HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES STAFF ANALYSIS
BILL #: CS/HB 917 Career and Technical Education
SPONSOR(S): Choice & Innovation Subcommittee, Snyder
TIED BILLS: None. IDEN./SIM. BILLS: SB 460
REFERENCE ACTION ANALYST STAFF DIRECTOR or
BUDGET/POLICY
CHIEF
1) Choice & Innovation Subcommittee 16 Y, 2 N, As CS Dixon Sleap
2) Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee 12 Y, 2 N Smith Smith
3) Education & Employment Committee
SUMMARY ANALYSIS
The bill authorizes a minor aged 16 or 17 years to work on any residential building construction if:
 the minor has earned his or her OSHA 10 certification;
 the work being performed by the minor does not include work on any scaffolding, roof, superstructure,
or ladder above 6 feet;
 the minor’s work does not violate any OSHA rule or federal law related to minors in the workplace; and
 the minor is under the direct supervision of a person who has earned his or her OSHA 10 certification,
is 21 years of age or older, and has at least 2 years of work experience related to the work he or she is
supervising.
The bill removes the authorization for local governments to issue journeyworker licenses and charge
registration fees for reciprocity in the plumbing, pipe fitting, mechanical, HVAC, electric, and alarm system
trades. Instead, it mandates that local governments recognize individuals as journeyworkers in those trades if
he or she meets specified exam and training requirements.
The bill requires the Department of Education to convene, no later than December 1, 2024, a workgroup to
identify best practices in career and technical education (CTE) pathways from middle school to high school and
to identify the three math pathways for students enrolled in secondary grades.
The bill provides an exemption from postsecondary career education program basic skills requirements for
certain students who possess a high school diploma from a eligible private school, or, for a student in a home
education program, a signed affidavit submitted by the student’s parent or legal guardian.
The bill authorizes district school boards, as an alternative to the required annual career fair, to consult with
local workforce development boards, advisory committees, and business groups to determine free or cost-
effective methods to provide other career and industry networking and exposure opportunities for secondary
and elementary students.
The bill establishes a CTE Task Force to study the status of CTE education in each school district. Among its
duties, the Task Force is mandated to compile a detailed list of CTE courses, assess funding disparities and
explore additional funding sources, evaluate advertising strategies for CTE courses, and identify district needs
for CTE expansion. The Task Force is required to submit a report of its findings by September 1, 2025, and
submit recommendations by January 1, 2026, to the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of
Representatives, and the Commissioner of Education.
The bill has an indeterminate fiscal impact on state and local governments. See Fiscal Comments.
The bill has an effective date of July 1, 2024.
FULL ANALYSIS
This docum ent does not reflect the intent or official position of the bill sponsor or House of Representatives .
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 I. SUBSTANTIVE ANALYSIS
A. EFFECT OF PROPOSED CHANGES:
Hazardous Occupations Prohibited
Present Situation
Prohibitions regarding the employment of minors age 16 or 17 in hazardous occupations in Florida are
consistent with regulations adopted by the United States Secretary of Labor.1 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.2 This prohibition does not apply to a student learner who: 3
 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 is
to 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 is to have been prepared.
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
Employers in the construction industry are also required to provide certain training for their employees.7
Employers are required to instruct each employee in the recognition and avoidance of unsafe
conditions and the regulations applicable to the work environment to control or eliminate any hazards or
other exposure to illness or injury.8 Employers are encouraged to use the safety and health training
programs provided by the Secretary of Labor.9
The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) within the 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. 10 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.11
1 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 (January 2024).
2 Section 450.061(2)(b), F.S.
3 Sections 450.061(2) and 450.161, F.S.
4 Sections 440.10(1)(a) and 440.38(1), F.S.
5 See ss. 440.105 and 440.107, F.S.
6 Section 440.02(18)(a), F.S.
7 29 CFR s. 1926.21.
8 29 CFR s. 1926.21(b)(2).
9 29 CFR s. 1926.21(b)(1).
10 USDOL, OSHA, Outreach Training Program: Program Overview, https://www.osha.gov/training/outreach/overview (last visited
Jan. 31, 2024).
11 Id.
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 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.12
In the Fiscal Year 2023, 1,341,168 individuals were trained through the Outreach Training Program. 13
The construction 10-hour certification comprised 42 percent of the trainings.14
Effect of Proposed Changes
The bill authorizes minors aged 16 or 17 years to be employed on any residential building construction
if:
 the minor has earned his or her OSHA 10 certification;
 the work being performed by the minor does not include work on any scaffolding, roof,
superstructure, or ladder above 6 feet;
 the minor’s work does not violate any OSHA rule or federal law related to minors in the
workplace; and
 the minor is under the direct supervision of a person who has earned his or her OSHA 10
certification, is 21 years of age or older, and has at least 2 years of work experience related to
the work he or she is supervising.
Apprentices and Journeyworkers
Present Situation
Apprentice
Florida law defines an apprentice as a person at least 16 years of age who has entered into a written
apprentice agreement with a registered sponsor. The sponsor can be an employer, an association of
employers, or a local joint apprenticeship committee. The purpose of this agreement is to enable the
apprentice to learn a recognized skilled trade through actual work experience under the supervision of
a journeywork craftsperson. Training for an apprentice should be combined with properly coordinated
studies of related technical and supplementary subjects.15
An apprenticeship or preapprenticeship program must be registered and approved by the Department
of Education (DOE).16 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 (CTE), or electives.
The State Board of Education (SBE) is required to approve and identify in the Course Code Directory
the apprenticeship and preapprenticeship programs from which earned credit may be used to satisfy
high school graduation requirements.17
The term of an apprenticeship may be completed through either a time-based approach, a
competency-based approach, or a hybrid approach, as follows:18
12 Id.
13 USDOL, OSHA, Outreach Training Program Annual Number of Trainees, https://www.osha.gov/training/outreach/growth (last
visited Jan. 31, 2024).
14 USDOL, OSHA, Number of Trainees by Class Type, https://www.osha.gov/training/outreach/growth#tab2 (last visited Jan. 31,
2024).
15 Section 446.021(2), F.S.; see also Florida Department of Education, Apprentice Florida Report, (2022-2023), at 3 and 9,
https://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/9904/urlt/2223ApprenticeshipReport.pdf (last visited Jan. 31, 2024).
16 Sections 446.021(5) and 446.021(6), F.S.
17 Section 1003.4282(7)(a)3., F.S.
18 Rule 6A-23.004(2), F.A.C.
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  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.
Journeyworkers
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.19
Counties and municipalities are authorized to issue journeyman licenses in various trades. These
trades include plumbing, pipe fitting, mechanical, HVAC trades, electrical or alarm system trades.20 An
individual who holds a valid, active journeyman license in one of these trades 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:21
 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 4 years’ verifiable
practical experience in the trade for which he or she is licensed, or demonstrates 6 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,22 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 5 years.
A local government may charge a registration fee for reciprocity, not to exceed $25.23 Subject to limited
exceptions,24 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 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.25
Effect of Proposed Changes
The bill modifies how apprenticeship and preapprenticeship programs may satisfy the high school
graduation credit requirements for fine or performing arts, speech and debate, or CTE education, or
electives. The bill authorizes such credit for a student who earned credit for completion of one year of
related technical instruction in a registered apprenticeship or preapprenticeship program, rather than
completion of the program.
19 Section 446.021(4), F.S.; see also Florida Department of Education, Apprentice Florida Report, (2022-2023), at 3 and 9,
https://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/9904/urlt/2223Apprentices hipReport.pdf (last visited Jan. 31, 2024).
20 Sections 489.1455 and 489.5335, F.S.
21 Sections 489.5335(2) and 489.1455(2), F.S.
22 Section 553.841, F.S.
23 Sections 489.5335(3), F.S. and 489.1455(3), F.S.
24 Section 489.503, F.S.
25 Section 489.537(3)(f), F.S.
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 The bill adds the requirement for journeyworkers to pass a state-approved industry test and amends
the type of apprenticeship program the journeyworker must complete to be a state-approved
apprenticeship program.
The bill removes the authorization for counties and municipalities to issue journeyworker licenses and
charge registrations fees for reciprocity in the plumbing, pipe fitting, mechanical, HVAC, electric, and
alarm system trades. Instead, it mandates that the counties and municipalities must recognize
individuals as journeyworkers in those trades if he or she meets the following requirements:
 Scores at least 70 percent, or after October 1, 1997, at least 75 percent, on a Block and
Associates examination or other proctored examination approved by the board for the trade in
which he or she is licensed.
 Accumulates at least 12,000 hours of on-the-job training in his or her specific trade.
 Completes a registered and state-approved apprenticeship program as defined under the law.
 Satisfactorily completes specialized and advanced module coursework approved by the Florida
Building Commission, as part of the building code training program established under the law,
specific to the discipline or, pursuant to authorization by the certifying authority, and provides
proof of completion of such coursework within 6 months after such certification.
Career and Technical Education and Mathematics Pathways
Middle Grades Career Planning
Florida law requires the completion of a career and education planning course in 6th, 7th, or 8th grade.26
The course must:27
 be Internet-based, and customizable to each student and include research-based assessments
to assist students in determining educational and career options and goals;
 result in a completed personalized academic and career plan for the student, which must use,
when available, Florida’s online career planning and work-based learning coordination system;28
 teach each student how to access and update the plan and encourage the student to update the
plan at least annually as the student progresses through middle school and high