House today approved the National Apprenticeship Act of 2021 (H.R. 447), legislation that would expand youth and adult access to instruction in the skilled trades.
NAHB welcomes a number of provisions in H.R. 447, chiefly those affording increased flexibility and options for registered apprenticeship program structuring. This would help alleviate one of the biggest challenges to running skills-based training programs in the residential construction industry and assist the efforts of the Home Builder Institute (HBI) to tailor its curriculum offerings to different populations where long-duration programs are prohibitive for small employers.
The National Apprenticeship Act also expands technical assistance to training providers and offers robust funding and grant opportunities to support the bill’s ambitious goals for programming growth under the national apprenticeship system.
NAHB would like to see additional improvements made to the bill and will work with lawmakers as the legislation moves to the Senate.