Federal apprenticeship grants funded by H-1B visa fees, targeting small businesses and underrepresen
H.R. 5297 — PARTNERS Act · Filed by Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) · 4 cosponsors · Introduced Sep 11, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill creates a federal grant program to help small and medium-sized businesses set up or expand registered apprenticeships and work-based learning programs. States receive funding to support industry partnerships that connect businesses with workers, provide classroom instruction alongside paid work, and offer support services (childcare, transportation, mentorship) for at least 12 months. Grants of up to $500,000 per partnership are awarded for 3-year periods, with funding drawn from H-1B visa fees.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core mechanism is a federal grant program to expand registered apprenticeships and work-based learning, funded through reallocation of H-1B visa fees. It is a public workforce development initiative, not a tax cut, deregulation, or private subsidy.
What the text implies
- H-1B visa fee reallocation (50% of fees now fund apprenticeships instead of other visa-related programs) may reduce funding available for other H-1B-related initiatives, though the bill does not specify what those programs are or whether they will be defunded.
- Performance reporting requirements (section 8) disaggregate outcomes by race, ethnicity, sex, age, and barrier-to-employment status, creating detailed equity data that could inform future policy but also creates administrative burden on partnerships.
- The 12-month post-placement support requirement (section 8(a)(2)) is unusually long compared to typical workforce programs, potentially increasing costs and administrative complexity for partnerships.
- State discretion in awarding grants (section 6(c)) allows geographic concentration or dispersion; the bill requires 'geographic diversity' but does not define it, leaving room for uneven distribution.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Ordinary workers gain access to paid apprenticeships with classroom instruction and extended support services (childcare, transportation, mentorship for 12+ months), reducing barriers to entry into skilled trades. Small and medium-sized businesses receive assistance navigating apprenticeship registration and curriculum development, lowering the cost and complexity of training workers. The program explicitly targets individuals with barriers to employment and historically underrepresented populat
Who stands to gain
- small and medium-sized businesses (grant recipients and technical assistance)
- industry or sector partnerships (direct grant recipients)
- education providers (contracted for classroom instruction)
- workers in apprenticeships and work-based learning programs (paid wages, support services)
Named in the bill
Secretary of Labor, State governors, State boards, Local boards, Industry or sector partnerships, Small and medium-sized businesses, Registered apprenticeship sponsors, Education providers, Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), National Apprenticeship Act, H-1B Nonimmigrant Petitioner Account, Immigration and Nationality Act
Where it stands
4 cosponsors: 3 Republicans, 1 Democrats.
- Sep 11, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Sep 11, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on the Judiciary and House Committee on Education and Workforce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Education and Workforce, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for…”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $720,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 164 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Suzanne Bonamici, the sponsor, reported $461,650 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- American Trucking Associations — $720,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (14,924 characters) on Oct 21, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,388 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-21.
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