CHANCE in TECH Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2227 To direct the Secretary of Labor to enter into contracts with industry inter- mediaries for purposes of promoting the development of and access to apprenticeships in the technology sector, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 24, 2021 Mr. HEINRICH (for himself, Mr. MORAN, and Mrs. GILLIBRAND) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To direct the Secretary of Labor to enter into contracts with industry intermediaries for purposes of promoting the development of and access to apprenticeships in the technology sector, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Championing Appren- 4 ticeships for New Careers and Employees in Technology 5 Act’’ or the ‘‘CHANCE in TECH Act’’. 6 SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS. 7 Congress finds the following: 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:28 Jul 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2227.IS S2227 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 2227 IS (1) During any given 90-day period there can 1 be more than 500,000 information technology job 2 openings in the United States. 3 (2) Employment in the technology sector is 4 growing twice as fast as employment in the United 5 States. 6 (3) Jobs in the technology sector tend to pro- 7 vide higher pay and better benefits than other jobs 8 and have been more resilient to economic downturn 9 than jobs available in other private sector industries. 10 (4) Information technology skills are 11 transferrable across nearly all industries. 12 (5) Exceptional education and on-the-job train- 13 ing programs exist and should be scaled to meet the 14 demands of the modern technology workforce. 15 (6) Adoption of existing employer-driven inter- 16 mediary models, such as ApprenticeshipUSA under 17 the Department of Labor, will help grow the infor- 18 mation technology workforce. 19 (7) Career pathway education should start in 20 high school through pathways and programs of 21 study that align with local and regional employer 22 needs. 23 (8) Preparing a student for a job in the tech- 24 nology sector is essential to the growth and competi- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:28 Jul 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2227.IS S2227 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 2227 IS tiveness of the economy in the United States in the 1 21st Century. 2 (9) Nearly 800,000 information technology 3 workers will retire between 2017 and 2024. 4 (10) According to the Bureau of Labor Statis- 5 tics, in May 2020, the median annual wage for com- 6 puter and information technology occupations was 7 $91,250, which was higher than the median annual 8 wage for all occupations of $41,950. 9 SEC. 3. TECHNOLOGY APPRENTICESHIP CONTRACTS. 10 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Labor (referred 11 to in this section as ‘‘the Secretary’’) shall enter into con- 12 tracts with industry intermediaries for the purpose of pro- 13 moting the development of and access to apprenticeships 14 in the technology sector, from amounts appropriated 15 under subsection (e). 16 (b) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to be awarded a con- 17 tract under this section, an industry intermediary shall 18 submit an application to the Secretary, at such time and 19 in such a manner as may be required by the Secretary, 20 that identifies proposed activities designed to further the 21 purpose described in subsection (a). 22 (c) SELECTION.—The Secretary shall award con- 23 tracts under this section based on competitive criteria to 24 be prescribed by the Secretary. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:28 Jul 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2227.IS S2227 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 2227 IS (d) CONTRACTOR ACTIVITIES.—An industry inter- 1 mediary that is awarded a contract under this section may 2 only use the funds made available through such contract 3 to carry out activities designed to further the purpose de- 4 scribed in subsection (a), including— 5 (1) facilitating the provision and development of 6 apprenticeships in the technology sector through col- 7 laborations with public and private entities that pro- 8 vide job-related instruction, such as on-the-job train- 9 ing, pre-apprenticeship training, and technical train- 10 ing; 11 (2) encouraging entities to establish such ap- 12 prenticeships; 13 (3) identifying, assessing, and training appli- 14 cants for such apprenticeships who are— 15 (A) enrolled in high school; 16 (B) enrolled in an early college high school 17 that focuses on education in STEM subjects; 18 (C) individuals aged 18 years or older who 19 meet appropriate qualification standards; or 20 (D) enrolled in pre-apprenticeship or ap- 21 prenticeship training initiatives that allow 22 adults to concurrently increase academic and 23 workforce skills through proven, evidence-based 24 models that connect all learning to the specific 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:28 Jul 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2227.IS S2227 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 2227 IS apprenticeship involved and significantly accel- 1 erate completion of preparation for the appren- 2 ticeship; and 3 (4) tracking the progress of such applicants 4 who participate in such apprenticeships. 5 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 6 are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary such 7 sums as may be necessary for the purposes of carrying 8 out this section. 9 SEC. 4. CHANCE IN TECH AWARDS FOR 21ST CENTURY 10 SCHOOLS. 11 (a) AWARDS AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary of Edu- 12 cation may issue awards, to be known as ‘‘CHANCE in 13 TECH Awards for 21st Century Schools’’, to schools (re- 14 ferred to in this section as ‘‘covered schools’’) that— 15 (1) are secondary schools or junior or commu- 16 nity colleges; and 17 (2) demonstrate high achievement in providing 18 students necessary skills to compete in the 21st cen- 19 tury workforce. 20 (b) CRITERIA.—In selecting a covered school for an 21 award under subsection (a), the Secretary shall take into 22 account— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:28 Jul 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2227.IS S2227 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 2227 IS (1) the availability of STEM, career and tech- 1 nical education, and computer technology courses at 2 the covered school; 3 (2) State academic assessments, as described in 4 section 111(b)(2) of the Elementary and Secondary 5 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6311(b)(2)), of 6 students at the covered school in STEM subjects; 7 (3) any coordination between the covered school 8 and local and regional employers in the technology 9 sector for the purpose of providing work-based learn- 10 ing programs such as apprenticeships and intern- 11 ships; and 12 (4) the availability of individualized plans pro- 13 vided by the covered school to students relating to 14 postsecondary education or training, career paths, 15 and financial aid. 16 SEC. 5. FUNDING. 17 (a) FISCAL YEAR 2021.—Amounts made available to 18 the Secretary of Labor under the Department of Labor 19 Appropriations Act, 2021 to carry out the Act referred 20 to in section 6(1) may be used to carry out this Act. 21 (b) SUBSEQUENT YEARS.—There are authorized to 22 be appropriated to carry out this Act such sums as may 23 be necessary for fiscal year 2022 and each subsequent fis- 24 cal year. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:28 Jul 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2227.IS S2227 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 2227 IS SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 1 In this Act: 2 (1) APPRENTICESHIP.—The term ‘‘apprentice- 3 ship’’ means an apprenticeship registered under the 4 Act of August 16, 1937 (commonly known as the 5 ‘‘National Apprenticeship Act’’; 50 Stat. 664, chap- 6 ter 663; 29 U.S.C. 50 et seq.). 7 (2) CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION.—The 8 term ‘‘career and technical education’’ has the 9 meaning given such term in section 3 of the Carl D. 10 Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 11 2006 (20 U.S.C. 2302). 12 (3) EARLY COLLEGE HIGH SCHOOL.—The term 13 ‘‘early college high school’’ has the meaning given 14 such term in section 8101 of the Elementary and 15 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 16 (4) HIGH SCHOOL.—The term ‘‘high school’’ 17 has the meaning given such term in section 8101 of 18 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 19 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 20 (5) INDUSTRY INTERMEDIARY.—The term ‘‘in- 21 dustry intermediary’’ means an entity that— 22 (A) in order to accelerate apprenticeship 23 program development and helps establish new 24 apprenticeship partnerships at the national, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:28 Jul 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2227.IS S2227 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 2227 IS State, or regional level, serves as a conduit be- 1 tween an employer and an entity, such as— 2 (i) an industry partner; 3 (ii) the Department of Labor; and 4 (iii) a State agency responsible for 5 workforce development programs; 6 (B) demonstrates a capacity to work with 7 employers and other key partners to identify 8 workforce trends and foster public-private fund- 9 ing to establish new apprenticeship programs; 10 and 11 (C) is an entity such as— 12 (i) a business; 13 (ii) a consortium of businesses; 14 (iii) a business-related nonprofit orga- 15 nization, including industry associations 16 and business federations; 17 (iv) a private organization functioning 18 as a workforce intermediary for the ex- 19 press purpose of serving the needs of busi- 20 nesses, including community-based non- 21 profit service providers and industry- 22 aligned training providers; or 23 (v) a consortium of any of the entities 24 described in clauses (i) through (iv). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:28 Jul 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2227.IS S2227 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 2227 IS (6) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 1 term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 2 meaning given such term in section 102 of the High- 3 er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002). 4 (7) JUNIOR OR COMMUNITY COLLEGE.—The 5 term ‘‘junior or community college’’ has the meaning 6 given the term in section 312(f) of the Higher Edu- 7 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1058(f)). 8 (8) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—The term 9 ‘‘local educational agency’’ has the meaning given 10 such term in section 8101 of the Elementary and 11 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 12 (9) SECONDARY SCHOOL.—The term ‘‘sec- 13 ondary school’’ has the meaning given such term in 14 section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu- 15 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 16 (10) STATE EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—The term 17 ‘‘State educational agency’’ has the meaning given 18 such term in section 8101 of the Elementary and 19 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 20 (11) STEM.—The term ‘‘STEM’’ means 21 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. 22 (12) TECHNOLOGY SECTOR.—The term ‘‘tech- 23 nology sector’’ means the industry sector involved in 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:28 Jul 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2227.IS S2227 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 2227 IS the design or development of hardware, software, or 1 security of digital data. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:28 Jul 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2227.IS S2227 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS