Rep. Roger Hernández

Existing law, the Charter Schools Act of 1992, authorizes a charter school to elect to operate as, or be operated by, a nonprofit public benefit corporation, as specified. This bill would, commencing January 1, 2017, prohibit a charter school from operating as, or being operated by, a for-profit corporation.

Existing law provides for the certification and regulation of shorthand reporters by the Court Reporters Board of California in the Department of Consumer Affairs, and provides for the regulation of shorthand reporting schools by the board. Existing law provides for the renewal of a shorthand reporter's certificate if specified requirements are met. Existing law sets forth specified fees for the examination for, and the issuance and renewal of, a shorthand reporter's certificate. This bill would require the board, on or before July 1, 2017, to adopt regulations to establish, for renewal of a shorthand reporter's certificate, minimum approved continuing education requirements, with certain exceptions, and would require the board to establish a procedure for approving providers of those continuing education courses, as specified. The bill would also require the board to collaborate with the Judicial Council to develop a list of courses that satisfy the continuing education requirements of both these provisions and a specified rule, applicable to trial court personnel, of the California Rules of Court. The bill would also authorize the board to, by regulation, establish a fee for approval of those continuing education providers, not to exceed the reasonable regulatory costs, if any, to the board of approving those providers.

Existing law establishes election dates in each year, which are the second Tuesday of April in each even-numbered year, the first Tuesday after the first Monday in March of each odd-numbered year, the first Tuesday after the first Monday in June in each year, and the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of each year. This bill would, commencing January 1, 2020, eliminate the established election dates in March and April.

Existing law, the California Voting Rights Act of 2001 (CVRA) , prohibits the use of an at-large election in a political subdivision if it would impair the ability of a protected class, as defined, to elect candidates of its choice or otherwise influence the outcome of an election. The CVRA provides that a voter who is a member of a protected class may bring an action in superior court to enforce the provisions of the CVRA, and, if the voter prevails in the case, he or she may be awarded reasonable litigation costs and attorney's fees. The CVRA requires a court to implement appropriate remedies, including the imposition of district-based elections, that are tailored to remedy a violation of the act. This bill would prohibit the use of a district-based election in a political subdivision if it would impair the ability of a protected class, as defined, to elect candidates of its choice. The bill would require a court to implement specified remedies upon a finding that a district-based election was imposed or applied in a manner that impaired the ability of a protected class to elect candidates of its choice.

Existing law, the Mental Health Services Act, an initiative measure enacted by the voters as Proposition 63 at the November 2, 2004, statewide general election, establishes the Mental Health Services Fund to fund various county mental health programs, and establishes the Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission, which consists of 16 members, to oversee the administration of various parts of the act. Existing law authorizes the act to be amended by a 23 vote of the Legislature if the amendments are consistent with, and further the purposes of, the act. This bill would expand the commission by 2 additional members who each have specified mental health knowledge and experience, to be appointed by the Governor. By amending the provisions of the Mental Health Services Act, this bill requires a 23 vote of the Legislature. Existing law, the Veterans Housing and Homeless Prevention Bond Act of 2014 (bond act) , an initiative measure enacted by the voters as Proposition 41 at the June 3, 2014, primary election, authorized $600 million in bonds to provide multifamily housing to low-income veterans and supportive housing for homeless veterans, through the Veterans Housing and Homeless Prevention Act of 2014. Existing law, the Veterans Housing and Homeless Prevention Act of 2014, provides for the acquisition, construction, rehabilitation, and preservation of affordable multifamily supportive housing, affordable transitional housing, affordable rental housing, and related facilities for veterans and their families to allow veterans to access and maintain housing stability. Existing law requires the California Housing Finance Agency, the Department of Housing and Community Development, and the Department of Veterans Affairs, to work collaboratively for those purposes. This bill would require those departments to give a preference to applicants for funding pursuant to the bond act for supportive housing projects when the applicant can demonstrate a multiyear commitment of Mental Health Services Act funding for the applicant's housing project funding plan. Existing law requires county mental health plans, whether administered by public or private entities, to be governed by specified guidelines, including, among other things, providing for culturally competent and age-appropriate services, to the extent feasible. Existing law requires a mental health plan to have a cultural competence plan with specified components. This bill would require the Department of Health Care Services to post the cultural competence plan component of each county mental health plan on a dedicated Internet Web page within 30 days of the department receiving the plan and to notify the appropriate fiscal and policy committees of the Legislature when the plan is available on the Internet Web page. The bill would declare that the amendments to the provisions of the Mental Health Services Act are consistent with, and further the purposes of, that act.

(1) Existing law prohibits an employer from discharging an employee or in any manner discriminating, retaliating, or taking any adverse action against any employee or applicant for employment because the employee or applicant has engaged in protected conduct, as specified. Existing law provides that an employee who made a bona fide complaint, and was consequently discharged or otherwise suffered an adverse action, is entitled to reinstatement and reimbursement for lost wages. Existing law makes it a misdemeanor for an employer to willfully refuse to reinstate or otherwise restore an employee who is determined by a specified procedure to be eligible for reinstatement. Existing law subjects a person who violates these provisions to a civil penalty of up to $10,000 per violation. This bill would extend the protections of these provisions, as specified, to an employee who is a family member of a person who engaged in, or was perceived to engage in, the protected conduct or make a complaint protected by these provisions. This bill would define terms for the purpose of these provisions. (2) Existing law requires a client employer to share with a labor contractor all civil legal responsibility and civil liability for all workers supplied by that labor contractor for the payment of wages and the failure to obtain valid workers' compensation coverage. Existing law also prohibits a client employer from shifting to the labor contractor legal duties or liabilities under workplace safety provisions with respect to workers provided by the labor contractor. Existing law defines terms for these purposes and authorizes the Labor Commissioner to adopt regulations and rules of practice and procedure necessary to administer and enforce these provisions. Existing law excludes certain types of employers from these provisions, including, but not limited to, a client employer that is not a motor carrier of property based solely on the employer's use of a third-party motor carrier of property with interstate or intrastate operating authority to ship or receive freight, and a client employer that is a motor carrier of property subcontracting with, or otherwise engaging, another motor carrier of property to provide transportation services using its own employees and commercial motor vehicles. The Household Goods Carriers Act subjects household goods carriers to the jurisdiction and control of the Public Utilities Commission. The act prohibits a household goods carrier from engaging, or attempting to engage, in the business of the transportation of used household goods and personal effects by motor vehicle over any public highway in the state without a permit issued by the commission authorizing transportation entirely within the state, or a valid operating authority issued by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration for interstate transportation. This bill would expand the types of employers excluded from those labor contracting provisions to include a client employer that is not a household goods carrier based solely on the employer's use of a third-party household goods carrier permitted by the commission to move household goods, and a client employer that is a permitted household goods carrier subcontracting with, or otherwise engaging, another permitted household goods carrier to provide transportation of household goods using its own employees and motor vehicles.

(1) The Enforcement of Judgments Law provides for the enforcement of money judgments and other civil judgments. Under that law, a judgment creditor may levy upon the property of a judgment debtor to satisfy a judgment, and a levying officer holds the property until the final determination of any exemptions claimed by the judgment debtor. This bill would enact special provisions for the enforcement of judgments against an employer arising from the employer's nonpayment of wages for work performed in this state. The bill would authorize the Labor Commissioner to use any of the existing remedies available to a judgment creditor and to act as a levying officer when enforcing a judgment pursuant to a writ of execution, as provided. The bill would also authorize the Labor Commissioner to issue a notice of levy, as specified, if the levy is for a deposit, credits, money, or property in the possession or under the control of a bank or savings and loan association or for an account receivable or other general intangible owed to the judgment debtor by an account debtor. (2) Existing law authorizes the Labor Commissioner to investigate employee complaints and to provide for a hearing in any action to recover wages, penalties, and other demands for compensation. Existing law requires the Labor Commissioner to determine all matters arising under his or her jurisdiction. Existing law makes any employer or other person acting on behalf of an employer who violates or causes to be violated specified provisions regulating hours and days of work in any order of the Industrial Welfare Commission to be subject to a civil penalty, as specified. A violation of the general provisions governing working hours is a crime. This bill would authorize the Labor Commissioner to provide for a hearing to recover civil penalties against any employer or other person acting on behalf of an employer, as defined, for a violation of those provisions regulating hours and days of work in any order of the Industrial Welfare Commission, as specified. This bill would provide that any employer or other person acting on behalf of an employer, as defined, who violates, or causes to be violated, any provision regulating minimum wages or hours and days of work in any order of the Industrial Welfare Commission, or violates, or causes to be violated, other related provisions of law is authorized to be held liable as the employer for such violation. Because the bill expands liability and a violation of those provisions would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Under existing law, within a specified period of time after service of notice of an order, decision, or award, the parties are authorized to seek review by filing an appeal to the superior court, where the appeal is required to be heard de novo. This bill, beginning 20 days after a judgment is entered by a court of competent jurisdiction in favor of the Labor Commissioner, or in favor of any employee pursuant to an appeal, would authorize the Labor Commissioner to, with the consent of any employee in whose favor the judgment is entered, collect any outstanding amount of the judgment by mailing a notice of levy upon all persons having in their possession, or who will have in their possession or under their control, any credits, money, or property, belonging to the judgment debtor, or who owe any debt to the judgment debtor at the time they receive the notice of levy. The bill would also require the judgment debtor to be served with a copy of the notice of levy. The bill would require any person who surrenders to the Labor Commissioner any credits, money, or property, or pays the debts owed to the judgment debtor to be discharged from any obligation or liability to the judgment debtor to the extent of the amount paid to the Labor Commissioner as a result of the levy. The bill would make any person noticed with a levy who fails or refuses to surrender any credits, money, or property or pay any debts owed to the judgment debtor liable in his or her own person or estate to the Labor Commissioner in an amount equal to the value of the credits, money, or property or in the amount of the levy, as provided. If a final judgment against an employer arising from the employer's nonpayment of wages for work performed in this state remains unsatisfied after a specified period of time after the time to appeal has expired and no appeal is pending, the bill would prohibit an employer from continuing to conduct business in this state, as specified, unless the employer has obtained a bond from a surety company and has filed a copy of that bond with the Labor Commissioner, as provided. As an alternative to the bond requirement, the bill would authorize the employer to provide the Labor Commissioner with a notarized copy of an accord reached with an individual holding an unsatisfied final judgment. The bill would make any employer conducting business without satisfying the bond requirement subject to a specified civil penalty, as provided. The bill, where an employer is conducting business in violation of the bond requirement, would authorize the Labor Commissioner to issue and serve on such employer a stop order prohibiting the use of employee labor by the employer until the employer complies with the bond requirement provided that the stop order would not compromise or imperil public safety or the life, health, and care of vulnerable individuals. The bill would make the failure of an employer, owner, director, officer, or managing agent of the employer to observe a stop order guilty of a misdemeanor. By creating a new crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Subject to required prior notice to the employer, the bill would authorize the Labor Commissioner to create a lien on any real or personal property in California of an employer or a successor employer with respect to real property, as described, that is conducting business without satisfying the bond requirement for the full amount of any wages, interest, and penalties claimed to be owed to an employee, as specified. Existing law generally provides for the licensure and regulation of various types of long-term care facilities by the State Department of Public Health and the State Department of Social Services. If a final judgment against an employer arising from the employer's nonpayment of wages remains unsatisfied after the time to appeal has expired and there is no pending appeal and an employer in the long-term care industry, as specified, is found to be conducting business without obtaining a bond or reaching an accord with an individual holding an unsatisfied judgment, this bill would authorize those departments to deny a new license or the renewal of an existing license. The bill would also authorize the Labor Commissioner to notify those departments of such a violation. The bill would require any individual or business entity that contracts for services in the property services or long-term care industries to be jointly and severally liable for any unpaid wages where the individual or business entity has been provided notice, by any party, of any proceeding or investigation by the Labor Commissioner in which the employer is found liable for those unpaid wages, to the extent the amounts are for services performed under that contract, as provided. 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 defines "public works," for the purposes of regulating public works contracts, as, among other things, construction, alteration, demolition, installation, or repair work done under contract and paid for, in whole or in part, out of public funds. Existing law further requires that, except as specified, not less than the general prevailing rate of per diem wages be paid to workers employed on public works and imposes misdemeanor penalties for a willful violation of this requirement. This bill would expand the definition of "public works," for the purposes of provisions relating to the prevailing rate of per diem wages, to also include any construction, alteration, demolition, installation, or repair work done under private contract on a project for a general acute care hospital, except on a project for a rural general acute care hospital with a maximum of 76 beds, when the project is paid for, in whole or in part, with the proceeds of conduit revenue bonds, as defined, that were issued on or after January 1, 2016. Because the willful violation of prevailing wage requirements when engaged in these public works projects would result in the imposition of misdemeanor penalties, 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 Local Agency Public Construction Act, authorizes job order contracting, as provided, by the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) , until December 31, 2020. This bill would repeal the provisions relating to the LAUSD and would instead authorize job order contracting in a similar manner for school districts until January 1, 2022. The bill would restrict job order contracting pursuant to the bill to school districts that have entered into a project labor agreement or agreements, as defined, that will apply to all public works in excess of $25,000 undertaken by the school district through at least December 31, 2021, regardless of what contracting procedure is used to award that work. The bill would require job order contractors to submit a questionnaire to the school district containing specified information verified under oath. By expanding the crime of perjury, 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 governs the relationship between an employer and an employee with regard to hiring, promotion, discipline, wages and hours, working conditions, and administrative and judicial remedies. Existing law sets forth guidelines for determining whether a person who performs work for another pursuant to a contract is an employee or an independent contractor. Existing law authorizes the Labor Commissioner to investigate employee complaints and to conduct a hearing in any action to recover wages, penalties, and other demands for compensation. This bill would establish the Motor Carrier Employer Amnesty Program pursuant to which, notwithstanding any law, a motor carrier performing drayage services may be relieved of liability for statutory or civil penalties associated with misclassification of commercial drivers as independent contractors if the motor carrier enters into a settlement agreement with the Labor Commissioner, with the cooperation and consent of the Employment Development Department, prior to January 1, 2017, whereby the motor carrier agrees to convert all of its commercial drivers to employees, and the settlement agreement contains prescribed components, including, but not limited to, an agreement by the motor carrier to pay all wages, benefits, and taxes owed, if any. The bill would permit a settlement agreement to contain a provision authorizing the Labor Commissioner and the Employment Development Department to recover from the motor carrier the reasonable, actual costs of the Labor Commissioner and the Employment Development Department for their respective review, approval, and compliance monitoring of that settlement agreement.