Committee reviews two-year culinary apprenticeship pilot to boost hospitality workforce

Legislative counsel walked the House Commerce & Economic Development Committee through new language in draft S.327 establishing a two-year culinary and hospitality apprenticeship pilot, and members discussed design, funding and reporting requirements.

Rick Sable (office of legislative counsel) read draft language describing the pilot: "DOL, through the Vermont registered apprenticeship program, which they manage, shall establish and maintain a 2 year hospitality and culinary apprenticeship pilot that develops and evaluates a new registered apprenticeship training program specific to accommodation and food services." Counsel said the pilot should be regional, multi-employer and align with existing education and technical centers.

Members asked whether the pilot must be limited to tourism-based regional economies and whether agricultural value-added food production should be folded into the culinary institute study; participants suggested coordinating with the culinary institute study and with stakeholders that work on farm value-added products.

On funding, counsel said the department should "implement the pilot using existing state and federal funds, so no appropriation, to the extent practicable," and may apply for additional grants. Committee members noted employers could also contribute to schooling costs, as occurs in other apprenticeship programs.

The committee discussed measurable targets: the draft requires numeric targets and tracked outcomes including completion, retention and wage progression and asks for an interim report on pilot design and preliminary results and a final report with outcomes and recommendations for legislative action. During the session members debated interim and final report dates, with proposals including an interim/preliminary report of December 1, 2026 and a final report in mid-2027; another section of the draft later read set a final-report date in 2028, which counsel agreed to reconcile.

Next steps: committee staff will send questions to the Department of Labor in advance of the next hearing so agency staff can respond, and counsel will supply an edited draft for further review.