Asm. Ash Kalra

Existing law establishes the Civil Rights Department within the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency to enforce civil rights laws with respect to housing and employment and to protect and safeguard the right of all persons to obtain and hold employment without discrimination based on specified characteristics or status. Existing law requires a private employer that has 100 or more employees and is required to file an annual Employer Information Report (EEO-1) pursuant to federal law to submit a pay data report to the department that contains specified employee information on or before March 31, 2021, and on or before March 31 each year thereafter. Existing law prescribes the information that must be included in the pay data report, including the number of employees by race, ethnicity, and sex in specified job categories. Existing law requires employers with multiple establishments to submit a report for each establishment and a consolidated report that includes all employees. Existing law permits the department to develop, publish on an annual basis, and publicize aggregate reports, provided that the aggregate reports are reasonably calculated to prevent the association of any data with any individual business or person. Existing law provides that an employer is in compliance with the requirement that it submit a pay data report if it submits an EEO-1 to the department containing the same or substantially similar pay data information. Existing law permits the department to seek an order requiring an employer to comply with these provisions and permits it to recover the costs associated with seeking the order for compliance. This bill would, instead, require a private employer that has 100 or more employees to submit a pay data report to the department. This bill would revise the timeframe in which a private employer is required to submit this information to require that it be provided on or before the second Wednesday of May 2023, and for each year thereafter on or before the second Wednesday of May. This bill would also require a private employer that has 100 or more employees hired through labor contractors, as defined, to also submit a separate pay data report to the department for those employees in accordance with the above timeframe, as specified. This bill would require the pay data reports to include the median and mean hourly rate for each combination of race, ethnicity, and sex within each job category. This bill would delete a provision requiring employers with multiple establishments to submit a consolidated report. This bill would delete the provision authorizing an employer to submit an EEO-1 in lieu of a pay data report. This bill would permit a court to impose a civil penalty not to exceed one hundred dollars ($100) per employee upon any employer who fails to file the required report and not to exceed two hundred dollars ($200) per employee upon any employer for a subsequent failure to file the required report. The bill would require those penalties to be deposited in the Civil Rights Enforcement and Litigation Fund. Existing law creates the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, under the direction of the Labor Commissioner, within the Department of Industrial Relations to enforce labor laws. Existing law requires an employer, upon reasonable request, to provide the pay scale for a position to an applicant applying for employment. Existing law defines pay scale for these purposes to mean salary or hourly wage range. This bill would also require an employer, upon request, to provide to an employee the pay scale for the position in which the employee is currently employed. The bill would require an employer with 15 or more employees to include the pay scale for a position in any job posting. The bill would require an employer to maintain records of a job title and wage rate history for each employee for a specified timeframe, to be open to inspection by the Labor Commissioner. The bill would create a rebuttable presumption in favor of an employee's claim if an employer fails to keep records in violation of these provisions. The bill would require an employer with 15 or more employees that engages a third party to announce, post, publish, or otherwise make known a job posting to provide the pay scale to the third party and would require the third party to include the pay scale in the job posting. The bill would require the Labor Commissioner to investigate complaints alleging violations of these requirements and would authorize the commissioner to order an employer to pay a civil penalty upon finding an employer has violated these provisions. The bill would also authorize a person aggrieved by a violation of these provisions to bring a civil action for injunctive and any other appropriate relief. This bill would require deposit of the civil penalties collected pursuant to these provisions into the Labor Enforcement and Compliance Fund, and would authorize these funds to be used, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for administration and enforcement of these provisions.

(1) Existing law provides for the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program, under which each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families and individuals. Existing law generally requires a recipient of CalWORKs benefits who is 16 years of age or older to participate in welfare-to-work activities as a condition of eligibility for aid. Existing law exempts certain persons from the welfare-to-work activities, including a child attending an elementary, secondary, vocational, or technical school on a full-time basis. Existing law, however, prohibits a person who is 16 or 17 years of age, or a custodial parent who is under 20 years of age, who loses this exemption from requalifying for the exemption by attending school as a required activity. This bill would remove that prohibition, thereby allowing that person to requalify for benefits by attending school on a full-time basis. Existing law prohibits sanctions from being applied for a failure or refusal to comply with program requirements if, among other reasons, the employment, offer of employment, activity, or other training for employment discriminates on specified bases or involves conditions that are in violation of applicable health and safety standards, or the employment or offer of employment exceeds the daily or weekly hours of work customary to the occupation. This bill would additionally prohibit sanctions from being applied for a failure or refusal to comply with program requirements if the recipient provides documentation that the anticipated hours would be so unpredictable for that specific recipient that they would not allow the recipient to anticipate compliance with program requirements related to the job, or if the recipient provides documentation that the scheduled hours exhibit a pattern of unpredictability for that specific recipient so that the recipient cannot anticipate compliance with program requirements related to the job. The bill would also prohibit sanctions from being applied if the recipient states that the employment or offer of employment fails to comply with the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014, that the recipient experienced sexual harassment or other abusive conduct at the workplace, or that the recipient's rights under specified laws were violated. The bill would require the county human services agency, when an applicant or recipient reports refusing any offer of employment, reducing hours, voluntarily quitting any employment, or being discharged from any employment, to provide the applicant or recipient with information regarding workplace rights generally, as specified, and would require the State Department of Social Services to convene a stakeholder workgroup to develop instructions for county human services agencies on how to best inform applicants and recipients of aid of those rights and remedies, and how to document an applicant's or recipient's statement of a violation of the law, as specified. Existing law requires a county to redetermine the amount of a CalWORKs grant on a semiannual basis, as specified. Under existing law, certain amounts are exempt from the calculation of income of the family for purposes of determining the amount of a grant under the CalWORKs program, including disability-based unearned income, as specified. Under existing law, disability-based unearned income means state disability insurance benefits, private disability insurance benefits, temporary workers' compensation benefits, social security disability benefits, and any veteran's disability compensation. This bill, commencing October 1, 2024, or the date the department notifies the Legislature that the Statewide Automated Welfare System (SAWS) can perform the necessary automation to implement the these provisions, whichever is later, would expand the definition of disability-based unearned income to include paid family leave benefits. Under existing law, a parent or caretaker relative is not eligible for CalWORKs aid when the parent or caretaker has received aid for a cumulative total of 48 months. Existing law increases that time limit to 60 months on May 1, 2022, or upon a specified notification to the Legislature from the department. Existing law excepts from those time limits any month in which specified conditions exist, including that the recipient is exempt from participating in welfare-to-work activities because the recipient has primary responsibility for personally providing care to a child 24 months of age or younger. This bill would additionally except from those time limits any month in which the recipient is receiving Paid Family Leave benefits. The bill would make this provision operative on October 1, 2024, unless the changes made by this act cannot be implemented without an update to SAWS, in which case this provision would become operative on the date that the department notifies the Legislature that SAWS has been updated to perform the necessary automation to implement this provision. By imposing additional duties on counties under the CalWORKs program, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing federal law provides for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) , known in California as CalFresh, under which supplemental nutrition assistance benefits allocated to the state by the federal government are distributed to eligible individuals by each county. Existing federal law, as a condition of eligibility for CalFresh, requires a household member who is not exempt to comply with specified work requirements, including the requirement that a member does not voluntarily and without good cause quit a job of 30 or more hours a week or reduce work effort less than 30 hours a week. Existing federal law defines "good cause" to include, among other things, circumstances beyond a member's control, resigning from a job that is unsuitable, and discrimination by an employer based on age, race, sex, color, handicap, religious beliefs, national origin, or political beliefs. This bill would, to the extent permitted by federal law, regulation, or waiver thereof, require that good cause exists for purposes of the above-mentioned work requirement if an applicant for, or recipient of, CalFresh benefits has voluntarily quit a job or reduced work hours based on at least one of the above-mentioned reasons for which welfare-to-work sanctions for a recipient of CalWORKs benefits shall not be applied, or because the scheduled work hours were so unpredictable that they did not allow an the applicant or recipient to anticipate the amount of monthly income from the job. When an the applicant or recipient reports refusing any offer of employment, reducing hours, voluntarily quitting any employment, or being discharged from any employment, the bill would require the county human services agency to provide the applicant or recipient with information regarding workplace rights generally, as specified. By imposing additional duties on counties, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) The bill would authorize the department to implement these provisions through an all-county letter or similar instruction from the Director of Social Services, until regulations are adopted on or before October 1, 2025. (4) Existing law continuously appropriates moneys from the General Fund to defray a portion of county costs under the CalWORKs program. This bill would provide that the continuous appropriation would not be made for purposes of implementing the bill. (5) 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, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Existing law requires an employer to provide an employee, at the time of hiring, a written notice including specified information in the language the employer normally uses to communicate employment-related information to the employee. Existing law requires the Labor Commissioner to prepare a template that includes the specified information mentioned above and to make the template available to employers in the manner as determined by the commissioner. This bill would require an employer to include in their written notice to all employees, specified information required in the event of a federal or state declared disaster or applicable to the county or counties in which the employee will be employed. The bill would prohibit an employer from retaliating against an H-2A employee for raising questions about the declarations' requirements or recommendations that relate to employment, housing, or working conditions. This bill would additionally require an employer, beginning on March 15, 2023, to provide an H-2A employee, as described, on the day the employee begins work in the state, or begins work for a new employer after being transferred, a written notice in Spanish, prepared by the Labor Commissioner, and, if requested by the employee, in English, containing information deemed material and necessary by the Labor Commissioner, respecting specified topics relative to an H-2A employee's rights pursuant to federal and state law. The bill would also require the commissioner to create a template, as specified, and would require the commissioner to combine these requirements with an existing notification template for purposes of carrying out this requirement, including a separate section of the template listing key legal rights of H-2A workers under California Law, and to make the template available to employers in the manner as determined by the commissioner by March 1, 2023. The bill would also make conforming changes.

Existing law establishes the State Department of Public Health to implement and administer various programs relating to public health. Existing law requires the department to develop a coordinated state strategy for addressing the health-related needs of women, including implementation of goals and objectives for women's health. This bill would establish the California Reproductive Justice and Freedom Fund and would require the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to award grants to eligible community-based organizations over a 3-year period. The bill would require a grant recipient to use grant funds to implement a program or fund an existing program that provides and promotes medically accurate, comprehensive reproductive and sexual health education. The bill would also make related findings and declarations.

Existing federal law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) , requires each state to establish an American Health Benefit Exchange to facilitate the purchase of qualified health benefit plans by qualified individuals and qualified small employers. Existing state law creates the California Health Benefit Exchange (Exchange) , also known as Covered California, to facilitate the enrollment of qualified individuals and qualified small employers in qualified health plans as required under PPACA. If a qualified health plan covers abortion services, PPACA requires the plan to deposit the premium amounts that equal the actuarial value of the coverage of those services into a separate account, as specified. Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, requires the Department of Managed Health Care to license and regulate health care service plans and makes a willful violation of the act a crime. Existing law also requires the Department of Insurance to regulate health insurers. This bill would require, beginning July 1, 2023, a health care service plan or health insurer offering qualified health plans, as defined, through the Exchange to annually report the total amount of funds in the segregated account maintained pursuant to PPACA. The bill would require the annual report to include the ending balance of the account and the total dollar amount of claims paid during a reporting year. By expanding the scope of a 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, the Reproductive Privacy Act, prohibits the state from denying or interfering with a person's right to choose or obtain an abortion prior to viability of the fetus, or when the abortion is necessary to protect the life or health of the person. The act defines "abortion" as a medical treatment intended to induce the termination of a pregnancy except for the purpose of producing a live birth. Existing law establishes the Abortion Practical Support Fund, administered by the Department of Health Care Access and Information, for the purpose of providing grants to increase patient access to abortion. This bill would require the California Health and Human Services Agency, or an entity designated by the agency, to establish an internet website where the public can find information on abortion services in the state. The bill would require the Department of Health Care Access and Information to annually evaluate the grant program funded by the Abortion Practical Support Fund and report its findings to the Legislature. The bill would also make related findings and declarations, and would specify that it is to be construed to effectuate its legislative intent to support access to abortion in California and build upon California's commitment to be a reproductive freedom state.

(1) Existing law requires a county coroner to hold inquests to inquire into and determine the circumstances, manner, and cause of violent, sudden, or unusual deaths, including deaths related to or following known or suspected self-induced or criminal abortion. Existing law requires a coroner to register a fetal death after 20 weeks of gestation, unless it is the result of a legal abortion. If a physician was not in attendance at the delivery of the fetus, existing law requires the fetal death to be handled as a death without medical attendance. Existing law requires the coroner to state on the certificate of fetal death the time of fetal death, the direct causes of the fetal death, and the conditions, if any, that gave rise to these causes. This bill would delete the requirement that a coroner hold inquests for deaths related to or following known or suspected self-induced or criminal abortion, and would delete the requirement that an unattended fetal death be handled as a death without medical attendance. The bill would prohibit using the coroner's statements on the certificate of fetal death to establish, bring, or support a criminal prosecution or civil cause of damages against a person who is immune from liability based on their actions or omissions with respect to their pregnancy or actual, potential, or alleged pregnancy outcome, or who aids a pregnant person in exercising their rights under the Reproductive Privacy Act, as specified. (2) Existing law, the Reproductive Privacy Act, provides that every individual possesses a fundamental right of privacy with respect to their personal reproductive decisions. Existing law prohibits the state from interfering with a pregnant person's right to choose or obtain an abortion before the fetus is viable or when it is necessary to protect the life and health of the pregnant person. Under existing law, an abortion is unauthorized if either the person performing the abortion is not a health care provider that is authorized to perform an abortion or the fetus is viable. Existing law, the Tom Bane Civil Rights Act, authorizes an individual whose exercise or enjoyment of rights secured by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or of rights secured by the Constitution or laws of this state, has been interfered with, or attempted to be interfered with, to institute or prosecute in their own name and on their own behalf an action for damages, as prescribed. This bill would prohibit a person from being subject to civil or criminal liability, or otherwise deprived of their rights, based on their actions or omissions with respect to their pregnancy or actual, potential, or alleged pregnancy outcome or based solely on their actions to aid or assist a woman or pregnant person who is exercising their reproductive rights. The bill would clarify that an abortion is unauthorized if performed by a person other than the pregnant person and either the person performing the abortion is not a health care provider that is authorized to perform an abortion or the fetus is viable. The bill would authorize a party whose rights are protected by the Reproductive Privacy Act to bring a civil action against an offending state actor when those rights are interfered with by conduct or by statute, ordinance, or other state or local rule, regulation, or enactment in violation of the act, as specified, and would require a court, upon a motion, to award reasonable attorneys' fees and costs to a prevailing plaintiff. The bill would also authorize a person aggrieved by a violation of the Reproductive Privacy Act to bring a civil action pursuant to the Tom Bane Civil Rights Act. The bill would provide for the indemnification of employees or former employees of public agencies who were acting within the scope of their employment. (3) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 123466 of the Health and Safety Code proposed by AB 2091 to be operative only if this bill and AB 2091 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.

Existing law establishes a variety of health care workforce training programs and health professions education programs within the Department of Health Care Access and Information to, among other things, maximize the delivery of primary care and family physician services to specific areas of California where there is a recognized unmet priority need for those services and ensure an adequate supply of appropriately trained professional and vocational nurses. Existing law establishes the Health Professions Education Fund to support those programs by providing scholarships and loans to students from underrepresented groups who are accepted to or enrolled in schools of medicine, dentistry, nursing, or other health professions. This bill would establish the California Reproductive Health Service Corps within the department for the purposes of recruiting, training, and retaining a diverse workforce of reproductive health care professionals who will be part of reproductive health care teams to work in underserved areas. The bill would require the corps to administer and oversee scholarships and stipends for scholars who are new reproductive health students, and loan repayment for scholars who have acquired debt from attending a reproductive health professional school in the past, in exchange for a 3-year term of obligated service in California at a corps-approved site. The bill would require the corps to prioritize the selection of scholars from historically excluded populations and underserved areas, and would require scholars to agree to complete abortion training as part of their health care education and to provide, or participate on a team that provides, reproductive health services and to commit to working at a corps-approved site in a specified area with a specified population. This bill would require the department to conduct an evaluation 5 years after implementation to assess the impact and effectiveness of the corps, and would require the department to report its findings to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2029.

Existing law, the Nursing Practice Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of registered nurses, including nurse practitioners and certified nurse-midwives, by the Board of Registered Nursing. Existing law makes a violation of this act a crime. In order to perform an abortion by aspiration techniques under the act, a person with a license or certificate to practice as a nurse practitioner or a certified nurse-midwife is required to complete board-recognized training and adhere to standardized procedures that specify, among other conditions, the extent of supervision by a physician and surgeon with relevant training and expertise. This bill would revise those provisions by requiring, in order to perform abortion by aspiration techniques, a person with a license or certificate to practice as a nurse practitioner practicing pursuant to a standardized procedure, to practice as a certified nurse-midwife, or to practice as a qualified nurse practitioner functioning pursuant to certain advanced practice provisions to achieve clinical competency by successfully completing requisite training, as specified, in performing these procedures, as provided by certain board-approved programs, courses, and trainings. This bill would authorize a nurse practitioner who has completed training required by these provisions and who is functioning pursuant to certain advanced practice provisions to perform an abortion by aspiration techniques without supervision by a physician and surgeon. The bill would require a nurse practitioner to practice abortion by aspiration techniques consistent with applicable standards of care and within the scope of their clinical and professional education and training. By expanding the application of a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law provides that it is unprofessional conduct for a nurse practitioner or certified nurse-midwife to perform an abortion by aspiration techniques without prior completion of training and validation of clinical competency. This bill would instead make a violation of the above-described provisions by a nurse practitioner or certified midwife unprofessional conduct. This bill would also prohibit certain persons authorized to perform abortion by aspiration techniques from being punished, held liable for damages in a civil action, or denied any right or privilege for any action relating to the evaluation of clinical competency of a nurse practitioner or certified nurse-midwife, as specified. 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.

(1) Existing law provides that every individual possesses a fundamental right of privacy with respect to their personal reproductive decisions. Existing law prohibits the state from denying or interfering with a person's right to choose or obtain an abortion prior to viability of the fetus, or when the abortion is necessary to protect the life or health of the person. Existing law requires a health insurer to take specified steps to protect the confidentiality of an insured's medical information, and prohibits an insurer from disclosing medical information related to sensitive health care services to the policyholder or any insureds other than the protected individual receiving care. Existing law generally prohibits a provider of health care, a health care service plan, or a contractor from disclosing medical information regarding a patient, enrollee, or subscriber without first obtaining an authorization, unless a specified exception applies, including that the disclosure is in response to a subpoena. Existing law prohibits an employer from using or disclosing medical information that it possesses pertaining to its employees without the patient having first signed an authorization, unless a specified exception applies, including that the disclosure is compelled by judicial or administrative process or by any other specific provision of law. Existing law authorizes a California court or attorney to issue a subpoena if a foreign subpoena has been sought in this state. This bill would prohibit compelling a person to identify or provide information that would identify or that is related to an individual who has sought or obtained an abortion in a state, county, city, or other local criminal, administrative, legislative, or other proceeding if the information is being requested based on another state's laws that interfere with a person's right to choose or obtain an abortion or a foreign penal civil action, as defined. The bill would authorize the Insurance Commissioner to assess a civil penalty, as specified, against an insurer that has disclosed an insured's confidential medical information. The bill would prohibit a provider of health care, a health care service plan, a contractor, or an employer from releasing medical information that would identify an individual or related to an individual seeking or obtaining an abortion in response to a subpoena or a request or to law enforcement if that subpoena, request, or the purpose of law enforcement for the medical information is based on, or for the purpose of enforcement of, either another state's laws that interfere with a person's rights to choose or obtain an abortion or a foreign penal civil action. The bill would prohibit issuance of a subpoena if the submitted foreign subpoena relates to a foreign penal civil action and the submitted foreign subpoena would require disclosure of information related to sensitive services, as defined. (2) Existing law sets forth the health care access rights of an incarcerated pregnant person and an incarcerated person who is identified as possibly pregnant or capable of becoming pregnant. Existing law prohibits the imposition of conditions or restrictions on an incarcerated person's ability to obtain an abortion. This bill would prohibit prison staff from disclosing identifying medical information related to an incarcerated person's right to seek and obtain an abortion if the information is being requested based on another state's law that interferes with a person's rights to choose or obtain an abortion or a foreign penal civil action. (3) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Sections 2029.300 and 2029.350 of the Code of Civil Procedure proposed by SB 107 to be operative only if this bill and SB 107 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. (4) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.