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Providing a skilled workforce is critical to expanding Connecticut’s economy. This session, I’ve sponsored HB-5704, An Act Creating a Construction Pipeline Program, a caucus proposal to create more opportunities for students and workers to become skilled tradespeople in the construction field.

Our proposal begins by:
• Expanding the tax credits available for apprenticeship training in the construction trades from $4,000 to $7,500.
• Expanding eligibility to utilize the tax credit to pass-through entities, encouraging a greater number of construction firms to invest in training apprentices to create a high-quality construction workforce.
• Expanding the pre-apprenticeship grant program to include construction trades to award grants to any local or regional board of education that incorporates a construction trades pre-apprenticeship program in the curriculum for grades nine to twelve.
• Restructuring the apprenticeship ratio from the current schedule to a one-to-one ratio of all apprentices to journeypersons.
• Establishing a “Construction Pipeline Working Group” to enhance workforce development in the trades and provide recommendations for strengthening the construction workforce.

If you’d like to submit testimony in support of this proposal or any other item being considered, you can do so using the link found here.

The full agenda can be found here.