I
103D CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 336
To promote youth apprenticeship opportunities nationwide, and for other
purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY 5, 1993
Mrs. ROUKEMA introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Education and Labor
A BILL
To promote youth apprenticeship opportunities nationwide,
and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Youth
Apprenticeship Opportunity Act of 1993’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that—
(1) a significant proportion of youth in the
United States lack the necessary skills to meet em-
ployer requirements for entry level positions;
(2) significant numbers of our youth are doing
poorly in school and will eventually drop out because
school seems irrelevant to them;
(3) the American workplace is changing in re-
sponse to new technology and heightened inter-
national competition, and the jobs of the future will
demand different and higher level skills for which
too many of our youth are not currently trained;
(4) in contrast to many competitor nations, the
United States has virtually no programs to provide
support for youth in making the transition from
school to gainful employment;
(5) the vast majority of American workers who
do not attend or complete college lack the skills nec-
essary to secure satisfying and gainful employment;
(6) work-based learning models are effective ap-
proaches to preparing youth, beginning at the sec-
ondary school level, for high-wage, high-skilled em-
ployment;
(7) three-fourths of American youth do not
earn college degrees, and many of those who do not
could benefit from a more structured method of at-
taining job skills, knowledge and abilities;
(8) the United States lacks a comprehensive ap-
proach towards helping youth make the transition
from school to the workplace;
(9) as a consequence of these policies, real
wages have declined and there is rising inequality in
wages between those who are well-trained and those
who are not;
(10) since global economic competition is mak-
ing it impossible for the United States to maintain
a high standard of living for the majority of its peo-
ple without changes in human capital policy, the
choice facing the United States is either to become
a Nation of high skills or one of declining living
standards;
(11) if the United States is to become a Nation
of high skills and high performance work organiza-
tion, there must be a fundamental change in the ap-
proach of the United States to work, education, and
training; and
(12) to accomplish that change, American busi-
ness, labor, Federal, State, and local governments,
and the education community must join together
and invest the time, talent, and resources necessary
to provide American youth the opportunity to par-
ticipate in high quality youth apprenticeships that
will lead to satisfying and gainful employment op-
portunities.
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are to—
(1) establish a nationally recognized system for
the youth apprenticeship approach to learning, while
allowing States to customize the model to economic,
demographic, and other local conditions;
(2) establish a process that engages the busi-
ness community in partnerships with education to
develop the capacity of workplaces to serve as learn-
ing sites in order to ensure that youth apprentices
acquire academic and work-based competencies and
become skilled, flexible entry-level workers;
(3) encourage businesses and labor organiza-
tions to participate in youth apprenticeship pro-
grams;
(4) encourage the public sector to participate in
youth apprenticeship programs;
(5) motivate the nation’s young people to re-
main in school, improve their basic skills, and be-
come productive citizens by providing the oppor-
tunity to gain marketable skills while establishing a
relationship with a prospective employer;
(6) prepare the youth of the United States for
employment in high-wage, high-skilled occupations;
(7) provide for high achievement standards in
order to instill pride, self-esteem, and purpose in
youth apprentices;
(8) establish a systematic transition for youth
apprentice students from school to work by linking
the academic curriculum with a curriculum of work-
site experience and learning; and
(9) enhance the youth apprentice’s prospects
for immediate employment after leaving school in
positions that provide significant opportunity for
continued education and career development.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
For the purpose of this Act, the following definitions
apply—
(1) the term ‘‘youth apprenticeship program’’
means a program that—
(A) integrates academic instruction and
work-based learning;
(B) provides for work-site learning and
paid work experience;
(C) is offered to students beginning in the
11th grade;
(D) is intended to——
(i) result in receipt of a high school
diploma and an approved certificate of
competency; and
(ii) lead, as appropriate, to entry into
a postsecondary program, a program reg-
istered under the National Apprenticeship
Act, or permanent employment; and
(E) otherwise meets the requirements of
this Act.
(2) The term ‘‘youth apprenticeship agreement’’
means the written agreement between the employer,
local educational agency, student, and parent which
defines the parties’ respective roles and responsibil-
ities under the program.
(3) The term ‘‘youth apprentice’’ means a stu-
dent who is at least 16 years of age, who is cur-
rently enrolled in a public secondary school as de-
fined in paragraph (21) of section 1471 of the Ele-
mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20
U.S.C. 2891(21), and who is participating in a
youth apprenticeship program which meets the re-
quirements of this Act.
(4) The term ‘‘employer’’ means any person or
organization employing a youth apprentice under
Education and Labor and the Senate Committee on
Labor and Human Resources on—
(1) the extent to which states are imple-
menting youth apprenticeship programs that
meet the requirements of this Act;
(2) the numbers of students participating
in youth apprenticeship programs, on a state-
by-state basis;
(3) the extent to which youth apprentice-
ship programs are impacting drop-out rates;
and
(4) any other issues the Secretary deems
appropriate;
(e) after consultation with the Secretary of
Labor, make recommendations, no later than Janu-
ary 1, 1996, to the House Committee on Education
and Labor and the Senate Committee on Labor and
Human Resources on further statutory changes that
may be necessary to—
(1) facilitate the successful implementation
of youth apprenticeship programs;
(2) ensure the availability of youth appren-
ticeship programs to all students who may ben-
efit from such programs;
(3) facilitate coordination with other Fed-
eral educational and occupational training pro-
grams, including, but not limited to programs
specified in section 9 of this Act;
(4) ensure that students engaged in youth
apprenticeships are receiving the academic in-
struction necessary to enable them to go on to
obtain a 4-year college degree; and
(5) promulgate regulations, as appropriate;
(f) Not more than 3 percent of the funds au-
thorized to be appropriated for any fiscal year may
be used for administrative expenses in carrying out
this Act.
SEC. 7. RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE SECRETARY OF LABOR.
The Secretary of Labor shall—
(a) provide technical assistance to the Secretary
of Education upon request;
(b) assist in the development of recommenda-
tions to be made to the House Committee on Edu-
cation and Labor and the Senate Committee on
Labor and Human Resources as set forth under sec-
tion 6, paragraph (e) of this Act; and
(c) conduct a study, in consultation with the
Secretary of Education, on the feasibility of estab-
lishing national occupational standards to measure
the achievement levels and/or mastery of skills dem-
onstrated by students who complete youth appren-
ticeships—such study shall consider the feasibility of
establishing such standards for youth apprentices
who successfully complete the initial 2 years of the
program as well as for youth apprentices who suc-
cessfully complete an additional 1 or 2 years of post-
secondary instruction and training. The results of
this study shall be provided to the House Committee
on Education and Labor and the Senate Committee
on Labor and Human Resources no later than Janu-
ary 1, 1995.
SEC. 
8. 
INFORMATION 
CLEARINGHOUSE 
ON 
YOUTH
APPRENTICESHIPS.
There shall be established within the Department of
Education an Information Clearinghouse on Youth Ap-
prenticeships. The functions of the clearinghouse are to—
(a) house information on youth apprenticeship
programs, including the model youth apprenticeship
programs identified by the Secretary pursuant to
section 6, paragraph (c) of this Act; and
(b) disseminate information, upon request from
State Boards or local educational agencies, including
information necessary for the replication of the
model youth apprenticeship programs.
SEC. 9. COORDINATION WITH OTHER FEDERAL EDUCATION
AND TRAINING PROGRAMS.
(a) VOCATIONAL EDUCATION.—
(1) Section 235(c) of the Carl D. Perkins Voca-
tional and Applied Technology Act (Carl D. Perkins
Act) (20 U.S.C. 2301 et seq.) is amended—
(A) by redesignating respectively subpara-
graphs (G) through (N), as (H) through (O);
and
(B) by inserting the following new sub-
paragraph (G)—
‘‘(G) youth apprenticeship programs;’’.
(2) A tech-prep education program, authorized
by part E, title III of the Carl D. Perkins Vocational
and Applied Technology Education Act (20 U.S.C.
2394 et seq.), may serve as the classroom portion of
the academic and work-based learning components
for the job training component of a youth appren-
ticeship program.
(b) JOB TRAINING.—
(1) Youth apprenticeship programs are edu-
cation and training programs for purposes of state
education coordination and grants under section 123
of the Job Training Partnership Act (29 U.S.C.
1533).
(2) To the extent consistent with law, and oth-
erwise appropriate, youth programs carried out
under Part A and Part B of title II of the Job
Training Partnership Act should be merged with
programs carried out under this Act.
SEC. 10. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
(a) There are authorized to be appropriated
$100,000,000 for fiscal year 1994 and such sums as may
be necessary for fiscal years 1995 through 1998 to carry
out the purposes of this Act.
Æ