f) of the Higher Edu8 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1058(f)). 

9 (8) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—The term 

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

11 such term in section 8101 of the Elementary and 

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

13 (9) SECONDARY SCHOOL.—The term ‘‘sec14 ondary school’’ has the meaning given such term in 

15 section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu16 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 

17 (10) STATE EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—The term 

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

19 such term in section 8101 of the Elementary and 

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

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

22 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. 

23 (12) TECHNOLOGY SECTOR.—The term ‘‘tech24 nology sector’’ means the industry sector involved in 


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1 the design or development of hardware, software, or 

2 security of digital data. 

Æ 


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