(a) This section applies only when voluntarily requested by the parties to a collective bargaining agreement or by an employer, an employer’s association, or a union, or its representative where there is no collective bargaining agreement.

(b) This section shall not be construed to compel, regulate, interfere with, or duplicate the provisions of any established training programs that are operated under the terms of any collective bargaining agreements or unilaterally by any employer or bona fide labor union.

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(c) Services contemplated under this section may be provided only when voluntarily requested and shall be denied when it is found that existing prevailing conditions in the area and industry would in any way be lowered or adversely affected.

(d) The California Apprenticeship Council and the Division of Apprenticeship Standards, in cooperation with the Department of Education, the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, and the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, may foster and promote on-the-job training programs other than apprenticeship as follows: (1) programs for journeypersons in the apprenticeable occupations to keep them abreast of current techniques, methods, and materials and opportunities for advancement in their industries; (2) programs in other than apprenticeable occupations for workers entering the labor market for the first time or workers entering new occupations by reason of having been displaced from former occupations by reason of economic, industrial, technological, or scientific changes or developments; (3) the programs shall be in accord with and agreed to by the parties to any applicable collective bargaining agreements and where appropriate will include joint employer-employee cooperation in the programs.

(e) The Division of Apprenticeship Standards when requested may foster and promote voluntary on-the-job training programs in accordance with this section, and assist employers, employees and other interested persons and agencies in the development and carrying out of the programs. The Division of Apprenticeship Standards shall cooperate in these functions with the Department of Education, the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, and the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges and other governmental agencies. The Division of Apprenticeship Standards may cooperate with the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the Department of the Youth Authority in the development of training programs for inmates and ex-offenders released from correctional institutions.

(f) Apprenticeship programs, where appropriate, may include related and supplemental classroom instruction offered and administered by state and local boards responsible for vocational education.

(g) The activities and services of the Division of Apprenticeship Standards in training programs under this section shall be performed without curtailing or in any way interfering with the division’s activities and services in apprenticeship.

(h) The Division of Apprenticeship Standards may contract with, and receive reimbursements from, appropriate federal, state, and other governmental agencies.

(i) The career technical education activities and services of the Department of Education, the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, and local public school districts shall not be abridged or abrogated through implementation of this section.

(j) “On-the-job training” as used in this section refers exclusively to training confined to the needs of a specific occupation and conducted at the jobsite for employed workers.

(k)  “Journeyperson,” as used in this section, means a person who has either (1) completed an accredited apprenticeship in the person’s craft, or (2) who has completed the equivalent of an apprenticeship in length and content of work experience and all other requirements in the apprenticeship standards for the craft which has workers classified as journeypersons in an apprenticeable occupation.

(l) This section shall not be construed to require prior approval, ratification, or reference of any training program to the Division of Apprenticeship Standards or the Department of Industrial Relations.

(Amended by Stats. 2022, Ch. 67, Sec. 16. (SB 191) Effective June 30, 2022.)