Form CAC2: California Training Fund Filing and Mailing Guide

Form CAC2 in California is the paper contractors use to send apprenticeship training fund contributions to the California Apprenticeship Council when they don’t pay into a local apprenticeship trust fund. You fill it out online at the Department of Industrial Relations website, print it, and mail it with a check by the 15th of the month for the previous month’s work.¹

Who Files a CAC2

Labor Code Section 1777.5 requires every contractor and subcontractor employing workers in an apprenticeable craft on a public works project to make training fund contributions, once the general contractor’s contract is valued at $30,000 or more.² Subcontractors on those projects are covered regardless of their own subcontract amount.

Not every covered contractor files a CAC2. Many pay their contributions directly to a local apprenticeship training trust fund, usually through a collective bargaining agreement or voluntary participation in an approved program. Those contractors never touch this form. The CAC2 is specifically for contractors who don’t pay into a local trust fund and instead send the contribution to the California Apprenticeship Council.³

Look Up Your Contribution Rate First

You can’t complete the form without the training fund rate, and the rate isn’t uniform. It varies by craft, trade classification, and the county where the work is performed. A journeyman electrician in Los Angeles County carries a different training rate than a laborer in Sacramento County. DIR publishes these numbers inside its prevailing wage determinations.⁴

Use DIR’s online Prevailing Wage Determination tool and search by craft and county.⁵ The determination that governs your project is the one in effect on the date the project was first advertised for bids, not the day you started work and not the day you’re filing. Inside the wage determination, find the training fund contribution line item. That hourly figure is what goes on the CAC2.

Worked more than one craft on the project? You need a separate rate for each classification. A job that used carpenters and ironworkers takes two lookups and two line items.

Filling Out the Form

DIR hosts an online session where you enter your information and print the completed form at the end. There is no electronic submission, so you’ll need a printer.¹

The governing regulation, 8 CCR Section 230.2, sets out what the form has to include:³

Your company name, address, and telephone number.
Your CSLB contractor’s license number (not your DIR public works contractor registration number).
The name and address of the awarding body that granted the contract.
The jobsite location, including the county, because the rate is county-specific.
The contract or project number assigned by the awarding body.
The time period covered by the contribution.
For each apprenticeable occupation, the hourly training fund rate from the prevailing wage determination and the total hours worked in that classification.
The name of any approved apprenticeship program that provided apprentices to the jobsite.
Apprentice hours worked, broken down by occupation and by the dispatching program.

The math is simple. Multiply the hourly training fund rate by the total hours worked in that craft. Repeat for every classification, then add the results for your total payment.

The hours you report should match your certified payroll records exactly. Labor compliance officers audit training fund payments against certified payroll, and any gap is where problems start.

Where to Mail It and When

The mailing address is the piece contractors most often get wrong, because an older San Francisco P.O. Box still circulates in outdated references. The current address is:⁶

Department of Industrial Relations
California Apprenticeship Council
P.O. Box 511283
Los Angeles, CA 90051-7838

Send the completed form together with a check. The regulation requires payment to the Council by check.³ Contributions are due on the 15th of each month for work performed during the previous month.¹

Keep a copy of every submitted form along with the check or payment confirmation. If your project is audited, you’ll need to show that contributions were timely and that the hours on the form line up with your certified payroll.

What a Late or Missed Filing Costs

A contractor or subcontractor that knowingly violates the apprenticeship requirements faces a civil penalty of up to $100 for each full calendar day of noncompliance. The Labor Commissioner can reduce the amount when it would be disproportionate to the violation. A second or subsequent knowing violation within three years, where the noncompliance actually results in apprenticeship training not being provided, raises the ceiling to $300 per day.⁷

In setting the penalty, the Commissioner weighs whether the violation was intentional, the contractor’s prior history, whether the contractor tried to correct the problem after being notified, and the extent of harm to apprentices or apprenticeship programs. On a long-running job, $100 a day compounds fast, which is why keeping the CAC2 current is one of the cheaper pieces of public works compliance to stay on top of.

1
California Department of Industrial Relations. Apprenticeship Standards – CAC Training Fund Contributions
2
California Legislative Information. California Labor Code LAB 1777.5
3
California Department of Industrial Relations. 8 CCR 230.2 – Payment of Apprenticeship Training Contributions to the Council
4
California Department of Industrial Relations. Prevailing Wage Requirements
5
California Department of Industrial Relations. Director’s General Prevailing Wage Determinations
6
California Department of Industrial Relations. CAC – Public Works Training Fund Search
7
California Legislative Information. California Labor Code LAB 1777.7