SB 1065 California Senate · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Public works: apprenticeship.

Summary

Existing law requires payment of the general prevailing rate of per diem wages be paid to workers employed on public works, except as specified, and generally requires a contractor or subcontractor to be registered with the Department of Industrial Relations to be qualified to bid on, to be listed in a bid proposal, or to engage in the performance of any public work contract. Existing law authorizes the department to adopt rules and regulations for this purpose. Existing law requires contractors on public works projects to comply with various requirements for employing apprentices. Among other things, existing law requires contractors to pay the prevailing rate of per diem wages for apprentices in the trade to which the apprentice is registered and to employ apprentices only at the work of the craft or trade to which the apprentice is registered, as specified. This bill would authorize every apprentice to perform any of the tasks or duties of a journeyperson of the same craft or trade in accordance with the scope of work for the craft or trade established by the Director of Industrial Relations. Existing law also requires contractors on public works projects that employ workers in an apprenticeable craft or trade to employ apprentices in a specified ratio. Existing law defines "apprenticeable craft or trade" for this purpose to mean a craft or trade determined as an apprenticeable occupation in accordance with rules and regulations prescribed by the California Apprenticeship Council. This bill would, instead, define "apprenticeable craft or trade" to mean a craft or trade as determined by the Director of Industrial Relations pursuant to existing public works law that is identified as an apprenticeable occupation in accordance with rules and regulations prescribed by the California Apprenticeship Council.

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2026

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Feb 12, 2026 Last action Apr 8, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

03/25/26 - Amended Senate → SB1065 · 3 edits

MINOR

This diff represents a reformatting of SB 1065 from the Amended Senate version (with line numbers and page markers) to a clean bill text format. The substantive policy content remains unchanged. The only potentially meaningful difference is that the fiscal committee answer appears to have changed from 'no' to 'yes,' meaning the bill now requires fiscal committee review before final passage.

TECHNICAL

Removed line numbers, page headers/footers (page 98 markers), and reflowed text into a clean format without numbered lines.

Added website navigation elements (skip to content, home, accessibility, FAQ, feedback, sitemap, login, search tools, bill tracking links) that are part of the legislative website interface rather than the bill itself.

The fiscal committee answer in the digest changed from 'no' to 'yes,' indicating the bill now requires review by the appropriate fiscal committee before final passage. This is a procedural requirement, not a policy change.

02/12/26 - Introduced → 03/25/26 - Amended Senate · 11 edits · Mar 25, 2026

MAJOR

The Senate amendment dramatically expands SB 1065 from a minor technical fix to a property service workers registration provision into a comprehensive public works apprenticeship bill. The amended version adds an entirely new section (amending Labor Code Section 1777.5) that allows apprentices to perform journeyperson tasks, sets a minimum 1-to-5 apprentice-to-journeyperson work ratio, requires payment for preemployment activities, creates a new Apprenticeship Training Contribution Fund, and imposes reporting requirements on contractors. The original Section 1433 changes remain but are now secondary.

SCOPE

The bill now amends Labor Code Section 1777.5 (public works apprenticeship) in addition to Section 1433 (property service workers). This is a major expansion from a narrow technical fix to a broad public works labor policy bill.

Exempts contracts of general contractors or specialty contractors not bidding through a general contractor when the contract value is less than $30,000.

REQUIREMENT

Authorizes every apprentice on public works to perform any tasks or duties of a journeyperson of the same craft or trade, in accordance with the scope of work established by the Director of Industrial Relations. This removes prior restrictions that limited apprentices to only their registered trade's specific tasks.

Sets a minimum ratio of one hour of apprentice work for every five hours of journeyperson work on public works projects, computed daily based on hours worked (capped at 8 hours per day or 40 hours per week for ratio calculation purposes).

Requires contractors to submit contract award information (estimated journeyman hours, number of apprentices proposed, approximate dates) to applicable apprenticeship programs before commencing work, and to submit verified statements of actual hours within 60 days after concluding work.

FISCAL

Creates the Apprenticeship Training Contribution Fund in the State Treasury. Requires contractors employing journeypersons or apprentices in apprenticeable crafts to contribute the prevailing amount of apprenticeship training contributions to the California Apprenticeship Council. Funds are distributed as grants to approved apprenticeship programs.

Fiscal committee answer changed from 'no' to 'yes' due to the creation of the new Apprenticeship Training Contribution Fund.

ELIGIBILITY

Requires payment at the prevailing apprentice rate for time spent on preemployment activities (testing, training, examinations, travel), unless otherwise provided by a collective bargaining agreement. Exception: no pay required if an apprentice fails a preemployment drug or alcohol test.

Provides exemptions from the 1-to-5 ratio when: area unemployment exceeds 15 percent over the previous three months, the number of apprentices in training exceeds a 1-to-5 ratio, the craft is replacing at least one-thirtieth of its journeypersons annually through apprenticeship, or assignment would jeopardize safety.

DEFINITION

Redefines 'apprenticeable craft or trade' to mean a craft or trade as determined by the Director of Industrial Relations pursuant to existing public works law that is identified as an apprenticeable occupation under California Apprenticeship Council rules. Previously it was simply a craft determined as apprenticeable under Council rules.

TECHNICAL

Changes 'journeymen' to 'journeypersons' and 'he or she' to 'they' throughout the new section for gender-neutral language. Also changes 'Division of Labor Standards and Enforcement' to 'Division of Labor Standards Enforcement' in the Section 1433 amendment.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Apr 8, 2026

Committee

Re-referred to Com. on L., P.E. & R.

upper

Mar 25, 2026

Upper · Passed

From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on RLS.

upper

Feb 26, 2026

Committee

Referred to Com. on RLS.

upper

Feb 12, 2026

Introduced

Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print.

upper

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors