Existing law, with certain exceptions, establishes 8 hours as a day's work and a 40-hour workweek, and requires payment of prescribed overtime compensation for additional hours worked. Existing law establishes the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement in the Department of Industrial Relations for the enforcement of labor laws, including wage claims. Existing federal law provides for the allocation of federal funds through the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant program to eligible states, with California's version of this program known as the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program. Under the CalWORKs program, each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families and individuals, and is prohibited from applying sanctions upon a recipient of CalWORKs for a failure or refusal to comply with program requirements for reasons related to employment, an offer of employment, an activity, or other training for employment for specified reasons, including, but not limited to, that the employment, offer of employment, or work activity does not provide workers' compensation insurance. Existing law establishes a statewide program to enable eligible low-income persons to receive food stamps under the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) , known in California as CalFresh, and requires counties to implement the program. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations relating to work hour scheduling for employees of food and general retail establishments. The bill would require a food and general retail establishment, as defined, to provide its employees with at least 2 weeks' notice of their schedules. The bill would require a food and general retail establishment to pay those employees additional pay, as specified, for each previously scheduled shift that the food and general retail establishment moves to another date or time or cancels and each previously unscheduled shift that the food and general retail establishment requires an employee to work, and would also require a food and general retail establishment to pay those employees a specified amount for each on-call shift for which the employee is required to be available but is not called in to work. The bill would specify that these provisions do not apply in certain circumstances, including, but not limited to, when operations cannot begin or continue due to causes not within the food and general retail establishment's control. The bill would also require a food and general retail establishment to allow an employee to, upon request, be absent from work without pay for up to 8 hours twice a year to attend any required appointments at the county human services agency, provided that the employee gives reasonable advance notice to the employer of his or her intention to take time off, unless advance notice is not feasible. The bill would prohibit an employer from taking any action against an employee when an unscheduled absence occurs due to a required appointment at the county human services agency if that employee provides specified documentation from the county human services agency. The bill would require the Labor Commissioner to promulgate all regulations and rules of practice and procedure necessary to carry out these provisions. The bill would also prohibit sanctions from being applied upon a recipient of CalWORKs for failure or refusal to comply with CalWORKs program requirements if the employment or offer of employment fails to comply with these provisions. Existing law continuously appropriates moneys from the General Fund to defray a portion of county costs under the CalWORKs program. This bill would instead provide that the continuous appropriation would not be made for purposes of implementing the bill.
Sponsored bills
This measure would proclaim January 26, 2016, as India Republic Day, and would urge all Californians to join in celebrating India Republic Day.
The Personal Income Tax Law and the Bank and Corporation Tax Law allow various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws. This bill would allow a credit against those taxes for each taxable year, beginning on and after January 2015, a taxpayer donates apparently wholesome food, as defined, from any trade or business of the taxpayer to an organization located in California and exempt from federal income taxation, as specified. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Existing law establishes the California Discount Prescription Drug Program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified individuals are provided with prescription drugs at reduced prices that result from rebate agreements between the department and drug manufacturers. Existing law requires all moneys received by the department pursuant to the administration of the program to be deposited into the California Discount Prescription Drug Program Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, for the purpose of providing payment to participating pharmacies and for defraying its costs in administering the program, and prohibits moneys in the fund from being available for any other purpose. Existing law implements the program only to the extent that moneys are appropriated to the department to implement the program. Existing law makes the program inoperative on February 1, 2015, and thereafter repealed on January 1, 2016, if no moneys are appropriated to the department to implement the program. This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to a provision related to the program.
Under existing law, the Child Care and Development Services Act is enacted for, among other purposes, the purpose of providing a comprehensive, coordinated, and cost-effective system of child care and development services for children from infancy to 13 years of age and their parents, including a full range of supervision, health, and support services through full- and part-time programs. Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to administer all California state preschool programs. Existing law requires those programs to include, but not be limited to, part-day age and developmentally appropriate programs designed to facilitate the transition to kindergarten for 3- and 4-year-old children in educational development, health services, social services, nutritional services, parent education and parent participation, evaluation, and staff development. This bill would express the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would improve access to early care and education programs for working families.
Existing law requires the Department of Fish and Wildlife to establish an internal division with the primary purpose of performing comprehensive planning and environmental compliance services with priority given to projects involving the building of eligible renewable energy resources, as defined. This bill would make a nonsubstantive change in those provisions.
Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, and under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid Program provisions. Existing law provides that it is the intent of the Legislature to provide, to the extent practicable, for health care for those aged and other persons who lack sufficient annual income to meet the costs of health care, and whose other assets are so limited that their application toward the costs of care would jeopardize the person's or family's future minimum self-maintenance and security. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to those provisions.
The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, which is administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, establishes an integrated waste management program. Existing law requires each city, county, and regional agency, if any, to develop a source reduction and recycling element of an integrated waste management plan. The act requires the source reduction and recycling element to divert from disposal 50% of all solid waste subject to the element through source reduction, recycling, and composting activities, with specified exceptions. Existing law governs the use of solid waste as alternative daily cover in the construction and operation of a solid waste landfill, including the determination of what constitutes diversion through recycling rather than disposal. Existing law provides for the department to adopt regulations in this regard. This bill would delete obsolete provisions relating to the adoption of regulations.
This measure would proclaim the month of January 2016 as Human Trafficking Awareness Month, encourage all Californians to become educated about human trafficking and work to eradicate these criminal practices within and beyond our borders, and encourage Members of the Legislature, as well as organizations, businesses, and individuals, to host or sponsor and attend community events in order to bring visibility and support to efforts made by nongovernmental organizations to recognize and combat human trafficking.