Existing law establishes the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement within the Department of Industrial Relations. Existing law authorizes the division, which is headed by the Labor Commissioner, to enforce the Labor Code and all labor laws of the state, the enforcement of which is not specifically vested in any other officer, board, or commission. This bill would prohibit an employer from using a worker's personal information, as defined, to train an artificial intelligence system to replicate, automate, or replace a worker's job, and would prohibit an employer from selling, disclosing, or otherwise providing access to a worker's personal information to a third party for the purpose of training an artificial intelligence system to replicate, automate, or replace a worker's job. The bill would prohibit a vendor providing services to an employer under a contract from providing access to the personal information of an employer's worker to a third party or using the personal information of an employer's worker to train artificial intelligence, as specified. The bill would require a contract between an employer and vendor to include a requirement that the vendor implement and maintain reasonable security procedures to protect the worker's personal information from, among other things, unauthorized or illegal access. The bill would define terms for these provisions, including "employer" and "personal information." The bill would require the Labor Commissioner and authorize a public prosecutor to enforce these provisions. The bill would authorize a worker, or their exclusive representative, who suffered a violation of these provisions to bring a civil action for damages, injunctive relief, punitive damages, and attorney's fees and costs. The bill would establish a statutory penalty for a violation of these provisions of up to $500 for each violation. The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities.
Existing law establishes the California Americans with Disabilities Act Small Business Capital Access Loan Program to assist small businesses in complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Existing law requires the Capital Programs and Climate Financing Authority to adopt regulations to establish and regulate new loss reserve accounts for qualified loans made by participating lenders to small businesses for eligible products, as specified, including regulations limiting terms of loans and recaptures from loss reserve accounts to 5 years, as specified. Existing law caps qualified loans under the program at $50,000. Existing law establishes the California Americans with Disabilities Act Small Business Capital Access Loan Program Fund, a continuously appropriated fund to be administered by the authority for the purposes of the program. Existing law prescribes the uses for moneys in the fund, including specified program and administrative expenditures, and limits administrative expenditures to 5% of the initial appropriation plus 5% of all moneys recaptured. Existing law establishes the California Seismic Safety Capital Access Loan Program, which is similar to the California Americans with Disabilities Act Small Business Capital Access Loan Program, to assist residential property owners with and small business owners seismically retrofitting residences and small businesses, as specified. Existing law establishes the California Seismic Safety Capital Access Loan Program Fund, a continuously appropriated fund to be used for the purposes of the program, as specified. This bill would increase the cap for qualified loans under the California Americans with Disabilities Act Small Business Capital Access Loan Program to $250,000. The bill would, as of the operative date of the bill, require the authority to transfer the moneys from the California Seismic Safety Capital Access Loan Program Fund to the California Americans with Disabilities Act Small Business Capital Access Loan Program Fund. The bill would provide that moneys in the California Americans with Disabilities Act Small Business Capital Access Loan Program Fund may additionally be used for financial assistance to eligible projects, as specified. The bill would change the limit for administrative expenditures from the California Americans with Disabilities Act Small Business Capital Access Loan Program Fund to 5% of the initial appropriation plus 5% of all interest earned and moneys recaptured. The bill would require the regulations adopted for the California Americans with Disabilities Act Small Business Capital Access Loan Program to increase the 5-year term and recapture limits described above to 15 years. By transferring money into a continuously appropriated fund, expanding the purposes for which moneys in a continuously appropriated fund may be used, and increasing the amount of moneys that may be expended from a continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation.
Existing law, the Song-Brown Health Care Workforce Training Act, declares the intent of the Legislature to increase the number of students and residents receiving quality education and training in specified primary care specialties and as primary care physician's assistants, primary care nurse practitioners, and registered nurses. This bill would require the Department of Health Care Access and Information to maintain a New Nursing Graduate Support and Placement Program to award program grants to community college associate degree of nursing programs, through which support grants would be awarded to recent graduates for loan repayment assistance, relocation, transportation, housing assistance, childcare, and other financial support. The bill would specify grant eligibility criteria for community colleges and recent graduates. The bill would require the department to consider labor standards of hospital sites that employ support grant applicants when determining grant distribution. Implementation of these provisions would be contingent upon appropriation by the Legislature. This bill would also express the intent of the Legislature to support and strengthen existing programs that train registered nurses under the Song-Brown Health Care Workforce Training Act.
Existing law establishes the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board within the Department of Industrial Relations to adopt occupational safety and health standards for the state, including standards dealing with exposure to harmful airborne contaminants. Existing law requires the Division of Occupational Safety and Health within the department to enforce all occupational safety and health standards, as specified. Existing law imposes restrictions on specified high-exposure trigger tasks on artificial stone, as those terms are defined. Specifically, a person or entity engaged in high-exposure trigger tasks is prohibited from using dry methods, and is required to use effective wet methods when engaging in any high-exposure trigger tasks. Existing law requires the owner or operator of a fabrication shop, or any individual who will employ another individual to perform high-exposure trigger tasks in a fabrication shop, to ensure that an employee who will perform high-exposure tasks receives specified training and to annually attest to the division that these employees have been trained. Existing law requires the division to enforce these provisions by issuing a citation alleging a violation and a notice of civil penalty. This bill would require, on or before January 1, 2028, the department to develop an application and certification process for fabrication shops to lawfully engage in slab solid surface product fabrication activities. The bill would authorize fabrication shops to engage in those fabrication activities during the pendency of the application development and certification process. The bill would require the department to develop an initial deposit process for fabrication shops to, during the pendency of the application development and certification process, submit a deposit fee for the application and certification subject to specified requirements, including that the deposit amount goes towards the initial certification fee collected by the department. This bill would require, beginning July 1, 2028, the department to grant a 3-year certification to a fabrication shop that demonstrates satisfaction of specified criteria involving workplace safety conditions and precautions, and would authorize certification renewal, as specified. Among other conditions, the bill would establish certain regulatory fees in amounts to be determined and adjusted by the department, as specified, for the certification and renewal thereof. The bill would authorize the department to suspend or revoke a certification in certain cases, including for gross negligence, as specified. The bill would require the department, in consultation with the division and the State Department of Public Health, to track and keep a record of specified information on fabrication shops, including the number of citations issued to any of the fabrication shops for failure to comply with any temporary or future standards relating to respirable crystalline silica, as specified. This bill would prohibit a person or entity, or an employee thereof, from engaging in fabrication activities, as defined, on slab solid surface products unless they conduct the fabrication activities at a fabrication shop that has submitted a valid initial deposit to the department, or, after July 1, 2028, has submitted an application for initial certification or renewal and the application is pending or has a valid certification, as provided. The bill would require the division to enforce this prohibition by issuing a citation alleging a violation and a notice of civil penalty. This bill would prohibit, beginning July 1, 2028, a person from supplying a slab solid surface product directly to a person, entity, or business engaged in fabrication activities on those products if the person, entity, or business does not have a valid, or pending application for, certification. The bill would require a person that supplies a slab solid surface product to a person, entity, or business engaged in fabrication activities on those products to verify that the person, entity, or business has a certification, or a pending application for certification, as specified. The bill would require a person that supplies a slab solid surface product to a person, entity, or business that is not engaged in fabrication activities to rely on written certification issued under penalty of perjury that, among other things, they will not directly engage in fabrication activities with the product without a certification. By expanding the scope of the crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require a person that seeks services that require fabrication activities and enters into a contract with a person, entity, or business to undertake fabrication activities to verify that the person, entity, or business has a valid certificate before engaging with and providing slab solid surface products to that person, entity, or business. The bill would require the division to enforce these requirements by issuing a citation alleging a violation and a notice of civil penalty. The bill would establish the Slab Fabrication Activity Account in the Occupational Safety and Health Fund in the State Treasury, and would require all fees, penalties, or other moneys collected by the department under the bill and under the above-described provisions relating to high-exposure trigger tasks to be deposited into the account. The bill would authorize moneys in the account to be expended by the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the purposes of administering the bill and other provisions related to silicosis risk exposure in fabrication shops. 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.
Existing law provides for various employment programs to assist formerly incarcerated individuals in finding and retaining employment, including the Pre-Release Construction Trades Certificate Program administered by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the Prison to Employment Program administered by the California Workforce Development Board. Existing law 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. This bill would, by January 1, 2028, require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, in partnership with the Department of Industrial Relations, to establish the Preapprenticeship Pathways to Employment Pilot Program. The bill would, until January 1, 2032, provide incarcerated individuals access to preapprenticeship training in the skilled construction and building trades. The bill would require the program to provide, among other things, instruction based on the Multi-Craft Core Curriculum and content coordinated with joint apprenticeship training committees. The bill would require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to implement the program at one men's facility and one women's facility. The bill would require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, beginning January 1, 2029, to annually report certain data regarding participation in the program to the Legislature.
Existing law regulates the operation of ports and harbors. Existing law requires a person providing labor or services for remuneration to be considered an employee rather than an independent contractor unless the hiring entity demonstrates that certain conditions are satisfied, including that the person is free from the control and direction of the hiring entity in connection with the performance of the work, both under the contract for the performance of the work and in fact. This bill would require a trucking company, and a truck driver who is not classified as an employee by a trucking company, to provide to a port, defined to mean the Port of Long Beach or the Port of Los Angeles, certain information, including, with respect to a trucking company, a sworn affirmation by the trucking company that the trucking company is withholding all required taxes from the wages of any truck driver who is considered an employee under state law, as specified. By expanding the scope of the crime of perjury, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would also require, beginning January 1, 2027, that information to be made publicly available by the port. The bill would require a trucking company to update a port within 30 days of a change to its operation that results in more than 50% of its employees being replaced by independent contractors and would impose a civil penalty of $5,000 for failure to do so. The bill would make a person who provides false or misleading information for the purpose of representing compliance with those requirements liable for a civil penalty of $20,000, as prescribed. This bill would require, beginning January 1, 2027, a port, on a quarterly basis, to publish on its internet website specified information regarding each truck that entered the port during the prior quarter. The bill would require a port, upon request of the Labor Commissioner, to provide to the Labor Commissioner additional information in the possession of the port regarding a truck that entered the port. By imposing new duties on a port, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles. 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Existing law provides that the California Workforce Development Board is responsible for assisting the Governor in the development, oversight, and continuous improvement of California's workforce investment system, including the development of a state plan to serve as a framework for, among other things, training programs to address the state's economic, demographic, and workforce needs. Existing law, in order to support the plan, requires the board to, among other things, establish initial and subsequent eligibility criteria for an eligible training provider list, in accordance with specified federal law. This bill would prohibit an approved training provider from being removed from the eligible training provider list if the provider has submitted verification of completion of continued eligibility requirements through a local workforce development board, except as provided. The bill would require continued eligibility review to be conducted once every 2 fiscal years, in a manner determined by the Employment Development Department.
Existing law establishes in the Department of Industrial Relations the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement under the direction of the Labor Commissioner and authorizes the Labor Commissioner to investigate employee complaints and recover civil penalties for violations of labor law, as prescribed. Existing law requires an employer who pays wages to a resident employee for services performed either within or without this state, or to a nonresident employee for services performed in this state, to deduct and withhold from those wages a sum which is substantially equivalent to the amount of tax reasonably estimated to be due under the Personal Income Tax Law resulting from the inclusion in the gross income of the employee of the wages which were subject to withholding. Existing law requires the Employment Development Department to have the powers and duties necessary to administer the reporting, collection, refunding to the employer, and enforcement of taxes required to be withheld by employers, as described above. This bill would require, within 60 days of a final judgment being entered against an employer requiring payment to an employee or to the state, as specified, the judgment debtor employer to provide documentation to the Labor Commissioner that the judgment is fully satisfied, a certain bond has been posted, or the judgment debtor entered into an agreement for the judgment to be paid in installments, as prescribed, and is in compliance with that agreement. The bill would make a judgment debtor employer who fails to comply with that provision liable for a civil penalty. The bill would require, if a judgment debtor employer does not comply with that provision, the Labor Commissioner to provide written notice to the judgment debtor employer that the Labor Commissioner will submit the unsatisfied judgment to the Tax Support Division of the Employment Development Department as a notice of potential tax fraud, as prescribed, and that the civil penalty is due within 90 days of the notice.
This measure would condemn decisions by the administrations of President Donald J. Trump to terminate or curtail Temporary Protected Status designations for people from specified nations, denounce federal policies that strip lawful status from long-residing individuals, as specified, and urge Congress to enact bipartisan legislation that provides a path to permanent residency and citizenship for individuals with Temporary Protected Status.
Existing law establishes the Employment Training Panel within the Employment Development Department and sets forth its powers and duties with respect to certain employment training programs. Existing law establishes the Employment Training Fund in the State Treasury, and requires that moneys in the fund be expended only for the purposes of the Employment Training Panel, except as provided. Existing law authorizes, with the approval of the Legislature, the fund or contributions to it to be used to pay interest charged on federal loans to the Unemployment Fund. This bill would instead prohibit moneys in the fund from being diverted, transferred, or otherwise used to pay interest charged on federal loans to the Unemployment Fund, or related liabilities, without the approval of the Legislature by statute and a public report justifying the necessity for the diversion, transfer, or use. The bill would also make related findings and declarations.
