The ADVICE Act would create an Apprenticeship Advisory Committee within the U.S. Department of Labor to study how apprenticeship data is collected, standardized, and shared across federal and state systems. The committee would include representatives from state workforce agencies, statewide longitudinal data systems, apprenticeship sponsors, labor organizations, industry, and higher education. Within two years, it would submit recommendations to the Secretary of Labor and Congress on how to improve data interoperability, reduce duplicative reporting, and better connect apprenticeship information with education, workforce, and public benefit data systems.
The bill also directs the committee to recommend ways to collect outcomes-based data on apprenticeships, such as retention and wages during and after completion, and to better track similar paid training programs that are not formally registered apprenticeships. It further calls for recommendations to incorporate apprenticeship data into student-level education records, improve statewide longitudinal data systems, and expand individuals’ access to their own learning and employment records. After receiving the committee’s report, the Secretary of Labor, in consultation with the Secretary of Education, must issue a policy plan and request targeted appropriations to support implementation. The bill also amends the National Apprenticeship Act to require the Labor Department to consider the resulting policy plan when administering apprenticeship activities.
If enacted, the bill would not directly create new apprenticeship standards or mandate immediate reporting changes, but it would establish a federal advisory process that could lead to future administrative and funding changes. It would affect the Department of Labor, the Department of Education, state workforce agencies, state apprenticeship agencies, apprenticeship sponsors, and data systems that handle workforce, education, and public assistance information. The bill also amends the National Apprenticeship Act to formally incorporate consideration of the committee’s policy recommendations into federal apprenticeship administration.
The available context suggests a generally constructive and policy-oriented sentiment around the bill, with the measure framed as a data modernization and workforce development effort rather than a controversial regulatory overhaul. Because there are no recorded votes or committee transcripts provided, there is no evidence of formal opposition or support in the available record. The bill’s sponsors appear to be seeking bipartisan or cross-sector input through the committee structure, indicating an emphasis on technical collaboration and implementation planning.
The main points of potential contention are likely to involve data sharing, privacy, administrative burden, and federal-state coordination. The bill contemplates linking apprenticeship data with unemployment insurance, Medicaid, SNAP, TANF, housing, education, and other systems, which may raise concerns among privacy advocates and state agencies about interoperability, security, and the scope of data integration. Sponsors and states may also differ on the cost and complexity of standardized reporting, while labor, industry, and education stakeholders could disagree over how outcomes should be measured and which programs should be included in the data framework.