FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 19, 2024

Contact: Amelia Joy

Gov. Noem Opposes Biden Admin.’s Rule Change for Registered Apprenticeship Programs

PIERRE, S.D. – Yesterday, Governor Kristi Noem sent a letter to Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su opposing the Biden Administration’s rule change for Registered Apprenticeship Programs. You can read the full letter here.

“Your proposed rule change would bog down efforts to expand Registered Apprenticeships with more than 800 pages of red tape,” wrote Governor Noem. “South Dakota has thrived because we cut red tape – we do not add it; we encourage workers to develop new skills – we do not put roadblocks in their way; we help businesses by providing the flexibility to navigate their individual circumstances – we do not hamper them with mandates and one-size-fits-all ‘solutions.’”

In the letter, Governor Noem calls on the US Department of Labor to go back to the drawing board before this proposed rule destroys the very blue-collar jobs that it is meant to assist.

Governor Noem has three primary concerns with this rule:

1. The minimum-hours requirement strips important flexibility from our businesses and will punish high-performing apprentices and businesses;
2. The proposed rule includes irrelevant – indeed harmful – mandates in the area of so-called “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” (DEI) that have nothing to do with workforce success; and,
3. The proposal also requires businesses to provide identical benefits to apprentices that they provide to their full-time employees.

“Workers from around the nation have responded to South Dakota’s aggressive approach to apprenticeships by packing up and moving their families to join our winning workforce,” continued Governor Noem. “This rule would undermine that progress and devastate our state and nation’s blue-collar workers and small businesses.”

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