This morning, The Evergreen State College along with colleagues from the University of Washington, Western Washington University, and Central Washington University provided the House Commerce & Labor Committee with an update regarding implementation of House Bill 5873.

House Bill 5873 passed last session, requires public work contracts awarded by state four-year institutions of higher education include apprentice utilization provisions. The apprentice utilization requirements are phased in over a three-year period.

Paul Smith, Director of Facilities for Evergreen, shared with the Committee that Evergreen expects to have its first $3 million contract (threshold for the phasing in of apprentice utilization) in May-June of this year. The College set a voluntary goals with the contractor for the Campus Activities Building (CAB) of 10% apprentice utilization. To date the contract has reached 8% apprentice utilization but expects this percentage to rise to 10-12% by the end of the contract. In addition, Evergreen is reworking its contract forms and processes to ensure that the College is meeting the goals set out in the bill as future projects begin.

Colleagues from the other four-year institutions shared similar updates. In addition, updates regarding the implementation of SB 5873 were provided by the Department of Transportation and K-12.

Labor & Industries and General Administration opened the work session with context and background of apprentic utilization since the passage of the bill.