Del. Cory McCray (D-Baltimore City) is introducing a bill on apprenticeship programs he hopes will jump start a conversation about how best to create middle-class jobs throughout the state. (Photo courtesy of Del. Cory McCray)
Del. Cory McCray (D-Baltimore City) has introduced a bill requiring contractors hired forsome state projects to pay the full cost of apprenticeship programs for apprentice laborers in their employ. McCray hopes the proposed measure will jump-start a conversation about how state dollars invested in construction projects can yield their greatest possible return and help grow the middle-class.
Under the legislation, any contractor or subcontractor working on a state-funded project subject to Maryland’s prevailing wage law would be required to pay the full costs of apprenticeship programs for any apprentices they employ. Prevailing wage laws guarantee certain wages and benefits for laborers on projects in which Maryland is acting as the principal investor and that involve awards over $500,000, says McCray.
Including the cost of apprenticeship programs among those guaranteed benefits is important, says McCray, because it removes a potential obstacle to completing an apprenticeship program – costs – and because workers who complete such programs average about $25,000 more in annual wages than those who do not.
The costs of apprenticeships, in essence, would then be transferred to the state, since the costs to contractors of paying for the apprenticeships would be reflected in the bid submitted for state contracts and included in the award.
The measure, according to the freshman delegate, is about investing in Maryland’s economy.
“We have to make sure that for every dollar that we’re spending, we’re bringing back $3,” said McCray. “And how do you do that? You make sure that you’re training a workforce. You’re making sure that that money comes back into the economy. You’re making sure that people from Maryland, people from the city of Baltimore, are working on those projects. Then you’re infusing into the local economy – the bakeries, the grocer, the gas station, they all have been affected by that $1.”
McCray’s bill will be considered by the House of Delegates’ Economic Matters Committee. According to McCray, the bill is co-sponsored by Dels. Benjamin Brooks Sr. (D-Baltimore County), Luke Clippinger (D-Baltimore City), Bill Frick (D-Montgomery County), Cheryl Glenn (D-Baltimore City), and Jeffrey Waldstreicher (D-Montgomery County).