State Updates 

Recap of 2019 State Apprenticeship Bills 

This week’s focus is state apprenticeship bill.  The bills listed below constitute the third section of AACS’ compilation of 2019 state bills of interest to member schools.  In week one, AACS’ state relations team reviewed deregulation bills, which was followed by a review of state hour reduction bills last week.  Next week, we will turn our attention away from occupational licensure reform bills by examining state bill targeting for-profit schools.    

The bills in this report are color coded. Measures in green have been enacted into law and those listed in red are dead for 2019. Bills in blue have been enacted into law without the apprenticeship provisions detailed in this report.  

The text of the bills listed in this report can be found in AACS’ Bill Tracking Portal at: https://www.billtrack50.com/Public/Stakeholder/Jt1rI23hjU2jC1MOSr6KVA/Embedded.   

Please do not hesitate to contact me at bnewman@abingdonstrategies.com or by phone at 202-491-5254 with comments or questions. 

2019 State Apprenticeship Bills   

Arizona SB 1328
The Act, effective this summer, establishes cosmetology apprenticeship programs that include “at least two hundred fifty hours of infection protection and law review instruction.”  

Rules to implement the Act have yet to be published.  

Delaware HB 205
Prior final passage, HB 205 was amended to remove House-passed language that would have permitted licensees to supervise up to three apprentices and permitted a licensed instructor to supervise up to five apprentices. 

Georgia SB 214
The originally drafted bill passed by the Senate would have reduced apprenticeship hours for cosmetologists, hair designers, estheticians, nail technicians, master barber and barber II to the same level as the course of instruction at a school.  

In the closing minutes of Georgia’s 2019 legislative session, both the House and the Senate passed a SB 214 conference report that makes no changes to current barbering/cosmetology law except deleting the phrase “is of good moral character” as a qualification for licensure.  

Maine LD1502
The bill would have established apprenticeships for several licensed professions including cosmetology, barbering, limited barbering, nail technology and aesthetics. 

Missouri SB 204
Passage of SB 204 would have enacted the "Expanded Workforce Access Act of 2019 2019.”  Accordingly, each state licensing authority would be required to license individuals who successfully complete an apprenticeship approved by the appropriate licensing authority or the U.S. Department of Labor and has passed the required licensure examination.  The bill states “the number of working hours required for a competency-based apprenticeship or a hybrid apprenticeship under 29 CFR 29.5 shall not exceed the number of educational hours otherwise required for a non-apprenticeship license for the specific profession.”   

North Dakota HB 1215
The House voted to reject this bill to establish apprenticeships for cosmetology, estheticians, and manicurists.  The measure states that apprenticeship program must provide for no more than 1,800 hours of training, which is the current course of instruction for cosmetology.