Existing law, as established in the case of Dynamex Operations W. v. Superior Court (2018) 4 Cal.5th 903 (Dynamex) , creates a presumption that a worker who performs services for a hirer is an employee for purposes of claims for wages and benefits arising under wage orders issued by the Industrial Welfare Commission. Existing law requires a 3-part test, commonly known as the "ABC" test, to determine if workers are employees or independent contractors for purposes of specified wage orders. Existing law establishes that, for purposes of the Labor Code, the Unemployment Insurance Code, and the wage orders of the Industrial Welfare Commission, a person providing labor or services for remuneration is considered an employee rather than an independent contractor unless the hiring entity demonstrates that the person is free from the control and direction of the hiring entity in connection with the performance of the work, the person performs work that is outside the usual course of the hiring entity's business, and the person is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, or business. This test is commonly known as the "ABC" test. Existing law charges the Labor Commissioner with the enforcement of labor laws, including worker classification. Existing law exempts specified occupations and business relationships from the application of Dynamex and these provisions. Existing law instead provides that these exempt relationships are governed by the test adopted in S. G. Borello & Sons, Inc. v. Department of Industrial Relations (1989) 48 Cal.3d 341. This bill would expand the above-described exemptions to also include a musician or music industry professional, except as specified.
Sponsored bills
(1) Existing law requires the Board of Administration of the Public Employees' Retirement System and the Teachers' Retirement Board to provide annual reports to the Legislature and the Governor with regard to investment returns on assets of the Public Employees' Retirement System and the State Teachers' Retirement System, respectively. As part of these reports, the boards are required to calculate and report on the rate of return on investments based on different assumptions. This bill would require the Board of Administration of the Public Employees' Retirement System to report a calculation of liabilities based on a discount rate equal to the yield on a 10-year United States Treasury note in the year prior to the report. The bill would require the Teachers' Retirement Board to provide a description of the discount rate the board uses for reporting liabilities, a calculation of liabilities based on a discount rate that is 2% below the long-term rate of return assumed by the board, and a calculation of liabilities based on a discount rate equal to the yield on a 10-year United States Treasury note in the year prior to the report. Existing law states the intent of the Legislature that the Regents of the University of California provide written notice to the Legislature of any proposed changes to retirement plan benefits, employer or employee contribution rates, or actuarial assumptions affecting the University of California Retirement System, as specified. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature that the Regents of the University of California provide an annual written report to the Legislature regarding annual return on investments for the University of California Retirement System for the past 20 years and certain information regarding the rate of return of the system by asset type, as specified. (2) Existing law establishes the California Secure Choice Retirement Savings Investment Board and the California Secure Choice Retirement Savings Trust, for the purpose of promoting greater savings for private employees in California. Existing law requires the board to design and implement the CalSavers Retirement Savings Program. After the board opens the program for enrollment, existing law prescribes a schedule for employer participation based on the size of the employer, unless the employer is offering its own employer-sponsored plan, as specified. Existing law requires each eligible employee to be enrolled in the program unless the employee elects not to participate. This bill would remove the requirement that eligible employees participate in the CalSavers Retirement Savings Program and, instead, permit an employee to elect participation. The bill would make various conforming changes in this connection. (3) Existing law, with certain exceptions, requires that employers pay wages to their employees twice per calendar month on days designated in advance as regular paydays. Existing law exempts the payment of wages of employees directly employed by the State of California from that requirement. This bill would repeal that exemption, thereby requiring the State of California to pay wages twice per month to employees that it directly employs. (4) Existing law creates the Defined Benefit Program of the State Teachers' Retirement System for the purpose of providing pension benefits to members of the system. The Defined Benefit Program is funded by employer and employee contributions as well as investment returns and state appropriations. This bill would appropriate $1,000,000,000 from the General Fund for transfer to the Teachers' Retirement Fund to reduce the unfunded liability of the Defined Benefit Program of the State Teachers' Retirement System. The bill would also appropriate another $1,000,000,000 to the Teachers' Retirement Fund if the Legislative Analyst determines in the May Revision of the 2019–20 Budget that the state has collected more than $1,000,000,000 in unanticipated General Fund revenue. The bill would require the Governor to form a working group of specified parties to propose long-term funding solutions for the unfunded liability of the Defined Benefit Program of the State Teachers' Retirement System and to report those solutions to the Legislature by January 1, 2020. The bill would make a statement of legislative findings and declarations.
Existing law, as established in the case of Dynamex Operations W. v. Superior Court (2018) 4 Cal.5th 903 (Dynamex) , creates a presumption that a worker who performs services for a hirer is an employee. Existing law requires a 3-part test, commonly known as the "ABC" test, to establish that a worker is an independent contractor for purposes of claims for wages and benefits arising under wage orders issued by the Industrial Welfare Commission. This bill would instead, for purposes of claims for wages and benefits arising under wage orders, analyze whether the worker is economically dependent upon the hiring entity to determine whether that worker is an employee based upon the economic reality of the relationship with the hiring entity. The bill would require this analysis to be based solely upon enumerated factors that are similar to those used as a part of the Economic Realities Test in the federal Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. This bill would provide legislative findings and declarations in support of these provisions, and would state in the findings and declarations that it is the intent of the Legislature that the test under these provisions be applied retroactively to claims filed on and after April 30, 2018.
(1) Existing law establishes a system of public elementary and secondary schools in this state and authorizes local educational agencies throughout the state to operate schools and provide instruction to pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive. Existing law prohibits a person who has been convicted of a violent or serious felony from being hired by a school district in a position requiring certification qualifications or supervising positions requiring certification qualifications. Existing law also prohibits a school district from employing or retaining in employment a person who has been convicted, or who has been convicted following a plea of nolo contendere, of any sex offense, as defined. This bill, the Sexual Abuse-Free Education (SAFE) Act, would prohibit a school entity, defined as a school district, county office of education, charter school, or private or parochial school, from knowingly hiring a person as an employee or independent contractor in a position involving direct contact with children, as defined, if the person was determined by a current or former employer, as the result of an investigation, to be responsible for an act of child abuse or sexual misconduct with a child, as defined, unless the allgations of child abuse or sexual misconduct with a child were subsequently determined to be false. The bill would require an applicant to provide, on a standard form developed by the State Department of Education, specified information about the applicant's employment history and allegations, investigations, or findings of child abuse or sexual misconduct with a child by the applicant to the school entity before the school entity makes an offer of employment with direct contact with children. The bill would require a school entity to obtain from the current and former employers of the applicant specified information, including, among other things, whether the applicant was the subject of a substantiated investigation, as defined, concerning child abuse or sexual misconduct with a child by an employer, state licensing agency, law enforcement agency, or child protective services agency. The bill would immunize a school entity, school entity official, or other employer from civil or criminal liability for the disclosure of information pursuant to these provisions, unless the information was disclosed with the knowledge that it was false or misleading. The bill would make a school entity, school entity official, or other employer civilly liable upon a determination by the trier of fact of a failure to disclose information, or disclosing misleading information that concealed, or was a substantial factor in causing, child abuse or sexual misconduct with a child. The bill would prohibit a collective bargaining agreement, termination agreement, severance agreement, or other contract entered into after January 1, 2020, from preventing the disclosure of any information related to child abuse or sexual misconduct with a child, affecting the ability of the school entity to report child abuse or sexual misconduct with a child, or requiring the school entity to expunge information relating to child abuse or sexual misconduct with a child from any document, unless the allegations of child abuse or sexual misconduct with a child are determined to be false. Because the bill would require school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools to comply with additional requirements before hiring new employees, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) 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 establishes a system of public elementary and secondary schools in this state and authorizes local educational agencies throughout the state to operate schools and provide instruction to pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive. Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school district to make awards to employees who do any of certain specified acts. This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to the provisions authorizing awards for employees.
Existing law generally requires that workers employed on public works be paid not less than the general prevailing rate of per diem wages for work of a similar character in the locality in which the public work is performed, and not less than the general prevailing rate of per diem wages for holiday and overtime work, as prescribed. Existing law requires the Director of Industrial Relations to determine the general prevailing rate of per diem wages for work of a similar character in the locality in which the public work is to be performed, and the general prevailing rate of per diem wages for holiday and overtime work, as specified. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to the provisions relating to the prevailing rate of per diem wages.
(1) Existing law, the Ortiz-Pacheco-Poochigian-Vasconcellos Cal Grant Program, under the administration of the Student Aid Commission, establishes specified grant awards for students of qualifying postsecondary educational institutions, and establishes eligibility requirements and maximum levels for those awards, as provided. This bill, contingent upon an appropriation made for this purpose, would establish the Cal Grant K-12 Award Program for the purpose of providing financial assistance on the basis of need for the cost of attendance of the private and public elementary and secondary schools of the state. The bill would set forth eligibility requirements for the program, and would require a Cal Grant K-12 Award to be based upon the financial need of an eligible pupil. The bill would require the department to promulgate regulations to determine how financial assistance provided under the program would be allocated to the parent or guardian of an eligible pupil, as provided. The bill would require a recipient of a Cal Grant K-12 Award to use the award for tuition assistance, or other costs relating to attendance, for any private or public elementary and secondary school in the state. (2) Existing law requires a teacher employed by a school district to be classified on a salary schedule based on uniform allowance for years of training and years of experience, except if a public school employer and the exclusive bargaining representative agree to a salary schedule based on other criteria pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement. This bill would repeal that provision, and would instead require a school district to use a market-based salary scale to determine the salary of the certificated employees of the school district. The bill would authorize a certificated employee to negotiate individually with the school district to determine the certificated employee's salary, except that the bill would authorize an employee organization to negotiate a minimum salary level for the certificated employees of the school district. (3) Under existing law, each person between the ages of 6 and 18 years who is not otherwise exempt is subject to compulsory full-time education. Existing law requires each person subject to compulsory full-time education to attend the public full-time day school and for the full time designated as the length of the schoolday by the governing board of the school district in which the residency of either the parent or legal guardian is located, except as specified. This bill would enact the Statewide Open Enrollment Act, which would require a person subject to compulsory education to be admitted to a school in any school district, without regard to residency or school district boundaries. The bill would prohibit a school district from restricting pupils residing within the school district's boundaries from enrollment in a school in another school district and would prohibit a school district from restricting pupils residing outside the school district's boundaries from enrollment in a school in the school district, except pursuant to specified exceptions. The bill would require a school district that restricts enrollment pursuant to an exception to give priority for admission to pupils who reside in the school district, children of military families, foster youth, and children living in poverty, as determined by the Superintendent of Public Instruction. To the extent this bill would impose additional duties on school districts, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (4) Existing law authorizes the governing boards of 2 or more school districts to enter into an agreement, for a term not to exceed 5 school years, for the interdistrict attendance of pupils who are residents of the school districts. Existing law also authorizes the governing board of a school district to accept pupils from other school districts by adopting a resolution to become a school district of choice, as defined, in accordance with specified procedural requirements and limitations. Existing law, the Open Enrollment Act, authorizes the parent of a pupil enrolled in a low-achieving school, as defined, to submit an application for the pupil to attend a school in a school district other than the school district in which the parent resides, as specified. This bill would repeal these provisions. (5) The Personal Income Tax Law allows various credits against the taxes imposed by that law. Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new personal income tax credit to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives that the tax credit will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements, as provided. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2019, and before January 1, 2024, would allow a credit in an amount equal to costs paid or incurred during the taxable year by a taxpayer for the qualified tuition expenses, as defined, of a qualified dependent. (6) This bill would repeal resulting obsolete provisions, update cross references, and make other clarifying and conforming changes. (7) 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 local governments to adopt a general plan that consists of a number of elements, including the housing element. The housing element is required to be updated at specified intervals, and when updating the housing element, the local government is required to take into account regional housing needs for various income levels. Existing law authorizes local governments to conduct a review or appeal regarding allocation data provided by the Department of Housing and Community Development or the council of governments regarding the locality's share of the regional housing need or the submittal of data or information for a proposed allocation, as specified. This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to this provision.
The Planning and Zoning Law requires a city or county to adopt a comprehensive, long-term general plan that includes various mandatory elements, including a housing element. That law requires the housing element to contain, among other things, an assessment of housing needs and an inventory of resources and constraints relevant to meeting those needs. That law requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to determine the existing and projected need for housing for each region, as specified. This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to that law.
The California Healthy Youth Act requires school districts, defined to include county boards of education, county superintendents of schools, the California School for the Deaf, the California School for the Blind, and, commencing with the 2019–20 school year, charter schools, to ensure that all pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, receive comprehensive sexual health education and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention education, as specified. The act authorizes a school district to provide that education earlier than grade 7 with age-appropriate and medically accurate information. The act provides that the parent or guardian of a pupil has the right to excuse their child from all or part of that education through a passive consent ("opt-out") process and prohibits a school district from requiring active parental consent ("opt-in") for that education. This bill would require, for a pupil in a grade lower than grade 7, an active parental consent ("opt-in") with a signature for sexual health education and HIV prevention education. The act requires each school district to notify parents and guardians about its plan to provide sexual health education and HIV prevention instruction for the upcoming school year and to inform them, among other things, that written and audiovisual educational materials used in this instruction are available for inspection This bill would require a school district to make those materials available for inspection before the date of instruction on the school district's internet website and to translate those materials, as prescribed. By imposing additional duties on school districts, county boards of education, county superintendents of schools, and charter schools, the 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.