The Florida Senate

446.045  State Apprenticeship Council.--

(1)  For the purposes of this section:

(a)  "Joint employee organization" means an apprenticeship sponsor who participates in a collective bargaining agreement and represents employees.

(b)  "Nonjoint employer organization" means an apprenticeship sponsor who does not participate in a collective bargaining agreement and who represents management.

(2)(a)  There is created a State Apprenticeship Council to be composed of 13 members, which shall be advisory to the Division of Jobs and Benefits of the Department of Labor and Employment Security. The purpose of the council is to advise the division on matters relating to apprenticeship. The council may not establish policy, adopt rules, or consider whether particular apprenticeship programs should be approved by the division or bureau. Only those matters contained in the notice of meeting provided by the division shall be considered by the council at council meetings.

(b)  The division director or the division director's designee shall be ex officio chair of the State Apprenticeship Council, but may not vote. The administrator of industrial education of the Department of Education and the state director of the Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training of the United States Department of Labor shall be appointed nonvoting members of the council. The Governor shall appoint two three-member committees for the purpose of nominating candidates for appointment to the council. One nominating committee shall be composed of joint employee organization representatives, and the other nominating committee shall be composed of nonjoint employer organization representatives. The joint employee organization nominating committee shall submit to the Governor the names of three persons for each vacancy occurring among the joint employee organization members on the council, and the nonjoint employer organization nominating committee likewise shall submit to the Governor the names of three persons for each vacancy occurring among the nonjoint employer organization members on the council. The Governor shall appoint to the council five members representing joint employee organizations and five members representing nonjoint employer organizations from the candidates nominated for each position by the respective nominating committees. Each member shall represent industries which have registered apprenticeship programs or in which a need for apprenticeship programs has been demonstrated. Initially, the Governor shall appoint four members for terms of 4 years, two members for terms of 3 years, two members for terms of 2 years, and two members for terms of 1 year. Thereafter, members shall be appointed for 4-year terms. A vacancy shall be filled for the remainder of the unexpired term.

(c)  The council shall meet at the call of the chair or at the request of a majority of its membership, but at least twice a year. A majority of the voting members shall constitute a quorum, and the affirmative vote of a majority of a quorum is necessary to take action.

(d)  The Governor may remove any member for cause.

(e)  The council shall maintain minutes of each meeting. The division shall keep on file the minutes of each meeting and shall make such minutes available to any interested person.

(f)  Members of the council shall serve without compensation, but shall be entitled to receive reimbursement for per diem and travel expenses as provided in s. 112.061.

History.--ss. 1, 2, ch. 82-55; s. 22, ch. 83-174; s. 69, ch. 85-81; s. 1, ch. 88-14; s. 5, ch. 91-429; s. 11, ch. 95-345; s. 145, ch. 97-103; s. 54, ch. 99-5.