State Contract Act: High Road Employment Program.

(1) Existing law establishes the Labor and Workforce Development Agency as an executive branch agency within state government, consisting of specified boards and departments, including the California Workforce Development Board and the Employment Development Department. Existing law, the California Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, establishes the California Workforce Development Board as the body responsible for assisting the Governor in the development, oversight, and continuous improvement of California's workforce investment system and the alignment of the education and workforce investment systems to the needs of the 21st century economy and workforce. Existing law tasks the board with developing standards, procedures, and criteria for defining high road workforce development and training partnerships. Existing law, the State Contract Act, governs contracting between state agencies and private contractors, and sets forth requirements for the bidding, awarding, and overseeing of contracts for projects. Existing law charges the Department of General Services, in the Government Operations Agency, with various administrative duties under the act. This bill would establish the High Road Employment Program within the Labor and Workforce Development Agency to assist state agencies in complying with specified High Road Employment Plan requirements and with appropriate planning, inclusive decisionmaking, and fair disbursement of community and worker support resources. This bill would require each bidder for a contract with the state, as a condition of eligibility for such a contract, to submit a High Road Employment Plan to the Department of General Services that includes certification, under penalty of perjury, that all workers are properly classified, as specified, and that includes certain job information, including the number of jobs created, and wage and benefit amounts by job classification for nonsupervisory workers. By expanding the scope of the crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would also require each plan to demonstrate job quality standards and employment practices that include specified provisions, including, among others, offering a stable employment schedule and compliance with high road standards, as prescribed. The bill would further require the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, the Government Operations Agency, including the Department of General Services, and the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development to establish, and be referred to as the Interagency High Road Team, and to be collectively responsible for oversight and decisionmaking related to creating High Road Employment Plan evaluation metrics and advancing other objectives relating to high road procurement. The bill would require the team to compile specified information related to high road employment requirements reported by state agencies and to report this information to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2024. (2) Existing law requires the California Workforce Development Board to assist the Governor in developing standards, procedures, and criteria for defining high road employers, high road jobs, high road workforce development, and high road training partnerships in California. This bill would add high road contracting and high road procurement to those standards, procedures, and criteria. The bill would define related terms, including "economic equity" for purposes of the act. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.