A MEMORIAL

DECLARING FEBRUARY 14, 2003 AS "NEW MEXICO APPRENTICESHIP DAY" AT THE LEGISLATURE.

WHEREAS, apprenticeship programs offer significant economic benefits to New Mexico by producing highly skilled workers; and

WHEREAS, apprenticeship programs offer individuals the opportunity for training and employment experience in over eight hundred skilled trades; and

WHEREAS, thirty-nine organizations, including businesses, business associations, unions and other organizations, sponsor apprenticeship programs in New Mexico; and

WHEREAS, approximately two thousand individuals participate as apprentices in these programs; and

WHEREAS, apprenticeship programs are almost exclusively funded by the industries they serve;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that February 14, 2003 be declared

"New Mexico Apprenticeship Day" at the legislature and that organizations sponsoring apprenticeship programs are recognized for their service to the citizens of New Mexico; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that all New Mexicans be encouraged to support apprenticeship programs as economically

and socially beneficial to the state.