Section 3073.1.

(a) The division shall audit apprenticeship programs to ensure that the program audited is complying with its standards, that all on-the-job training is supervised by journeymen, that all related and supplemental instruction required by the apprenticeship standards is being provided, that all work processes in the apprenticeship standards are being covered, and that graduates have completed the apprenticeship program's requirements. The division shall examine each apprenticeship program to determine whether apprentices are graduating from the program on schedule or dropping out and to determine whether graduates of the program have obtained employment as journeymen. During the audit, the division shall attempt to contact a statistically valid sample of apprentices who have dropped out of the program prior to completion to determine the apprentices' reasons for leaving the program. Every apprenticeship program sponsor shall have a duty to cooperate with the division in conducting an audit.

(b) Audit reports shall be presented to the California Apprenticeship Council and shall be made public, except that the division shall not make public information that would infringe on the privacy of individual apprentices. The division shall recommend remedial action to correct deficiencies recognized in the audit report, and the failure to follow division recommendations or to correct deficiencies within a reasonable period of time shall be grounds for withdrawing state approval of a program. Nothing shall prevent the division from conducting more frequent or random audits of apprenticeship programs where deficiencies have been identified.

(c) The division shall give priority in conducting audits to programs that have been identified as having deficiencies. The division may conduct simplified audits for programs with fewer than five registered apprentices.

(d) For new and newly expanded building and construction trades apprenticeship programs, the division shall audit each program one year after approval of the creation or expansion of the program.

(e) If the division finds evidence that information provided to it by a building and construction trades apprenticeship program has been purposefully misstated, the division shall immediately investigate and determine whether an audit of the program is necessary. The division shall report its investigatory findings to the California Apprenticeship Council and make them available to the public, except that the division shall not make public information that would infringe upon the privacy of individual apprentices.

(f) If the division determines that a building and construction trades apprenticeship program has been the subject of two or more meritorious complaints that concern the recruitment, training, or education of apprentices within a five-year period, the division shall schedule the program for an audit within three months of the determination.

(g) If the division determines that a building and construction trades apprenticeship program that has had at least two graduating classes has an annual apprentice completion rate below 50 percent of the average completion rate for the applicable trade, the division shall schedule the program for an audit within three months of the determination.

(Amended by Stats. 2011, Ch. 696, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2012.)