Sponsor
Martin Heinrich
Senator · D-NM
Senator · D-NM
The bill expands and funds paid pre-apprenticeship pathways and clarifies definitions to improve training quality and access—including explicit tribal inclusion—while imposing matching requirements, administrative oversight, and eligibility rules that could limit participation by small providers and some needy or rural populations and increase federal spending.
Low-income individuals, unemployed workers, students, and other underrepresented people gain access to paid pre-apprenticeship training and stipends and a clearer pathway into registered apprenticeships, lowering financial barriers and improving job prospects in the building trades.
Students, job-seekers, apprenticeship sponsors, and training providers benefit from adoption of established federal definitions and curriculum-alignment requirements, which reduce ambiguity about eligibility and improve alignment between pre-apprenticeship and registered-apprenticeship training.
Schools, training providers, and local workforce partners receive grant support for curriculum development, coordination with CTE and WIOA, and program evaluation, which should raise program quality and better match training to employer needs.
Small community-based organizations and small apprenticeship sponsors face substantial financial and administrative hurdles—25% non-Federal match requirements plus annual sponsor review/approval of curricula and documentation—which may limit their ability to apply for or sustain programs.
Low-income people who do not live in qualifying low-income census tracts and participants in areas without nearby registered-apprenticeship openings (often rural communities) may be excluded from benefits, narrowing geographic and demographic reach.
Relying heavily on cross-referenced federal definitions reduces flexibility for states and local programs to tailor eligibility or recognize locally relevant entities and approaches.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Creates competitive Labor Department grants to nonprofit industry–labor partnerships to develop pre-apprenticeship programs for building and construction trades.
Official title: Direct the Secretary of Labor to support the development of pre-apprenticeship programs in the building and construction trades that serve underrepresented populations, including individuals from low income and rural census tracts.
Introduced July 14, 2026 by Martin Heinrich · Last progress July 14, 2026
Creates a competitive grant program at the Department of Labor to fund nonprofit partnerships that develop pre-apprenticeship programs for the building and construction trades. Grants support program design, curricula, recruitment of underrepresented populations, and linkages to registered apprenticeships and supportive services. Sets eligibility and application requirements for nonprofit partnerships with equal participation from industry and labor; requires evidence that program completers can enter aligned registered apprenticeships; gives priority to applicants that leverage matching public or private resources; and sets initial grant terms of up to three years with a possible one-year extension for satisfactory performance.