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 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.

The Personal Income Tax Law, in modified conformity with federal law, generally defines "gross income" as income from whatever source derived, except as specifically excluded, and provides various exclusions from gross income for purposes of computing tax liability. This bill would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2025, and before January 1, 2030, exclude from the gross income of a qualified taxpayer, as defined, for qualified overtime wages, defined to mean overtime wages paid to a qualified taxpayer in relation to work performed directly in response to, or in support of, emergency operations, as specified. Existing law requires a bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals the tax expenditure will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill would include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.

The Personal Income Tax Law, in modified conformity with federal law, generally defines "gross income" as income from whatever source derived, except as specifically excluded, and provides various exclusions from gross income for purposes of computing tax liability. This bill would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2025, and before January 1, 2030, exclude from the gross income of a qualified taxpayer, as defined, qualified overtime wages, defined to mean overtime wages paid to a qualified taxpayer in relation to work performed directly in response to, or in support of, emergency operations, as specified. Existing law requires a bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals the tax expenditure will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill 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, the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA) , approved by the voters at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election, regulates the cultivation, distribution, transport, storage, manufacturing, testing, processing, sale, and use of marijuana for nonmedical purposes by people 21 years of age and older. The existing Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MAUCRSA) , among other things, consolidates the licensure and regulation of commercial medicinal and adult-use cannabis activities. 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 sustained in the course of employment. Existing law requires every employer to secure the payment of workers' compensation as provided by law and imposes civil and criminal penalties on employers that fail to secure the payment of workers' compensation. Existing law authorizes an employer, pursuant to this provision, to insure against liability in insurers duly authorized to write compensation insurance in the state or to secure from the Director of Industrial Relations a certificate of consent to self-insure. This bill would authorize the administrative director or their agent to require an employer that is licensed or required to be licensed under MAUCRSA to provide proof that it has secured payment of workers' compensation to the administrative director or their agent. The bill would authorize the administrative director or their agent to establish a schedule for compliance that includes dates for when a licensee may be required to comply with these requirements. The bill would require the administrative director to provide assistance to any employer or entity that notifies the administrative director that it has been unable to obtain coverage and authorize the administrative director to extend the deadline for compliance, and would exempt any employer that secures the payment of workers' compensation pursuant to these provisions from civil or criminal liability for prior failure to secure the payment of compensation. The bill would authorize the administrative director to contract with one or more agents to assist employers in complying with these provisions, as specified.

Existing law establishes the California Conservation Corps and requires young adults participating in the corps program to be generally engaged in projects that do specified things, including, among other things, projects that directly contribute to the conservation of energy. This bill would instead require young adults participating in the corps program to be generally engaged in projects that, among other things, promote or contribute to the conservation of energy and the development or enhancement of clean energy, climate resilience, or sustainable nature-based solutions. Existing law provides that it is the intent of the Legislature that the corps blend academic and job skills training with personal growth opportunities in order to develop productive youths who can make substantial contributions as California workers and citizens. This bill would require the Director of the California Conservation Corps to establish a Green Collar Certification Program that provides corpsmembers participating in the corps with skills and education including, but not limited to, reducing carbon emissions in residential and nonresidential buildings, preparing communities for environmental disasters, and developing conservation infrastructure projects that stabilize shorelines and restore ecological habitats, as provided. The bill would require the director to issue a Green Collar Certificate to a corpsmember who successfully completes the program. The bill would require the director, in administering the program, to collaborate with specified entities to identify emerging workforce needs, as specified. The bill would authorize the director to authorize certified community conservation corps to implement the program pursuant to guidelines established by the corps, as specified. This bill would also authorize the director to apply for and accept grants or donations of funds from any public or private source that are provided for specified purposes relating to the program. The bill would establish the Green Collar Certification Program Fund and would require the grants or donations described above to be deposited into the fund. The bill would continuously appropriate the moneys in the fund to the director for specified purposes relating to the program. By providing for the continuous appropriation of fund moneys to the director, this bill would create an appropriation.

Existing law, the California Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly Act, requires the State Department of Social Services to license, inspect, and regulate residential care facilities for the elderly (RCFEs) , as defined, and imposes criminal penalties on a person who violates the act or who willfully or repeatedly violates any rule or regulation adopted under the act. This bill would require each RCFE to calculate a direct care ratio, as defined, and maintain records of its direct care ratios for a minimum of 12 months. The bill would require RCFEs to disclose its direct care ratios to residents or to the resident's representatives upon admission and any time there is a rate increase, as specified. The bill would require these disclosures to be provided in writing and signed by the resident, the resident's representative, or the licensee or an employee of the licensee, as specified, to confirm receipt. The bill would require copies of the signed disclosure to be provided to the resident or the resident's representative. The bill would require each RCFE to make its direct care ratios available to the public by specified means, including, among others, by posting the daily direct care ratio on the facility's internet website. The bill would require the RCFE's internet website and any literature or internet website used to advertise the RCFE and the level of care provided by that facility to include a statement that direct care ratios are calculated on a daily basis, that direct care ratios are available to the public upon request for any given day within the prior 12 months, and that direct care ratios are required to be disclosed to residents or their representatives at the points of time described above. The bill would require each RCFE to post the daily direct care ratio in locations visible to all residents, including, but not limited to, the lunchroom or lobby of the facility. By expanding the definition of an existing crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. 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 requires the Department of General Services, beginning no later than the 2024–25 fiscal year, to ensure that at least 50% of the light-duty vehicles purchased for the state vehicle fleet each fiscal year are zero-emission vehicles, except as provided. If the department determines that it cannot meet the needs of the state while fulfilling that requirement, existing law requires the department to cease implementing that requirement, as specified. This bill would require the department to require a supplier of light-duty vehicles purchased for the state vehicle fleet to certify that the raw materials used in the manufacturing of the light-duty vehicles, including, but not limited to, aluminum, cobalt and lithium, come from mining operations that are free of child labor, except as specified. The bill would require the supplier of light-duty vehicles purchased for the state vehicle fleet to provide to the department the locations where the raw materials used in the production of the light-duty vehicles were mined and the average hourly wage of the workers that mined the raw materials, and would require the department to post on its internet website that information provided by the supplier and a list of the light-duty vehicles purchased for the state vehicle fleet that are certified to be made with raw materials that come from mining operations that are free of child labor.

Existing law establishes the California Conservation Corps in the Natural Resources Agency and requires the corps to implement and administer the conservation corps program. Existing law authorizes the Director of the California Conservation Corps to establish various training and educational program, including, among others, the Education and Employment Reentry Program, within the corps, to provide education and training to formerly incarcerated individuals who successfully served on a California Conservation Camp program crew. This bill would require the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to jointly evaluate the Ventura Training Center and would require the evaluation to include specified components, including, among others, an evaluation of ways to increase the rate of graduated trainees entering the firefighter workforce. The bill would require the departments to submit a report describing the evaluation to certain legislative committees by January 1, 2026, and would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2030. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, administered by the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in the state. Existing law requires the board to appoint a chief executive officer, known as the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges. Existing law establishes community college districts throughout the state, under the administration of community college district governing boards, and authorizes these districts to provide instruction at the community college campuses they operate. Existing law establishes the Part-Time Community College Faculty Health Insurance Program, which authorizes the governing board of a community college district to provide a program of health insurance for part-time faculty, multidistrict part-time faculty, and their dependents. Existing law requires the chancellor, by June 15 of each year, to apportion to each community college that establishes a program an amount that equals up to12 of the total cost of the individual premiums required to be paid for the health insurance coverage of participating part-time faculty, multidistrict part-time faculty, and their dependents, and to apportion any remaining funds to each community college district that establishes a program and meets certain criteria, up to the total cost of the individual premiums required to be paid for the health insurance coverage of the participants, as provided. If funds appropriated for purposes of the program remain after those apportionments, existing law requires that the balance revert to the General Fund annually, as specified. This bill would instead require that the balance be deposited into the Part-Time Community College Faculty Health Insurance Program Fund, which the bill would create. The bill would continuously appropriate the moneys in the fund to the chancellor for purposes of the above-described apportionments, as specified. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature that, by January 1, 2030, each community college district commence negotiations with the exclusive representatives for part-time community college faculty to offer health insurance benefits to part-time and multidistrict part-time community college faculty and their eligible dependents.

Existing law provides that a provision of a memorandum of understanding reached between the state employer and a recognized employee organization representing state civil service employees that requires the expenditure of funds does not become effective unless approved by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act. This bill, notwithstanding the above-described statutory provisions, would approve a memorandum of understanding entered into between the state employer and State Bargaining Unit 6, as of an unspecified date. The bill would provide that the provisions of the memorandum of understanding requiring the expenditure of funds will not take effect unless funds for those provisions are specifically appropriated by the Legislature. The bill would require the state employer and State Bargaining Unit 6 to meet and confer to renegotiate the affected provisions if funds for these provisions are not specifically appropriated by the Legislature. The bill would specify that the provisions of the memorandum of understanding requiring the expenditure of funds will become effective even if these provisions are approved by the Legislature in legislation other than the annual Budget Act.