Section 1 [Apprenticeship and On-the-Job Training] requires the Commissioner of Veterans Affairs, in consultation with the Commissioner of Employment and Economic Development, to develop and implement an apprenticeship and on-the-job training program as part of the Minnesota GI Bill program. 

This section makes a person eligible for this program if they meet certain criteria in the Minnesota GI Bill. 

This section directs payment to eligible applicants, capped as follows:

• $2,000 per year for apprenticeship expenses;
• $2,000 per year for on-the-job training;
• $1,000 for a job placement credit payable to an eligible employer on hiring someone receiving assistance under this program; and
• $1,000 for a job placement credit payable to an eligible employer after a person receiving assistance under this program has been employed  full-time for 12 consecutive months.

The aggregate benefits under this program as capped at $3,000 per year that may be paid to or on behalf of an individual.

To be eligible to receive job placement credits under this program, an employer must operate a qualifying apprenticeship or on-the-job training program approved by the Commissioner of Veterans Affairs.  This section identifies criteria for a qualifying program.

Section 2 [Appropriation] changes the source of the appropriation for certain benefits under the Minnesota GI Bill (the educational benefits, in current law, and for the new apprenticeship and on-the-job training program established in Section 1) from the general fund to a special revenue fund, established later in the bill.  If the special revenue fund does not have enough to pay these benefits, the shortfall is paid from the general fund.

Section 3 [Ford/United Auto Workers Technical Training Facility] requires that all money paid to the state by the Ford Motor Company under an agreement relating to closure of the St. Paul Ford plant,  be deposited in the special revenue fund that pays benefits through the veterans apprenticeship and on-the-job training program established in this bill.