30 June 2023
TOPEKA (KSNT) – On June 30, Governor Laura Kelly signed House Bill 2292, promoting and expanding apprenticeships with businesses, healthcare organizations, educational institutions and nonprofit groups.
The legislation known as the Kansas Apprenticeship Act is a matching grant program for higher education institutions based on the number of engineering program graduates.
In September, Kelly established the Office of Registered Apprenticeship. Kansas Lawmakers made the largest financial investment into Registered Apprenticeships with an authorized $13 million in annual funding.
“The investments being made now will help make Kansas become a top 25 apprenticeship state by 2025, which is a long-standing goal of the Kelly administration,” Lieutenant Governor and Secretary of Commerce David Toland said. “To reach that level, we will need to add nearly 10,000 new apprentices, and the Kansas Apprenticeship Act will help us achieve that goal.”
In the past year, the number of new apprentices has almost doubled (252 to 473), the number of new programs has more than doubled (5 to 12) and the number of new occupations has more than doubled (19 to 47), according to the Office of the Governor.
The Kansas Works Office of Registered Apprenticeship has a list of intermediaries who can offer employers and labor organizations launch, promote and expand Registered Apprenticeship programs. The list can be viewed here.
The Kansas Office of Registered Apprenticeship programs will hold several roundtable events:
Wichita, July 25
Great Bend, July 26
Emporia, August 9
Topeka and Kansas city in early August
The office will also visit already established Registered Apprenticeship programs in Norton, Wichita, Garden City, Dodge City and Hays in late July, according to the press release.
For more information on the Kansas Office of Registered Apprenticeship, click here.