Employment.

Bill was assigned Chapter 157 and the Governor's approval date of August 27, 2026 was recorded, converting it from an enrolled bill to a chaptered law.

Senate and Assembly passage dates, Secretary of the Senate signature block, Chief Clerk of the Assembly signature block, and Governor receipt date fields were removed as part of standard chaptering process.

Standard 'STATE OF CALIFORNIA AUTHENTICATED ELECTRONIC LEGAL MATERIAL' header was added to the document.

The entire amendment to Labor Code Section 6309 was removed. This provision would have required Cal/OSHA to investigate serious violation complaints within 3 working days, nonserious complaints within 14 calendar days, and prosecutor/law enforcement complaints within 24 hours. It also required the division to annually report complaint and citation data to the Legislature and Governor's office, maintain confidentiality for complainants, and prioritize investigations of deaths and serious injuries.

The legislative counsel's digest was updated to remove the reference to 'Occupational Safety and Health' from the bill title and to delete the entire paragraph (4) describing the Cal/OSHA reporting requirements.

Minor typo fix in the digest: 'Labor Commission' corrected to 'Labor Commissioner' in paragraph (3), and a missing article 'a' added before 'specified administrative proceeding' in paragraph (2).

Section 98.2 now requires employers to post an undertaking (bond or cash deposit) equal to the full amount of a Labor Commissioner order, decision, or award as a condition of appealing to superior court. If the employer loses, they forfeit the bond and pay the other side's costs and attorney's fees.

Section 98.2 authorizes the Labor Commissioner to create a lien on the employer's real property as an alternative to a judgment lien. The lien lasts 10 years and can be renewed for additional 10-year periods by recording a renewal certificate or copy of a renewed judgment.

Section 98.2 provides that if no appeal is filed within 10 days, the order becomes final, and the Labor Commissioner must file a certified copy with the superior court clerk. The resulting judgment has the same force as a civil judgment and receives court priority for enforcement.

Section 98.2 authorizes the Labor Commissioner to serve an asset identification form on the judgment debtor (similar to the Judicial Council form under CCP 116.830), with a 35-day response deadline and sanctions for willful noncompliance.

Section 98.2 provides that the judgment creditor, Labor Commissioner, or public prosecutor as assignee is entitled to court costs and reasonable attorney's fees for enforcing the judgment.

New Section 1174.1 precludes employers from introducing or relying on as evidence any payroll, time, or employment records that were not produced in response to a duly served written request by the Labor Commissioner within the requested timeframe (default 15 days). This applies to administrative proceedings contesting citations under Sections 98.74, 558, 1197.1, 2673.1, or 2673.2, and writ proceedings.

Section 1174.1 provides exceptions to the document production sanction: (1) if the employer opposes the request in court before a citation is issued and the court rules production is not required; (2) inadvertent clerical errors corrected within 20 days of the original deadline; (3) reasonable extension requests considered by the Labor Commissioner; and (4) an automatic 15-day extension for timely good faith responses requesting additional time.

New Section 1742.05 imposes a parallel document production sanction specifically for public works contractors and subcontractors. They are precluded from using as evidence any payroll, time, or employment records not produced in response to a Labor Commissioner's written request within the requested timeframe (default 10 days). This applies to hearings under Section 1742(a) or (b) and writ proceedings under 1742(c).

Section 1742.05 explicitly excludes certified payroll records required under Section 1776 from its provisions, meaning the document production sanction does not apply to those specific records.

The bill's scope expanded from amending only Section 6309 (Cal/OSHA complaint data reporting) to also amending Sections 98.2 and 1174.1 and adding Section 1742.05, covering enforcement of Labor Commissioner orders, document production sanctions in wage/hour proceedings, and public works proceedings.