(a) The division shall evaluate apprenticeship and preapprenticeship programs to ensure that the program evaluated is complying with its standards, that all on-the-job training is supervised by journeymen, that all classroom instruction required by the apprenticeship or preapprenticeship standards is being provided, that all work processes in the standards are being covered, and that graduates have completed the program’s requirements. The division shall examine each apprenticeship program to determine whether apprentices are graduating from or completing the program on schedule or dropping out and to determine whether graduates of the apprenticeship program have obtained employment as journeymen. During the evaluation, the division shall attempt to contact a statistically valid sample of apprentices who have dropped out of the program prior to completion to determine their reasons for leaving the program. Every apprenticeship program sponsor shall have a duty to cooperate with the division in conducting an evaluation.

(b) Evaluation reports for building and construction trade and firefighting programs shall be presented to the California Apprenticeship Council and reports concerning any other program shall be presented to the Interagency Advisory Committee on Apprenticeship. The division shall make reports public, except that the division shall not make public information that would infringe on the privacy of individual apprentices. The division shall recommend remedial action to correct deficiencies recognized in the audit report, and the failure to follow division recommendations or to correct deficiencies within a reasonable period of time shall be grounds for withdrawing state approval of a program. Nothing shall prevent the division from conducting more frequent or random evaluations of programs where deficiencies have been identified.

(c) The division shall give priority in conducting evaluations to programs that have been identified as having deficiencies. The division may conduct simplified evaluations for programs with fewer than five registered participants.

(d) One year following the creation of a new program or substantial expansion of an existing program, the division shall evaluate the program for quality and conformity with the requirements of this section.

(e) If the division finds evidence that information provided to it by a building and construction trades or firefighter apprenticeship program has been purposefully misstated, the division shall immediately investigate and determine whether an evaluation of the program is necessary. The division shall report its investigatory findings to the California Apprenticeship Council and make them available to the public, except that the division shall not make public information that would infringe upon the privacy of individual apprentices.

(f) If the division determines that a building and construction trades or firefighter apprenticeship program has been the subject of two or more meritorious complaints that concern the recruitment, training, or education of apprentices within a five-year period, the division shall schedule the program for an evaluation within three months of the determination.

(g) If the division determines that a building and construction trades apprenticeship program that has had at least two graduating classes has an annual apprentice completion rate below 50 percent of the average completion rate for the applicable trade, the division shall schedule the program for an evaluation within three months of the determination.

(Amended by Stats. 2018, Ch. 704, Sec. 25. (AB 235) Effective September 22, 2018.)