CAC training fund contributions: who pays, how much, and when

No apprentices? You can still owe it

Yes, if you employ journeymen. The duty in Labor Code 1777.5, subdivision (m)(1), applies to a contractor who employs "journeymen or apprentices" in any apprenticeable craft or trade on the contract. It does not wait for you to hire an apprentice. The DAS public works page says contributions are owed for every hour worked by every journeyman and apprentice in an apprenticeable craft, overtime included.

Employing apprentices is a separate duty. The DAS summary of requirements sets it at one hour of apprentice work for every five hours worked by a journeyman. Our DAS 140 and DAS 142 guide covers the forms that go with it.

The DAS public works FAQ lists the cases where section 1777.5 does not apply. This table puts those cases next to the ones that do.

Subdivision (o) words the dollar line as the contracts of general contractors, and of specialty contractors who do not bid through a general or prime contractor, that involve less than $30,000. If you are a subcontractor under a general contractor, ask the awarding body how it reads your contract before you stop paying. Our guide to project thresholds covers the other dollar lines.

Who pays

A contractor awarded a public works contract who, in performing any of the work, employs journeymen or apprentices in any apprenticeable craft or trade contributes to the California Apprenticeship Council the amount the Director determines is the prevailing amount of apprenticeship training contributions in the area of the public works site (DAS, restating section 1777.5(m)). Subcontractors in apprenticeable crafts are contractors for this purpose: subdivision (d) says "contractor" includes any subcontractor who performs public works not excluded by subdivision (o). Subdivision (m)(1) also lets you add the contribution into your bid for the contract.

How much

The rate is set per craft and area in the Director's general prevailing wage determinations, which DAS says are published by the Office of Policy, Research and Legislation. Training contributions must be paid for every hour worked by every journeyman and apprentice in an apprenticeable craft, including overtime. They cannot be paid to the workers instead, unless the craft is not apprenticeable. For the amount owed for each hour, 8 CCR 230.2(a) points you to the applicable prevailing wage determination.

Find the rate for your craft

The DAS FAQ says training fund amounts are listed on the same prevailing wage determinations you use to set your workers' wages. To read yours:

1. Open the current menu. Start at DIR's General Prevailing Wage Determinations page and choose the journeyman menu. In October 2026 that is the 2026-2 menu.
2. Follow DIR's six steps. The menu has you check statewide crafts first. Steps two and four apply only if you have not found your craft yet: step two is the Northern or Southern California basic trades, and step four is the county subtrades. Step three is San Diego, which DIR says to examine if your project is in San Diego County. Do not stop once you find your craft. Step five is the county shift pay determination, if your county shows one. Step six is the important notices, which list corrections, interims, and modifications that may apply to your determination.
3. Open the PDF for your craft and county. Find Training. In some determinations it is a column in the wage table. In the Northern California laborer determination it is a row in an Employer Payments table, listed as an amount per hour worked.
4. Read the footnotes. A # beside the craft name marks an apprenticeable craft. Footnotes can change how an amount is applied: in the electrical utility lineman determination, the footnote on Training says the amount is factored at the applicable overtime rate.
5. Check the dates and the asterisk. Each determination shows an issue date and an expiration date. DIR says general determinations issue twice a year, on February 22 and August 22, and take effect ten days later. Under 8 CCR 16204(a)(1), any call for bids put out on or after the effective date must reflect that determination. 8 CCR 16000 defines the date of notice or call for bids, also called the Bid Advertisement Date, as the date the first notice inviting bids was published or promulgated in a legally sufficient manner. Then check the asterisk beside the expiration date. Under 8 CCR 16204(b), a single asterisk (*) means a determination in effect on the date of advertisement for bids stays in effect for the life of the project. A double asterisk (**) means the rates for work performed after that date have been predetermined, and the new rate must be paid for that work. Confirm which determination governs with the contract or the awarding body.

Worked example

The carpenter determination, number NC-23-31-1-2026-1, was issued August 22, 2026, so it takes effect September 1, 2026. Its expiration date is June 30, 2027, followed by a single asterisk. Its Carpenter (Area 1) line lists Training at $1.36 per hour. Area 1 covers Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma Counties.

Say a San Francisco job was advertised for bids on September 15, 2026, after this determination took effect. The single asterisk means that under 8 CCR 16204(b) the determination stays in effect for the life of the project, even if DIR issues a newer one before the work. Your carpenters work 400 hours in March 2027, overtime included, and you contribute to no approved program. 400 hours times $1.36 is $544.00. That amount is due to the council by April 15, 2027. 8 CCR 230.2(b) makes training contributions due on the 15th day of each month for work performed during the preceding month, and the DAS public works FAQ words it as the 15th of the month after the month the work was performed.

Rates change with each determination. Under 8 CCR 16204, the determination in effect on the bid advertisement date generally governs for the life of the project, and the single and double asterisk rules decide whether later rates apply. The work dates alone do not pick the determination. Confirm the determination against the contract or the awarding body.

When

Training funds are due and payable by the 15th of the month after the month the work was performed (8 CCR 230.2(b)), sent as a check with a CAC-2 form to DIR's California Apprenticeship Council (8 CCR 230.2(c)). DIR's online CAC-2 is the form to use: you complete it online, print it, and mail it with the check (steps below). A project that starts on the 20th has its first contribution due on the 15th of the following month. The DAS FAQ says you cannot wait until the end of the project to pay.

The credit

A contractor may take as a credit against the council contribution any amounts it paid to an approved apprenticeship program that can supply apprentices to the site of the public works project. DAS describes it as a full credit for the amounts contributed to a program. The credit offsets the council amount by what you paid the program. Contractors who do not contribute to an approved program send their payments to the council with a CAC-2.

The DAS FAQ ties this to the box checked on the DAS 140. Box 2, compliance with a program's standards for the current project, generally means the training funds are paid to that program's trust fund. Box 3, governed by the council's regulations, means the training fund is usually paid to the council.

How to pay and file the CAC-2

1. Total the month's hours. Add up hours by classification and county of work for the month, from the same payroll records as your certified payroll.
2. Open the online CAC-2. Use DIR's online CAC-2 form. It asks for your name, license number, address, the period covered, the jobsite and county, and the contract or project number. Where there is no Project ID number, DIR says to enter None. It also asks for the name, title, email, and phone of the person submitting.
3. Enter the lines. Each line takes a county of work, a classification, hours, and a rate. The form holds up to 20 lines.
4. Print it. DIR has you print the complete form at the end of the session to mail with your payment. The DAS summary says the printed online form carries a unique Transaction ID that speeds processing and posting.
5. Mail the form with a check. Send it to Department of Industrial Relations, California Apprenticeship Council, P.O. Box 511283, Los Angeles, CA 90051-7838, the address the DAS public works FAQ lists for the council. The DAS FAQ gives a separate street address for overnight delivery: US Bank Wholesale Lockbox, c/o 511283, 16420 Valley View Ave., La Mirada, CA 90638-5821.

If there was no work in a month, DIR says you do not need to submit a CAC-2 with a zero amount. Do not use a fillable CAC-2 PDF from elsewhere on the web. DAS calls those forms obsolete and says they may take up to 30 days to process and post.

What the regulation says the payment must show

Under 8 CCR 230.2(c), the check comes with a completed CAC-2 form or the following information:

• Your name, address, and telephone number.
• Your contractor license number.
• The name and address of the public agency that awarded the contract.
• The jobsite location, including the county.
• The contract or project number.
• The time period the payment covers.
• The contribution rate and total hours worked, by apprenticeable occupation.
• The name of any program that provided apprentices.
• The number of apprentice hours worked, by occupation and by program.

How to check that your payment posted

1. Open the search. Go to DIR's Training Fund Search and enter your contractor license number. That is the only required field. Employers without a license can look up an assigned ID number from a list on the page.
2. Read the history. The search shows the training fund contributions paid to the council by that contractor for the previous 48 months, and you can print them. Awarding agencies and other interested parties can run the same search.
3. Allow for timing. DIR says online CAC-2 forms appear within 48 hours after the Department receives them at its P.O. Box. The exceptions it lists are a missing or absent license number, system failures, and holidays.
4. If it is missing, check the two causes DIR names: the wrong remit address, or an old CAC-2 form. Questions go to trainingfund@dir.ca.gov.

Payments to an approved apprenticeship program will not show in this search. The DAS FAQ says those are not reflected on DIR's website and that proof is the contractor's record of payment to the program's trust fund. Keep that record. Also keep a copy of each printed CAC-2 and the check that went with it.

Where the money goes

Section 1777.5(m)(3) puts all training contributions into the Apprenticeship Training Contribution Fund in the State Treasury. After each fiscal year, the council distributes them, less DIR's cost of administering the program, as grants to approved apprenticeship programs for training apprentices. The grant goes to the approved multiemployer program serving the same craft and area, and is split by registered apprentices when two or more serve the same craft and county. Money not distributed that way defrays DIR's future costs of administering and enforcing apprenticeship standards. Under 8 CCR 230.2(d), a program shares in a distribution only if it was approved for the entire fiscal year and still exists when the funds go out.

Mistakes that cost money

• Paying the training amount to your workers. For an apprenticeable craft, the DAS FAQ says you still owe the contribution and cannot recover what you paid the employee.
• Waiting for the end of the project. Each month's amount is due on the 15th of the next month.
• Using an old form or address. DIR names both as reasons a payment does not show in the search.
• Assuming a program payment is on file with DIR. It is not. Keep your own proof.

How it shows on certified payroll

The two formats report fringe amounts differently. On the DOL WH-347 (Rev. January 2025), page 1 has one column for the total fringe benefit credit (6B), and page 2 lists each plan by name, type, and number with an hourly credit for each worker. The form has no separate column named training. On the eCPR, DIR's CPR.xsd lists training as its own element in the deductionsContribPay section, next to vacationHoliday, healthWelfare, and pension. DIR's eCPR XML guidelines say that fringe benefits entered in that section take hourly amounts, while deductions take the total lump sum for the pay period. That is one of the format rules that trips uploads (the upload errors page). If the training contribution is paid to the council rather than to a plan, the payroll and the CAC-2 have to tell the same story for the same hours.

What we do

We prepare the CAC-2 with your filings for the projects that need it, from the same payroll export, with the hours reconciled to the certified payroll, and a person reviews it before it goes out. The DAS 140 and DAS 142 apprenticeship forms are handled the same way. Tell us at setup which projects and crafts are involved.

Questions