The act creates a new chapter in Title 49 RCW (sections 1–5) that requires owners or operators of specified "covered facilities" (pulp and paper mills, hog fuel/biomass plants, fossil fuel and nuclear power plants, and related generation/testing/demonstration facilities) to require contractors and subcontractors to use a "skilled and trained workforce" for all on-site work in apprenticeable occupations. It takes effect January 1, 2027 and applies to contracts awarded, extended, or renewed on or after that date, and to work performed on or after January 1, 2028 under contracts awarded before January 1, 2027. The law defines "skilled and trained workforce" to mean workers who are registered apprentices or skilled journeypersons and who meet apprenticeship graduation and approved advanced safety training requirements. It requires contractors and subcontractors to have at least 30% of their skilled journeypersons be apprenticeship program graduates by January 1, 2027, and at least 60% by January 1, 2028. By January 1, 2028 all skilled journeypersons and registered apprentices must have completed at least 20 hours of department-approved advanced safety training within the prior three calendar years. The Department of Labor and Industries, consulting the state apprenticeship and training council, must approve the advanced safety curriculum and training providers, issue certificates, may accept equivalent certificates under chapter 49.80 RCW or from another state, and may adopt rules to implement the chapter. A short-term hiring shortage exception and an emergency exception are included, and the skilled and trained workforce requirements apply to each contractor’s or subcontractor’s individual on-site workforce. The wage-rate requirement is treated as a wage payment requirement under RCW 49.48.082, and failure to comply with the skilled and trained workforce requirements (other than the wage-rate requirement) is a violation of chapter 49.17 RCW. This is a new law that creates procedural and compliance requirements (training, apprenticeship percentages, certification, and related rulemaking) and ties noncompliance to existing enforcement statutes. Important details are not provided in the extracted text: the new chapter number in Title 49 is not specified, some definitions and standards depend on other cited RCWs (e.g., scope of work, apprenticeship approvals, prevailing wage), the specific enforcement mechanisms and penalties are referenced only by citation to chapter 49.17 RCW, and the method for calculating apprenticeship graduation percentages and other operational calculations is not specified.

If enacted, owners and operators of pulp, paper, biomass, fossil fuel, and nuclear facilities will have to require that contractors use only a “skilled and trained” workforce on site, which pushes contractors and subcontractors to employ more workers who graduated from approved apprenticeship programs (30% of skilled journeypersons by Jan 1, 2027 and 60% by Jan 1, 2028) and to ensure all journeypersons and apprentices have completed 20 hours of approved advanced safety training within the prior three years by Jan 1, 2028. The Department of Labor and Industries must create and approve the training curriculum and providers and issue certificates, so contractors may face higher hiring or training costs, scheduling constraints to meet the percentage targets, and potential enforcement action if they fail to comply; owners/operators also take on the responsibility of requiring and verifying contractor compliance. The rules apply to new, extended, or renewed contracts on or after Jan 1, 2027 and to work under older contracts if performed on or after Jan 1, 2028, with narrow exceptions for documented hiring shortages (after requesting workers from local hiring halls/apprenticeship programs and waiting 48 hours) and true emergencies. Important implementation details are missing from the text provided — the new chapter number is not given, the exact method for counting and calculating the apprenticeship percentage is not specified, and specific enforcement procedures and penalties are only referenced by citation, so the scope of compliance risk and administrative burden cannot be fully determined from these facts alone.