BILL NUMBER: S37
SPONSOR: WALCZYK
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the labor law, in relation to establishing the youth
apprenticeship program; and making an appropriation therefor (Part A);
to amend the education law, in relation to establishing the enhanced
regents professional diploma (Part B); and to amend the tax law, in
relation to establishing a youth apprenticeship tax credit (Part C)
 
PURPOSE OR GENERA IDEA OF BILL:
To enact the "Learning for Work Program" that establishes a youth
apprenticeship program, creates an enhanced regents, professional diplo-
ma and provides for a youth apprenticeship tax credit for employers in
order to ensure all high school graduates are prepared to enter the 21st
century workforce and limit the accumulation of student debt.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1. Contains the title the "Learning for Work Act"
Section 2. Contains the Legislative Findings and Intent. Contains the
following provisions divided into Parts A - C outlined as follows:
I. Part A: Youth Apprenticeship Program
A. Requires the Department of Labor, in collaboration with the State
Apprenticeship and Training Council, the State Workforce Investment
Board, the Board of Regents, and the State Education Department to
assist the Department of Labor, to establish a Youth Apprenticeship
Program to provide a one or two year program beginning in the eleventh
or twelfth grade that combines academic classroom course work with
mentored on-the-job training in a specific occupational area.
B. Requires the Department of Labor to approve occupations and maintain
a list of approved occupations for the Youth Apprenticeship Program.
Local Partnership Duties and Responsibilities:
A. Defines a Local Partnership as a combination of one or more school
districts, other public agencies, community colleges, non-profits, indi-
viduals, businesses or other persons responsible for implementing
and coordinating a Youth Apprenticeship Program.
B. Provides that funding under the Workforce Investment Act (Public Law
105-2 20) and the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (Public
Law 113-128) may be utilized by the Department of Labor to award grants
to applying local partnerships for the implementation and coordination
of Youth Apprenticeship Programs. Such funds may be used for:
i. Recruiting employers to provide on-the-job training and supervision
for youth apprentices and providing technical assistance to those
employers.
ii. Recruiting students to participate in the local youth apprenticeship
program and monitoring the progress of youth apprentices participating
in the program.
iii. Coordinating youth apprenticeship training activities within
participating school districts and among participating school districts,
postsecondary institutions and employers.
iv. Coordinating academic, vocational and occupational learning, school
based and work-based learning and secondary and postsecondary education
for participants in the local youth apprenticeship program.
v. Assisting employers in identifying and training workplace mentors and
matching youth apprentices and mentors.
vi. Any other implementation or coordination activity that the depart-
ment may direct or permit the local partnership to perform.
C. Sets restrictions for the use of grant moneys.
D. Caps the amount of a grant award to $1,000 per youth apprentice and
requires a local partnership that is awarded a grant to provide matching
funds equal to at least 25 percent of the grant amount awarded.
Youth Apprenticeship Program Outcome Requirements:
A. Sets expected outcomes of a local Youth Apprenticeship Program,
including:
i. At least 80 percent of the youth apprentices who participate in the
program must receive an Enhanced Regents Professional Diploma pursuant
to section 208b of the Education Law on completion of the youth appren-
ticeship. ii. At least 50 percent of the youth apprentices who partic-
ipate in the program must be offered employment by the employer
that provided the on-the-job training for the youth apprentice on
completion of the youth apprenticeship. B. Provides that any student
taking part in a Youth Apprenticeship Program who receives and Enhanced
Regents Professional Diploma and is either not offered or chooses not to
seek employment in their specified occupational area. Shall receive a
minimum of 15 credits to he applied to a postsecondary degree at a State
University of New York or City University of New York Institution.
Section 2 appropriates $5 million to Department of Labor for the purpose
of carrying out the provision of Section I of this act.
II Part B: Enhanced Regents Professional Diploma
A. Requires the Board of Regents to create and Enhanced Regents Profes-
sional Diploma acknowledge the professional skills and specific occupa-
tional training students obtain in the course of their study.
B. Provides that such a degree will include designations as determined
by the Commissioner of Education that denote the professional skills and
specific occupational training obtained by a student.
C. The Commissioner of Education shall promulgate regulations regarding
the requirements for an enhanced regents professional degree to include
the:
i. completion.of a technical assessment;
ii. completion of a work-skills employability profile;
iii. completion of a work-based learning experience; and
iv. meeting all requirements necessary to receive a Regents diploma.
D. Provides the Commissioner of Education in conjunction with the State
Apprenticeship and Training Council, the State Workforce Investment
Board, and the Department of Labor shall establish professional skill
and occupational training designations that may be attached to an
Enhanced Regents Professional Diploma that will denote the professional
skills a student has obtained throughout the course of his or her
studies.
E. Provides the Commissioner of Education in conjunction with the State
Apprenticeship and Training Council, the State Workforce Investment
Board, and the Department of Labor shall design a series of technical
assessments.
F. Provides the Commissioner of Education in conjunction with the State
Apprenticeship and Training Council. the State Workforce Investment
Board, and the Department of Labor shall create a work-skill employabil-
ity profile.
G. The Board of Regents shall promulgate such regulations of the Commis-
sioner as may he necessary to establish an Enhance Regents Professional
Diploma.
H. Provides that the Youth Apprenticeship Program shall be considered an
eligible work-based learning experience. I. Provides that students first
entering ninth grade in the 2016-2017 school year and thereafter shall
he eligible to earn an Enhanced Regents Professional Diploma.
III. Part C: Youth Apprenticeship Tax Credit
A. Establishes the Youth Apprenticeship Tax Credit to he provided to
employers that take part in the Youth Apprenticeship Program.
B. The Credit is against both Corporate Franchise Tax and Personal
Income Tax and is equal to the amount of $1,500 for each apprentice the
participating employer sponsors.
C. The Credit is non-refundable.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
According to a recent college and career readiness study released by the
New York State Education Department, only thirty-five percent
of high school graduates are college or career ready. This lack of
preparedness has driven many high school graduates into low-paying
jobs or college degree programs that they are not interested in. In the
latter case, the result may be unreasonably high amount of student debt
for young people. For many current and future high school students, the
traditional pathway of a basic high school education
and then, on to a four-year college may not be the correct route to
take. These students would benefit from a program that would prepare
them for employment immediately upon graduating high school. This bill
creates the Learning for Work program in our high schools that will
create a youth apprenticeship program, an enhanced regional professional
diploma with a designation in a specified occupational area and a tax
credit for employers who take part in the youth apprenticeship program.
This-would further the goals of limiting the accumulation of unsustaina-
ble student debt, and ensuring all students in New York are prepared to
enter the 21st century workforce.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
A8695/S6838 (2016): Referred to Finance
A9084/S245-A (2017): Referred to Finance
A4255 (2019): Referred to Education
A8426 (2021): Referred to Education
A3200/S2669 (2023): Referred to Finance
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
To be determined.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately: provided, however, that the
applicable effective dates of Parts A through C of this act shall he as
specifically set forth in the last section of such parts.

Statutes affected:
S37: 210-B tax law, 606 tax law