Existing law requires employers to provide a reasonable amount of break time to employees desiring to express milk for the employee's infant child. Existing law also requires an employer to make reasonable efforts to provide the employee with the use of a room, or other location, other than a toilet stall, in close proximity to the employees' work area, for the employee to express milk in private. Existing law exempts an employer from the break time requirement if the employer's operations would be seriously disrupted by providing that time to employees desiring to express milk. Existing law subjects employers who violate these provisions to a civil penalty of $100 per violation and authorizes the Labor Commissioner to issue citations for those violations. Existing law prohibits an employer, who is required by law to give an employee a rest period during a workday, from requiring the employee to work during the rest period. Existing law requires an employer to pay the employee one additional hour of pay, at the employee's regular rate of compensation, for each rest period not provided. This bill would require an employer to provide a lactation room or location that includes prescribed features and would require an employer, among other things, to provide access to a sink and refrigerator in close proximity to the employee's workspace, as specified. The bill would require an employer to develop and implement a policy regarding lactation accommodation and make it available to employees, as specified. The bill would also require an employer to maintain records of requests for lactation accommodation for 3 years and to give the Labor Commission access to those records. The bill would provide that specified employers could seek an exemption from any of the requirements of these provisions if the employer could show that the requirement posed an undue hardship based on specified criteria. The bill would deem denial of reasonable break time or adequate space to express milk a failure to provide a rest period in accordance with state law. The bill would prohibit an employer from discharging, or in any other manner discriminating or retaliating against, an employee for exercising or attempting to exercise rights under these provisions and would establish specific additional remedies. The bill would require the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement to create a model lactation accommodation request form and to make it available for download from its Internet Web site by employees and employers. The bill would authorize the division to establish a model lactation accommodation policy and lactation accommodation best practices to provide guidance to employers.
Sponsored bills
Existing law prohibits a provision in a settlement agreement that prevents the disclosure of factual information related to the action in a civil action with a factual foundation establishing a cause of action for civil damages for certain enumerated sexual offenses. Existing law prohibits a court from entering an order in any of these types of civil actions that restricts disclosure of this information, as specified, and it makes a provision in a settlement agreement that prevents the disclosure of factual information related to the action, entered into on or after January 1, 2017, void as a matter of law and against public policy. This bill would prohibit a provision in a settlement agreement that prevents the disclosure of factual information relating to certain claims of sexual assault, sexual harassment, or harassment or discrimination based on sex, that are filed in a civil or administrative action. The bill would make a provision in a settlement agreement that prevents the disclosure of factual information related to the claim, as described in the bill, entered into on or after January 1, 2019, void as a matter of law and against public policy. The bill would also provide that a court may consider the pleadings and other papers in the record, or any other findings of the court in determining the factual foundation of the causes of action specified in these provisions. The bill would create an exception, not applicable if a party is a government agency or public official, for a provision that shields the identity of the claimant and all facts that could lead to the discovery of his or her identity, if the provision is included within the settlement agreement at the request of the claimant.
Existing law imposes certain obligations in the context of particular transactions, and provides mechanisms to enforce those obligations. This bill would enact the California Internet Consumer Protection and Net Neutrality Act of 2018. This act would prohibit fixed and mobile Internet service providers, as defined, that provide broadband Internet access service, as defined, from engaging in specified actions concerning the treatment of Internet traffic. The act would prohibit, among other things, blocking lawful content, applications, services, or nonharmful devices, impairing or degrading lawful Internet traffic on the basis of Internet content, application, or service, or use of a nonharmful device, and specified practices relating to zero-rating, as defined. It would also prohibit fixed and mobile Internet service providers from offering or providing services other than broadband Internet access service that are delivered over the same last-mile connection as the broadband Internet access service, if those services have the purpose or effect of evading the above-described prohibitions or negatively affect the performance of broadband Internet access service.
Existing law establishes the University of California, under the administration of the Regents of the University of California, and the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University, as 2 of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. This bill would express findings and declarations of the Legislature relating to the availability of abortion by medication techniques at on-campus student health centers at public postsecondary educational institutions in the state. The bill would require, on and after January 1, 2022, each public university student health center, as defined, to offer abortion by medication techniques, as specified. The bill would require the Commission on the Status of Women and Girls to administer the College Student Health Center Sexual and Reproductive Health Preparation Fund, which the bill would establish, and would continuously appropriate the moneys in that fund to the commission for allocation for specified grants for purposes of the bill, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would provide that its requirements would be implemented only if, and to the extent that, a total of at least $9,600,000 in private moneys is made available to the fund in a timely manner on or after January 1, 2019. The bill would require the commission to submit a report to the Legislature, on or before December 31, 2020, and on or before December 31 of every year thereafter, until December 31, 2025, that includes, but is not necessarily limited to, specified information, in accordance with state and federal privacy law.
Existing law, the Legislative Employee Whistleblower Protection Act, imposes criminal and civil liability on a Member of the Legislature or legislative employee, as defined, who interferes with, or retaliates against, a legislative employee's exercise of the right to make a protected disclosure, which is defined as a good faith allegation made by a legislative employee to specified entities that a Member of the Legislature or a legislative employee has engaged in, or will engage in, activity that may constitute a violation of law or a violation of a legislative standard of conduct. This bill would define "protected disclosure" for purposes of that act to also include a complaint made at the request of a legislative employee and a complaint made against a nonemployee in specified circumstances. Existing law, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) , protects and safeguards the right and opportunity of all persons to generally seek, obtain, and hold employment without discrimination, abridgment, or harassment on account of enumerated protected categories. Existing law also precludes an employer, labor organization, employment agency, or person from discharging, expelling, or otherwise discriminating against any person because the person has opposed any practices forbidden under FEHA or because the person has filed a complaint, testified, or assisted in any FEHA proceeding. Existing law, the Unruh Civil Rights Act, states that all people in California are entitled to the full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, privileges, or services in all business establishments, no matter their sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, citizenship, primary language, or immigration status. Existing law establishes a cause of action for violations of that act. Existing law also separately establishes liability for sexual harassment if a plaintiff proves specified elements, including, among other things, that there is a business, service, or professional relationship between the plaintiff and defendant. This bill would declare that neither house of the Legislature may retaliate against a legislative advocate or employee, as defined, because that person has opposed any practices forbidden under the above provisions, or filed a complaint, testified, or assisted in any proceeding relating to a complaint of harassment under those provisions. This bill would impose civil liability for a violation of that prohibition. This bill would also require each house of the Legislature to maintain a record of each harassment complaint made to that house for a period of at least 12 years after the complaint is made. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law establishes the "Sexual Assault Victims' DNA Bill of Rights" which prescribes requirements for law enforcement agencies and crime labs regarding the processing of forensic evidence in sexual assault cases and requires certain notifications to be made to the victim. This bill would require all law enforcement agencies, medical facilities, crime laboratories, and any other facilities that receive, maintain, store, or preserve sexual assault evidence kits to conduct an audit of all untested sexual assault evidence kits in their possession and report certain data to the Department of Justice by no later than July 1, 2019. The bill would also require the Department of Justice to prepare and submit a report to the Legislature regarding the results of these audits by no later than July 1, 2020. By requiring local government entities to complete an audit and submit a report, 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, 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, the Public Employees' Retirement Law (PERL) , establishes the Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) , which provides a defined benefit to members of the system, based on final compensation, credited service, and age at retirement, subject to certain variations. PERL authorizes a public agency to contract to make its employees members of PERS and prescribes a process for this. PERS is administered by its board of administration, which is responsible for correcting errors and omissions in the administration of the system and the payment of benefits. Existing law requires the board to correct all actions taken as a result of errors or omissions of the state or a contracting agency, in accordance with certain procedures. The California Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013 (PEPRA) generally requires a public retirement system, as defined, to modify its plan or plans to comply with the act. PEPRA, among other things, establishes new defined benefit formulas and caps on pensionable compensation. This bill would establish new procedures under PERL for cases in which a member's benefits are erroneously calculated by the state or a contracting agency. The bill would require the system, upon determining on or after January 1, 2019, or on or after January 1, 2017, if an appeal has been filed and the employee member, survivor, or beneficiary has not exhausted his or her administrative or legal remedies, that compensation for an employee member reported by the state or a contracting agency conflicts with specified law, to discontinue the reporting of the disallowed compensation. The bill would require the contributions made on the disallowed compensation, for active members, to be credited against future contributions on behalf of the state or contracting agency that reported the disallowed compensation and would require that state or contracting agency to return to the member any contributions paid by the member. The bill would require PERS, with respect to retired members, survivors, or beneficiaries whose final compensation at retirement was predicated upon disallowed compensation, to permanently adjust the benefit to reflect the exclusion of the disallowed compensation, and would require the contributions made on the disallowed compensation to be credited against future contributions on behalf of the state or contracting agency that reported the disallowed compensation. If, among other things, the member was unaware the compensation was disallowed when reported, the bill would require the state or contracting agency that reported the disallowed compensation to pay the system the full cost of any overpayment, as specified, and to pay the retired member, survivor, or beneficiary the difference between the monthly allowance that was based on the disallowed compensation and the adjusted monthly allowance calculated without the disallowed compensation, as provided. The bill would also authorize the state or a contracting agency, for any memorandum of understanding entered into on or after January 1, 2019, to submit any compensation proposal intended to form the basis of a pension benefit calculation to the system to determine compliance with specified provisions governing compensation. The bill would make related legislative findings and declarations.
(1) Under existing law, it is unlawful for an employer or any other person or entity to engage in, or to direct another person or entity to engage in, unfair immigration-related practices against any person for the purpose of, or with the intent of, retaliating against any person for exercising any right protected under the Labor Code or by any local ordinance applicable to employees, as specified. This bill would make it unlawful for an employer to knowingly destroy, conceal, remove, confiscate, or possess any actual or purported passport or other immigration document, or any other actual or purported government identification document of another person in the course of committing, or with the intent to commit, trafficking, peonage, slavery, involuntary servitude, or a coercive labor practice. The bill would impose specified civil and criminal penalties for a violation. The bill would also authorize the Labor Commissioner to issue a citation for a violation, as prescribed. By imposing criminal penalties, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require an employer to post a prescribed workplace notice with information including the right to maintain custody and control of immigration documents and that the withholding of immigration documents by an employer is a crime. The bill would require an employer to provide to an employee a document entitled the "Worker's Bill of Rights," to be developed and made available to employers by the Department of Industrial Relations on or before July 1, 2019, either prior to verifying an employee's employment authorization pursuant to federal law governing the employment of unauthorized alien for an employee hired on or after July 1, 2019, or, if hired before July 1, 2019, when the department makes the document available. The bill would require an employer to provide the document in a language understood by the employee and to require such an employee to sign and date the document in acknowledgment that the employee has read and understood the employee's rights. The bill would require the employer to keep the signed document in its records for at least 3 years and to give the employee a copy of the signed document. (2) Existing law establishes the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement within the Department of Industrial Relations. The division is headed by the Labor Commissioner and the department is headed by the Director of Industrial Relations. Existing law establishes certain protections for janitorial workers, including a requirement that the division, by January 1, 2019, establish a biennial in-person sexual violence and harassment prevention training requirement for certain employees and employers with the assistance of a prescribed advisory committee to be convened by the director. Existing law, effective July 1, 2018, requires employers of at least one employee and one or more covered workers, as defined, who provide janitorial services, as specified, to register with the commissioner annually and prohibits them from conducting business without a registration. Existing law requires an application for registration to be in a form prescribed by the commissioner and subscribed and sworn to by the employer, as specified. This bill would require the division's sexual violence and harassment prevention training requirement to apply to covered workers. Existing law, effective January 1, 2020, requires new applications for registration and renewal of registrations to complete the sexual violence and harassment prevention training requirements. This bill would require new applicants for registration and renewal to demonstrate completion of the training requirements by submitting a written attestation to the commissioner, as specified. Existing law defines an employer as a person or entity that employs at least one employee and one or more covered workers and that enters into contracts, subcontracts, or franchise arrangements to provide janitorial services. This bill would amend the definition of the term "employer" to mean a person or entity that employs at least one covered worker or otherwise engages by contract, subcontract, or franchise agreement for the provision of janitorial services by one or more covered workers. The bill would exclude from that definition an entity that is the recipient of those janitorial services. Existing law requires an employer to keep specified records regarding each employee for 3 years. This bill would require the records kept by the employer to also include the names, addresses, periods of work, and compensation paid to all other covered workers. (3) 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. (4) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Sections 1421, 1429, 1429.5, and 1434 of the Labor Code proposed by AB 2079 to be operative only if this bill and AB 2079 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
Existing law requires the California State University to offer undergraduate and graduate instruction through the master's degree in the liberal arts and sciences and professional education. Existing law authorizes research, scholarship, and creative activity in support of the university's undergraduate and graduate instructional mission. This bill would require the Trustees of the California State University to oversee a competitive process to award funds for the Wildland and Wildland-Urban Interface Wildfire Research Grant Program to one or more campuses of the California State University that can demonstrate an ability to fulfill certain criteria for, among other purposes, conducting research in critical areas of advancement and reform in wildland firefighting and issues vital to the state in the advancement of the understanding of fires in the wildland-urban interface. The bill would require trustees, by July 1, 2020, and every July 1 thereafter, to submit a report to the Legislature on the research and activities of the program. The bill would appropriate $5,000,000 from the General Fund to the trustees for these purposes, thereby making an appropriation.
Existing law authorizes a claimant to file a claim with the Controller to postpone the payment of property taxes that are due on the residential dwelling of the claimant pursuant to the Senior Citizens and Disabled Citizens Property Tax Postponement Law, the Senior Citizens Tenant-Stockholder Property Tax Postponement Law, and the Senior Citizens Possessory Interest Holder Property Tax Postponement Law. Existing law, for purposes of these laws, defines a "residential dwelling" to mean a dwelling occupied as the principal place of residence of the claimant and owned by the claimant, the claimant and spouse, or by the claimant and another individual, as specified, including condominiums that are assessed as realty for local property tax purposes. Existing law continuously appropriates revenues in the Senior Citizens and Disabled Citizens Property Tax Postponement Fund for, among other things, disbursements relating to the postponement of property taxes pursuant to these laws. Existing law authorizes the postponement of the payment of property taxes of a claimant who is the owner of a mobilehome for loans established prior to February 20, 2009, pursuant to the Senior Citizens Mobilehome Property Tax Postponement Law. This bill would expand the definition of a "residential dwelling" to include a manufactured home, thereby authorizing a claimant who is the owner of a manufactured home to postpone the payment of property taxes. The bill, on July 1, 2019, and on July 1 each year thereafter, would require up to 1% of the amount available in the Senior Citizens and Disabled Citizens Property Tax Postponement Fund for disbursements relating to postponement of property taxes to be available for residential dwellings that are manufactured homes. Because this bill would provide for an additional category of expenditures from the Senior Citizens and Disabled Citizens Property Tax Postponement Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, it would make an appropriation. The bill would repeal the Senior Citizens Mobilehome Property Tax Postponement Law and would, instead, enact the Senior Citizens Manufactured Home Property Tax Postponement Law, which would, commencing July 1, 2019, establish a procedure for the postponement of the payment of property taxes of a claimant who is the owner of a manufactured home, as defined. The bill would require a claimant applying for postponement under this law to file a claim under penalty of perjury, as provided. The bill would also make related conforming changes. By requiring a claim for postponement to be filed under penalty of perjury, the bill would expand the crime of perjury, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires all sums paid by the Controller to be secured by a lien in favor of the state when funds are transferred to the county by the Controller upon the real property for which property taxes have been postponed. Existing law also requires the Controller to maintain a record of all properties against which a notice of lien for postponed property taxes has been recorded. This bill would additionally require all sums paid by the Controller to be secured by a lien in favor of the state when funds are transferred to the county by the Controller upon a manufactured home situated on real property owned by the claimant for which property taxes have been postponed, as provided. The bill, in the case of a manufactured home situated on real property not owned by the claimant, would require the state's interest to be secured by a security agreement in favor of the State of California, as provided. The bill would also require the Controller to maintain a record of all properties against which the Department of Housing and Community Development has been notified to withhold the transfer of title or permit for transport. The bill would require the Controller, or authorized delegate of the Controller, if at any time the amount of the obligation secured by the lien or security agreement for postponed property taxes is paid in full or otherwise discharged in the case of a manufactured home, to direct certain local tax officials to remove specified information from the secured roll or assessment records, as provided. By imposing new duties upon local tax officials with respect to the removal of information from the secured roll and assessment records, 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.