A JOINT MEMORIAL

DECLARING MARCH 4, 2005 AS "NEW MEXICO APPRENTICESHIP DAY" AT THE LEGISLATURE.

     WHEREAS, apprenticeship programs offer significant economic benefit 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, forty-four organizations, including businesses, business associations and unions, 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 March 4, 2005 be declared "New Mexico Apprenticeship Day" at the legislature and that organizations sponsoring apprenticeship programs be 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 that are economically and socially beneficial to the state.