SB 578 California Senate · 2025-2026 Regular Session

California Workplace Outreach Program.

Summary

Existing law establishes the Department of Industrial Relations within the Labor and Workforce Development Agency to, among other things, foster, promote, and develop the welfare of wage earners, to improve their working conditions, and to advance their opportunities for profitable employment. This bill would, until January 1, 2031, require the department, upon appropriation of funds for this purpose, to establish and maintain the California Workplace Outreach Program to promote awareness of, and compliance with, workplace protections that affect workers. The bill would require the department to issue a competitive request for application for qualified organizations, as defined, to provide education and outreach services to workers and to assist workers to assert their workplace rights. This bill would require the department to guide discussions with qualified organizations regarding priority topics for outreach and education and to consult with those organizations and the Labor and Workforce Development Agency and, as relevant, its departments and boards to create education and outreach materials informing workers of their rights on priority topics and training materials for workers and organizations. The bill would require the materials to be translated into non-English languages, to be determined by the department in consultation with each qualified organization, as appropriate for the geographic region the qualified organization serves, and would require the materials to be made in consultation and collaboration with the Civil Rights Department if those materials involve protections under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act or certain other statutes. The bill would require the department and qualified organizations to meet at least twice a year to coordinate outreach and education efforts and for qualified organizations to share information relevant to enforcement activities of the department.

Issues: ✓ Labor & Employment

Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2025

Committee Review

Aug 2025

Senate Passage

Jun 2025

Assembly Passage

Sep 2025

Signed into Law

Oct 2025

Introduced Feb 20, 2025 Signed Oct 13, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 5 comparisons

What changed between versions

09/03/25 - Amended Assembly → 09/16/25 - Enrolled · 3 edits · Sep 16, 2025

MINOR

The enrolled version of SB 578 makes three substantive changes from the amended assembly version: it removes a specific funding source provision (Labor and Workforce Development Fund) from Section 11000(a), drops the Civil Rights Department's adjudication processes from the list of priority outreach topics in Section 11003(a), and narrows the biannual coordination meetings in Section 11004 to focus on outreach and education rather than also covering enforcement strategy. These changes slightly reduce the program's scope and clarify the department's role relative to other agencies.

FISCAL

Section 11000(a) no longer specifies that moneys in the Labor and Workforce Development Fund are available for the program's purposes. The section now simply requires the department to establish and administer the program upon appropriation, without naming a specific fund.

SCOPE

Section 11003(a) no longer lists the adjudication processes of the Civil Rights Department as a priority topic for outreach and education. Only the adjudication processes of the Department of Industrial Relations remain in that list.

REQUIREMENT

Section 11004 narrows the purpose of biannual meetings between the department and qualified organizations from coordinating 'outreach, education, and enforcement' to just 'outreach and education.' It also removes language stating that shared information would 'shape and inform the overall enforcement strategy of the department,' reducing the explicit link between outreach activities and enforcement planning.

05/23/25 - Amended Senate → 09/03/25 - Amended Assembly · 5 edits · Sep 3, 2025

MODERATE

The Assembly amendment shifts significant control from qualified organizations to the Department of Industrial Relations, making the department the guiding authority over priority topics, language selection, and final approval of materials (now mandatory rather than optional). It also adds 'high-risk' industries to the program's focus and creates a new requirement for collaboration with the Civil Rights Department on FEHA-related outreach.

Scope change

Scope broadened to include 'high-risk' industries alongside low-wage and high-violation industries, and a new mandatory collaboration channel was created with the Civil Rights Department for FEHA-related outreach materials.

SCOPE

The program's focus expanded from 'low-wage and high-violation industries' to 'low-wage, high-risk, and high-violation industries,' broadening which worker populations are targeted.

REQUIREMENT

A new requirement was added for the department to consult and collaborate with the Civil Rights Department whenever outreach or education materials involve protections under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) or statutes referenced in Government Code Section 12930(f).

The biannual coordination meeting language was revised: coordination is now framed around 'outreach and education' (dropping 'enforcement' from that clause), with a separate explicit obligation for qualified organizations to share information relevant to the department's enforcement activities.

ENFORCEMENT

The department's role shifted from passive to active: it now 'guides discussions' on priority topics rather than organizations consulting with it, it 'shall consult' with qualified organizations and the Labor and Workforce Development Agency rather than organizations initiating consultation, and it determines translation languages in consultation with organizations (previously organizations determined languages in consultation with the department).

Final approval of education, outreach, and training materials changed from optional ('may have final approval') to mandatory ('shall require its final approval'), and qualified organizations are now explicitly required to implement any changes the department requires.

Floor votes · Senate Jun 2, 2025 · Assembly Sep 10, 2025

How they voted

28–10

Passed · 2 other

Total votes 40

Jun 2, 2025

D Democratic30

28 Yea 2

93% Yea

R Republican10

10 Nay

100% Nay

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Oct 13, 2025

Signed into law

Approved by the Governor.

legislature

Sep 11, 2025

Upper · Passed

Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 30. Noes 10. Page 2882.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.

upper

Sep 10, 2025

Introduced

In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.

upper

Sep 10, 2025

Lower · Passed

Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 61. Noes 11. Page 3177.) Ordered to the Senate.

lower

Sep 3, 2025

Lower · Passed

Read third time and amended.

lower

Aug 29, 2025

Lower · Passed

From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 11. Noes 3.) (August 29).

lower

Jul 10, 2025

Lower · Passed

From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (July 9). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

lower

Jun 9, 2025

Committee

Referred to Com. on L. & E.

lower

Jun 2, 2025

Upper · Passed

Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 28. Noes 10. Page 1383.) Ordered to the Assembly.

upper

May 23, 2025

Upper · Passed

Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading.

upper

May 23, 2025

Upper · Passed

From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 5. Noes 1. Page 1205.) (May 23).

upper

Mar 26, 2025

Upper · Passed

From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 1. Page 568.) (March 26). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

upper

Mar 5, 2025

Committee

Referred to Com. on L., P.E. & R.

upper

Feb 20, 2025

Introduced

Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print.

upper

1 primary · 6 co-sponsors