The Florida Senate
BILL ANALYSIS AND FISCAL IMPACT STATEMENT
(This document is based on the provisions contained in the legislation as of the latest date listed below.)
Prepared By: The Professional Staff of the Committee on Fiscal Policy
BILL: CS/CS/CS/SB 460
INTRODUCER: Fiscal Policy Committee; Education Pre-K - 12 Committee; Appropriations Committee
on Education; and Senators Simon and Perry
SUBJECT: Career and Technical Education
DATE: February 26, 2024 REVISED:
ANALYST STAFF DIRECTOR REFERENCE ACTION
1. Brick Bouck ED Fav/CS
2. Gray Elwell AED Fav/CS
3. Brick Yeatman FP Fav/CS
Please see Section IX. for Additional Information:
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE - Substantial Changes
I. Summary:
CS/CS/CS/SB 460 aims to enhance vocational and technical education. The bill authorizes
minors aged 16 or 17 to work in construction if the minor:
 Has earned his or her Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) 10
certification;
 Is under the direct supervision of a person 21 years of age or older with at least two years of
related experience and his or her OSHA 10 certification.
 Is not working on any scaffolding, roof, superstructure, or ladder above six feet.
 Is not in violation of any OSHA rule or federal law related to minors in the workplace.
The bill provides a uniform standard for counties and municipalities to recognize a
journeyworker.
The bill authorizes district school boards to satisfy the career fair requirement through consulting
with specified groups to determine free or cost-effective methods to provide other career and
industry networking opportunities.
The bill authorizes a student who earns credit for one year of related technical instruction for a
registered apprenticeship or preapprenticeship program to use such credit to satisfy high school
graduation credit requirements.
BILL: CS/CS/CS/SB 460 Page 2
The bill authorizes an exemption from the career education basic skills assessment to certain
students with a private school diploma or home education affidavit.
Lastly, the bill adds to the duties of the Office of Reimagining Education and Career Help to
study the status of CTE in each school district within the state and coordinate a statewide report
on the supply and demand of nursing occupations. The bill also repeals the Florida Talent
Development Council.
The bill takes effect July 1, 2024.
II. Present Situation:
Hazardous Occupations Prohibited
The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 regulates the employment of children in particularly
hazardous occupations.1 Prohibitions regarding the employment of minors age 16 or 17 in
hazardous occupations in Florida are consistent with regulations adopted by the United States
(US) Secretary of Labor.2 No minor under 18 years of age, whether such person’s disabilities of
nonage have been removed, may be employed or permitted or suffered to work on any
scaffolding, roof, superstructure, residential or nonresidential building construction, or ladder
above 6 feet. This prohibition does not apply to a student learner who:
 Is enrolled in a youth vocational training program under a recognized state or local
educational authority.
 Is employed under a written agreement that provides:
o That the work of the student learner in the occupation declared particularly hazardous
shall be incidental to the training.
o That such work will be intermittent and for short periods of time and under the direct and
close supervision of a qualified and experienced person.
o That safety instructions shall be given by the school and correlated by the employer with
on-the-job training.
o That a schedule of organized and progressive work processes to be performed on the job
shall have been prepared.3
Every employer in the construction industry is required to secure the payment of workers’
compensation to his or her employees.4 Employers who fail to secure the payment of workers’
compensation for their employees are required to stop working and are liable for administrative
and criminal penalties.5 Employers must provide this benefit to all employees, including minors,
whether lawfully or unlawfully employed.6
1
29 U.S.C. s. 203(l).
2
Compare s. 450.061, F.S., with 29 CFR Part 570, Subpart E (Occupations Particularly Hazardous for the Employment of
Minors Between 16 and 18 Years of Age or Detrimental to Their Health or Well–Being). However, the Secretary of Labor
has not selected residential construction as a particularly hazardous activity. See 3 EMP. COORD. Compensation IV s. 24.20
(Jan. 2024).
3
Sections 450.061(2) and 450.161, F.S.
4
Sections 440.10(1) and 440.38(1), F.S.
5
See ss. 440.105 and 440.107, F.S.
6
Section 440.02(18), F.S.
BILL: CS/CS/CS/SB 460 Page 3
Employers are also required to provide certain training for their employees. Employers are
required to instruct each employee in the recognition and avoidance of unsafe conditions and the
regulations applicable to their work environment to control or eliminate any hazards or other
exposure to illness or injury. Employers are encouraged to use the safety and health training
programs provided by the Secretary of Labor.7
The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) within the US Department of
Labor, provides an Outreach Training Program to promote workplace safety and health and to
make workers more knowledgeable about workplace hazards and their rights. The OSHA
Outreach Training Program provides training on the recognition, avoidance, abatement, and
prevention of workplace hazards. Outreach classes also provide overview information regarding
OSHA, including workers' rights, employer responsibilities, and how to file a complaint.8
The 10-hour training program is primarily intended for entry level workers. The 30-hour training
program is intended to provide workers with some safety responsibility a greater depth and
variety of training. All outreach training is intended to cover an overview of the hazards a worker
may encounter on a job site. Training emphasizes hazard identification, avoidance, control and
prevention, not OSHA standards.9
In the Fiscal Year 2023, 1,341,168 individuals were trained through the Outreach Training
Program.10 The construction 10-hour certification comprised 42 percent of the trainings.11
Apprentices and Journeyworkers
Florida law defines an apprentice as a person at least 16 years of age who has entered into a
written apprentice agreement with an employer, an association of employers, or a local joint
apprenticeship committee, to learn a recognized skilled trade through actual work experience
under the supervision of another worker who has completed an apprenticeship program or has
worked in the field for a minimum number of years established by industry standard. Training
for an apprentice should be combined with properly coordinated studies of related technical and
supplementary subjects.12
An apprenticeship program must be registered and approved by the Department of Education
(DOE).13 A student who earns credit upon completion of a registered apprenticeship or
preapprenticeship program may use such credit to satisfy high school graduation credit
requirements for fine or performing arts, speech and debate, or career and technical education, or
electives. The State Board of Education (SBE) is required to approve and identify in the Course
7
29 CFR s. 1926.21.
8
USDOL, OSHA, Outreach Training Program: Program Overview, https://www.osha.gov/training/outreach/overview (last
visited Jan. 18, 2024).
9
Id.
10
USDOL, OSHA, Outreach Training Program Annual Number of Trainees, https://www.osha.gov/training/outreach/growth
(last visited Jan. 18, 2024).
11
USDOL, OSHA, Number of Trainees by Class Type, https://www.osha.gov/training/outreach/growth#tab2 (last visited Jan.
18, 2024).
12
Section 446.021(2), F.S.
13
Section 446.021(6), F.S.
BILL: CS/CS/CS/SB 460 Page 4
Code Directory the apprenticeship and preapprenticeship programs from which earned credit
may be used to satisfy high school graduation requirements.14
The term of an apprenticeship may be completed through either a time-based approach, a
competency-based approach, or a hybrid approach, as follows:
 The time-based approach measures skill acquisition through the apprentice's completion of at
least 2,000 hours of on-the-job training, exclusive of related technical instruction.
 The competency-based approach measures the apprentice's successful demonstration of
acquired skills and knowledge, demonstrated through on-the-job training and related
technical instruction.
 The hybrid approach measures the individual apprentice's skill acquisition through a
combination of a range of specified number of hours of on-the-job training and the successful
demonstration of competency.15
Florida apprenticeship standards define a journeyworker as a person working in an
apprenticeable occupation who has successfully completed a registered apprenticeship program
or who has worked the number of years required by established industry practices for the
particular trade or occupation.16
Counties and municipalities are authorized to issue journeyman licenses in the plumbing, pipe
fitting, mechanical, HVAC, electrical and alarm system trades. An individual who holds a valid,
active journeyman license in the trade issued by any county or municipality may work as a
journeyman in the trade in which he or she is licensed in any other county or municipality
without taking an additional examination or paying an additional license fee, if he or she:
 Has scored at least 70 percent, or after October 1, 1997, at least 75 percent, on a proctored
journeyman Block and Associates examination or other proctored examination approved by
the board for the trade in which he or she is licensed;
 Has completed a registered apprenticeship program and demonstrates four years’ verifiable
practical experience in the trade for which he or she is licensed, or demonstrates six years’
verifiable practical experience in the trade for which he or she is licensed;
 Has satisfactorily completed specialized and advanced module coursework approved by the
Florida Building Commission, as part of the building code compliance and mitigation
training program,17 specific to the discipline or, pursuant to authorization by the certifying
authority, provides proof of completion of such curriculum or coursework within 6 months
after such certification; and
 Has not had a license suspended or revoked within the last five years.18
A local government may charge a registration fee for reciprocity, not to exceed $25. 19 Subject to
limited exceptions,20 state law related to electrical and alarm system contracting does not limit
the power of a municipality or county to require that one electrical journeyman, who is a
14
Section 1003.4282(7), F.S.
15
Rule 6A-23.004(2), F.A.C.
16
Section 446.021(4), F.S.
17
Section 553.841, F.S.
18
Sections 489.1455 and 489.5335, F.S.
19
Id.
20
See s. 489.503, F.S.
BILL: CS/CS/CS/SB 460 Page 5
graduate of the Institute of Applied Technology in Construction Excellence or licensed locally,
be present on an industrial or commercial new construction site with a facility of 50,000 gross
square feet or more when electrical work in excess of 77 volts is being performed in order to
supervise or perform such work.21
Career Fairs
Each district school board must require each high school within its jurisdiction to host an annual
career fair during the school year and establish a process to provide students in grades 11 and 12
the opportunity to meet or interview with potential employers during the career fair. The career
fair must be held on the campus of the high school, except that a group of high schools in the
district or a group of districts may hold a joint career fair at an alternative location. A joint career
fair must be held at a location located within reasonable driving distance for students at all
participating schools. The career fair must be held during the school day and may use Florida’s
online career planning and work-based learning system as part of the career fair activities.22
State Academic Standards
The state academic standards establish the core content of the curricula to be taught in the state
and specify the core content knowledge and skills that K-12 public school students are expected
to acquire. Standards must be rigorous and relevant and provide for the logical, sequential
progression of core curricular content that incrementally increases a student's core content
knowledge and skills over time. Curricular content for all subjects must integrate critical-
thinking, problem-solving, and workforce-literacy skills; communication, reading, and writing
skills; mathematics skills; collaboration skills; contextual and applied-learning skills;
technology-literacy skills; information and media-literacy skills; and civic-engagement skills.23
The standards must include distinct grade-level expectations for the core content knowledge and
skills that a student is expected to have acquired by each individual grade level from
kindergarten through grade 8. The standards for grades 9 through 12 may be organized by grade
clusters of more than one grade level except as otherwise provided for visual and performing
arts, physical education, health, and foreign language standards.24
The Commissioner of Education (commissioner), as needed, is required to develop and submit
proposed revisions to the standards for review and comment by Florida educators, school
administrators, representatives of the Florida College System institutions and state universities
who have expertise in the content knowledge and skills necessary to prepare a student for
postsecondary education and careers, business and industry leaders, and the public. The
commissioner, after considering reviews and comments, must submit the proposed revisions to
the SBE for adoption.25
21
Section 489.537(3), F.S.
22
Section 1001.43(14), F.S.
23
Section 1003.41(1), F.S.
24
Id.
25
Section 1003.41(3), F.S.
BILL: CS/CS/CS/SB 460 Page 6
CAPE Industry Certification Funding List
The SBE is required to adopt, at least annually, based on recommendations by the commissioner,
the CAPE Industry Certification Funding List that assigns additional full-time equivalent
membership to certifications identified in the Master Credentials List that meet a statewide,
regional, or local demand.26
Certifications included on the CAPE Industry Certification Funding List: 27
 Require at least 150 hours of instruction.
 Can be earned in middle and high school.
 Usually require passage of a subject area examination and some combination of work
experience, educational attainment, or on-the-job training.
Requirements for Career Education Basic Skills
Each career and technical education (CTE) career certificate program, 450 clock hours or longer,
includes associated basic academic skills (reading, mathematics, and language) that are required
for completion from each CTE program. For the purpose of CTE and basic skills requirements,
completion is accomplished when a student has demonstrated mastery of the entire program’s
standards and benchmarks and receives a Career Certificate of Completion.28
Students who enroll in a program offered for career credit of 450 hours or more must complete
an entry-level examination within the first six weeks after admission into the program.29 The
SBE designates examinations to assess student mastery of basic skills, which include the
following:
 Tests of Adult Basic Education (TABE), Forms 11 and 12, 2017;
 Demonstration of basic communication and computation skills;
 Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment System (CASAS), GOALS 900 Series, 2019;
 2014 GED® Tests: Reasoning through Language Arts and Mathematical Reasoning where a