Labor & Employment

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 declares the intent of the Legislature that the purpose of provisions relating to the panel is to establish an employment training program to promote a healthy labor market in a growing, competitive economy and to fund only projects that meet specified criteria, including, among other things, fostering retention of high-wage, high-skilled jobs in manufacturing, and other industries, as provided. Existing law also 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 the panel to allocate moneys in the fund for reimbursement of reasonable training costs, administrative costs incurred by contractors, costs of program administration, and related services. This bill would require the panel to authorize and encourage the use of electronic systems for recordkeeping. The bill would authorize contractors and subcontractors under an agreement with the panel to satisfy recordkeeping and documentation requirements through electronic records, provided that those records are complete, accurate, and meet other specified criteria. The bill would require the panel to adopt recordkeeping and training administration standards, as specified, and to update regulations, guidance, and program materials to implement the bill's provisions.

This measure would recognize open water lifeguards as first responders, in acknowledgment of their essential role in emergency response, public safety, and drowning prevention, as provided.

Existing law provides that in order for the state to recruit skilled firefighters for the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, it is the policy of the state to consider prevailing salaries and benefits prior to making salary recommendations. Existing law requires the Department of Human Resources, in order to provide comparability in pay, to take into consideration the salary and benefits of other jurisdictions employing 75 or more full-time firefighters who work in California. This bill would require the state to bargain in good faith with firefighters who are rank-and-file members of State Bargaining Unit 8, employed by the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, to reach a competitive range within 15% of the average salary for corresponding ranks in 20 California fire departments agreed to by the exclusive bargaining representative for Bargaining Unit 8 and the Department of Human Resources. The bill would require the state and the exclusive representative for State Bargaining Unit 8 to jointly survey the estimated average salaries for those 20 fire departments and report the findings, as provided. The bill would provide that nothing in the bill creates an entitlement to an automatic salary increase. The bill would require any salary increase for firefighters under these provisions to be implemented through a memorandum of understanding, in accordance with specified procedures governing collective bargaining agreements. The bill would include legislative findings and declarations related to its provisions.

Existing law requires the Department of Technology to conduct, in coordination with other interagency bodies as it deems appropriate, a comprehensive inventory of all high-risk automated decision systems (ADS) that have been proposed for use, development, or procurement by, or are being used, developed, or procured by, any state agency. Existing law establishes the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, which is composed of various departments responsible for protecting and promoting the rights and interests of workers in California, including the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, led by the Labor Commissioner, within the Department of Industrial Relations. This bill, beginning on July 1, 2027, would prohibit an employer, as defined, from using an ADS to perform certain functions and would limit the purposes for and way in which an ADS may be used. The bill would, when an employer primarily uses an ADS to make a disciplinary or termination decision, authorize an employee to request, and require an employer to provide, a description of the employee's own data primarily used by an ADS to make a disciplinary or termination decision, as specified. The bill would require an employer that primarily relied upon an ADS to make a disciplinary or termination decision to provide the affected employee with a written postuse notice, as specified. This bill would prohibit an employer from discharging, threatening to discharge, demoting, suspending, or in any manner discriminating or retaliating against any employee for taking certain actions asserting their rights under the bill. The bill would authorize the Labor Commissioner to enforce the bill's provisions and also authorize a public prosecutor to bring a civil enforcement action, as specified. The bill would set forth specified types of relief that a plaintiff may seek and specified penalties that an employer that violates these provisions is subject to, including a $500 civil penalty per violation. This bill would also provide that an employer who complies with the requirements related to notice in this bill is not required to comply with any substantially similar provisions under any other state law, except as specified. The bill would not apply to parties covered by a valid collective bargaining agreement if the agreement contains specified information, including an explicit waiver of the bill's provisions. The bill would provide that it does not prohibit the use of an automated decision system relating to the development of aircraft for use in the national airspace or the development of products or services for national security, military, space, or defense purposes, if the use of an automated decision system is reasonably necessary to comply with the federal statute, the federal regulation, or the binding federal contract, as specified. The bill would include a statement 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. This bill would declare that its provisions are severable.

The Personal Income Tax Law and Corporation Tax Law allow various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, and before January 1, 2029, would allow a credit for expenses paid or incurred by a qualified taxpayer for an employee obtaining a food handler card, as specified. Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives that the tax expenditure will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill also would include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.

Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Existing law establishes the Strong Workforce Program to provide funding to career technical education regional consortia made up of community college districts and local educational agencies, as specified. Existing law authorizes a community college district to use the funds apportioned directly to the community college district to provide direct support to students, employers, or both, for paid work-based learning to increase employability and employment, as provided. Existing law requires the chancellor's office to revise, no later than June 30, 2026, policies, regulations, and guidance necessary to provide students, employers, or both, with paid work-based learning opportunities, as provided. This bill would extend the deadline for the chancellor's office to revise the policies, regulations, and guidance described above by one year. The bill would additionally authorize funds apportioned directly to regional consortia to be used to provide direct support to students, employers, or both, for paid work-based learning to increase employability and employment, as specified, and would make conforming changes.

Existing law establishes a workers' compensation system, administered by the Administrative Director of the Division of Workers' Compensation, to compensate an employee, as defined, for injuries that arise out of, and in the course of, employment. Existing law requires employers to provide medical, surgical, chiropractic, acupuncture, licensed clinical social worker, and hospital treatment reasonably required to cure or relieve the injured worker from the effects of the injury. Existing law makes it a misdemeanor for an employer to discharge, threaten to discharge, or discriminate against, or for an insurer to advise, direct, or threaten an insured to discharge, an employee because they have filed or made known their intention to file a claim for compensation, or an application for adjudication, or because the employee has received a rating, award, or settlement, as specified. This bill would require an employee, when possible, to make a reasonable effort to schedule treatment outside of work hours. The bill would require the employee, if the timing of the treatment is foreseeable, to provide notice if treatment occurs during work hours, as specified, and require the employer to provide this leave during work hours unless business necessity requires the treatment to occur at a different time or on a different day. The bill would require that the leave taken by an employee pursuant to these provisions run concurrently with leave taken pursuant to the federal Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 and the California Family Rights Act if the employee would have been eligible for that leave. If an employer denies an employee's request to attend scheduled treatment, and the employer knows or should know that a business necessity does not require the treatment to occur at a different time or on a different day, the bill would make that denial a misdemeanor. The bill would also make it a misdemeanor for an employer to discharge, threaten to discharge, or discriminate against an employee because the employee requested or took leave pursuant to these provisions. By creating new crimes, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would make other conforming changes. 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 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, with certain exceptions, prohibit an employer from using a workplace surveillance tool that uses artificial intelligence to, among other things, collect neural data or recognize an individual's emotional state. The bill would define an employer to include a governmental entity, including, among other entities, charter cities and the University of California. This bill would authorize the Labor Commissioner or a public prosecutor to enforce the bill's provisions. The bill would subject an employer who violates the bill's provisions to a civil penalty of up to $500 for each violation. The bill would define various terms for purposes of its provisions. This bill would exempt from its provisions an employer's use of a workplace surveillance tool in specified operations where the use of a workplace surveillance tool is reasonable necessary to comply with a federal statute, federal regulation, or binding federal contract relating to the development of aircraft for use in the national airspace or the development of products or services for national security, military, space, or defense purposes. 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.

The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws, including, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2014, and before January 1, 2026, a credit for hiring qualified full-time employees, as defined, within a designated census tract or economic development area in an amount equal to 35% of the qualified wages, defined in part as those wages that exceed 150% of minimum wage but do not exceed 350% of minimum wage, paid to those employees multiplied by the applicable percentage for that taxable year. Existing law exempts certain taxpayers from the above-described census tract or economic development area requirement, as specified, and disallows the above-described credit for specified businesses. Existing law repeals the above-described provisions on December 1, 2029. This bill would extend the operative date for the above-described tax credits through taxable years beginning before January 1, 2031. The bill would extend the above-described repeal date to December 1, 2034. Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals that the tax expenditure will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill also would include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.

This measure would proclaim April 10, 2026, as Dolores Huerta Day in California and would encourage all public schools and educational institutions to conduct exercises remembering her, recognizing her accomplishments, and familiarizing pupils with her contributions to California.