Committee advances bill to close alleged DORA loophole for electrical and plumbing apprentices

Majority Leader Duran presented House Bill 12 84 in the House Business Affairs and Labor Committee on April 2, 2025, asking the panel to approve a strike-below amendment (L001) that he said would prevent registered apprenticeship programs from using a separate DORA registration to classify the same trainees as electrical or plumbing apprentices. The committee adopted the amendment and sent the bill to the Committee on Appropriations with a favorable recommendation by a 9-4 vote.

The bill’s sponsor said House Bill 12 84 would define in state law which U.S. Department of Labor–approved occupations qualify as electrical and plumbing mechanical occupations and prohibit a registered apprenticeship that commits to training laborers or other non-electrical trades from also registering those same individuals with the Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) as electrical or plumbing apprentices. “What these apprentice program sponsors are doing is making a legal and formalized commitment to the government to train construction laborers… but having them go over to DORA and register as electrical apprentices to perform electrical work,” Majority Leader Duran said, arguing the practice can be used to evade prevailing wages and apprenticeship utilization requirements.

Witnesses who testified in support included Marilyn Acre Stansberry, CEO of Independent Electrical Contractors Rocky Mountain (IECRM); Jack Tate, president and CEO of Associated Builders and Contractors, Rocky Mountain Chapter; Phil Hayes, representing the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters; and Rory Berman, executive director of the Rocky Mountain chapter of the National Flexible Contractors Association. Stansberry told the committee IECRM — which she said serves about 2,800 apprentices and represents roughly 300 electrical contractors — is “in an amend position” and has been a stakeholder in drafting the strike-below language. Phil Hayes said the change is intended to prevent program sponsors from registering a training program with the State Apprenticeship Agency as a laborer occupation while effectively delivering electrical instruction and paying laborer wages, a practice Hayes called “misclassification” and “wage theft.”

Committee members asked technical questions about how the proposal would treat on‑the‑job training provided directly by contractors or by non‑registered training programs affiliated with community colleges. Hayes and other witnesses said the amendment was written to preserve existing pathways for small contractors to register individual apprentices with DORA while preventing the specific practice targeted by the bill.

Representative Woodrow moved the L001 amendment; Representative Leader seconded. The amendment was adopted without recorded objection. Vice Chair moved that the bill, as amended, be sent to the Committee on Appropriations with a favorable recommendation; the motion was seconded and, after roll call, the committee reported the bill out by a 9-4 vote. The committee clerk announced the motion outcome as “The bill passes 9 to 4.”

The bill now proceeds to the House Appropriations Committee for further consideration.