Existing law, the California Refinery and Chemical Plant Worker Safety Act of 1990, requires the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board and the Division of Occupational Safety and Health to promote worker safety through implementation of training and process safety management practices in refineries, chemical plants, and other appropriate facilities, including by adopting process safety management standards and regulations. The act defines "process safety management" and other terms for its purposes. The act also requires an employer to develop and maintain written safety information, emergency action plans, operating procedures, procedures to manage changes, and inspection and testing programs. This bill would require an employer, in consultation with employees and employee representatives, to develop, implement, and maintain a written plan to effectively provide for employee participation in all process safety management elements. The bill would also require, on or before April 1, 2027, an employer, in consultation with employee and employee representatives, to develop and implement stop work procedures and procedures for reporting and responding to hazards, as specified. The bill would require an employer to document specific information relating to a partial or complete shut down of an operation or process and reports of hazards. The bill would provide how employees who are and who are not represented by an authorized collective bargaining agent participate in the development of these plans and procedures.
Existing law, the California Clean Energy Jobs Act, expresses a goal of creating good-paying energy efficiency and clean energy jobs in California. Existing law establishes in state government the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, under the supervision of the Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development, which consists of the Office of the Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development and the California Workforce Development Board, among others. Existing law creates the position of Deputy Secretary for Climate within the agency, subject to appropriation by the Legislature, for the purpose of assisting in the oversight of California's workforce transition to a sustainable and equitable carbon neutral economy. This bill would, upon appropriation by the Legislature, establish an Electric Vehicle Economic Opportunity Zone (EVEOZ) for the County of Riverside, administered by the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, for the purpose of creating programs to make electric vehicle manufacturing jobs and education more accessible to lower income communities. The bill would require the agency to collaborate with the County of Riverside in determining the geographical boundaries of the EVEOZ. By imposing additional duties on local officials, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would authorize the agency to partner with educational institutions, electric vehicle manufacturing businesses, and local and national financial intuitions to develop EVEOZ education, training, and investment programs, as specified. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Riverside. 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 makes it a misdemeanor or a felony to engage in specified acts of fraud or material misrepresentation for the purpose of obtaining or denying workers' compensation, as specified. Existing law, the Workers' Compensation Insurance Fraud Reporting Act (the act) , requires insurers and licensed rating organizations to release upon request to an authorized governmental agency, as defined, relevant information deemed important to the authorized governmental agency that the insurer or licensed rating organization may possess relating to any specific workers' compensation insurance fraud investigation. The act requires, under specified circumstances, an insurer or licensed rating organization to notify the local district attorney's office and the Fraud Division of the Department of Insurance, and requires that entity, unless specified circumstances exist, to notify any other authorized governmental agency of suspected fraud, as specified. The act also requires the Employment Development Department (EDD) to release, upon written request, to an authorized governmental agency relevant information that the EDD may possess relating to any specific workers' compensation insurance fraud investigation. The act requires, unless specified circumstances exist, an authorized governmental agency that is provided with information pursuant to those provisions to release or provide that information in a confidential manner to any other authorized governmental agency for purposes of investigation, prosecution, or prevention of insurance fraud or workers' compensation fraud. This bill would require an insurer or licensed rating organization to notify the EDD, in addition to the local district attorney's office and Fraud Division on the Department of Insurance, of suspected fraud when the fraudulent act relates to premium fraud. The bill would authorize an insurer to submit wage records and employee counts for an employer to the EDD and would require the EDD to identify discrepancies in the submitted information, as specified, and report any discrepancies back to the submitting insurer. Upon request by an insurer, the bill would require the EDD to release or provide detailed payroll information, including payroll summary totals, allowing the requester to compare the records with the information they are otherwise entitled to receive from employers in workers' compensation claims or pursuant to workers' compensation policies, unless doing so would violate federal law or compromise an ongoing investigation. The bill would require the EDD to only provide the information if specified requirements are met, and the requesting insurer to reimburse the department's actual, direct costs of releasing or providing this information. The bill would prohibit the provided documents from being used for specified purposes. Existing federal regulations generally prohibit the disclosure of confidential unemployment compensation information unless disclosure is on the basis of, among other things, informed consent to an agent of an employer. This bill would provide that by entering into a policy of workers' compensation insurance with an insurer, an employer in California consents and designates that insurer as the employer's agent to act for or in the place of the employer only with respect to a request for the above-described payroll information. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
Existing law authorizes school districts that maintain high schools to establish work experience programs for the purpose of providing pupils with instruction in skills, attitudes, and understandings necessary for success in employment. Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to coordinate the development, on a cyclical basis, of model curriculum standards for required courses of study, including a career technical education course of study for pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, as specified. This bill would, at the next revision of the California Career Technical Education Model Curriculum Standards, require the State Department of Education to consider adding content on the role of youth caregivers within the Personal Care and Services career pathway, as provided. The bill would require, by July 1, 2028, the department to provide guidance for the implementation of the Personal Care and Services career pathway, and would explicitly authorize certain types of guidance, including (1) a focus on skills specific to Personal Care and Services occupations, including, but not limited to, in-home caregiving for youth caregivers supporting household family members, and (2) eligibility for youth caregivers caring for a family member in the family member's home for credits through work experience education programs, as provided.
Existing law establishes a workers' compensation system, administered by the Administrative Director of the Division of Workers' Compensation, to compensate an employee for injuries sustained in the course of employment, which, in the case of the death of an employee, includes a death benefit. Existing law governs temporary and permanent disability indemnity payments and prohibits a payment made by a written instrument unless it is immediately negotiable and payable in cash, among other things. Existing law, until January 1, 2027, allows an employer to commence a program under which disability indemnity payments are deposited in a prepaid card account for employees. This bill would extend the authorization to deposit indemnity payments in a prepaid card account indefinitely.
Existing law establishes the Department of Industrial Relations in the Labor and Workforce Development Agency to administer and enforce various laws relating to employment and working conditions. This bill would require a business, as defined, to annually provide a notice to the department of all the workplace surveillance tools the employer is using in the workplace. The bill would require the notice to include, among other information, a list of the workplace surveillance tools being used that surveil employees and the categories of information being collected on employees by the workplace surveillance. The bill would also require a business to send the notice to employees and any union that represents employees of the business. The bill would make a business that violates these provisions subject to a civil penalty of $500 per violation. This bill would require the department to submit a report to the Legislature by January 1, 2029, compiling the above-described notices provided by businesses. The bill would require that the report include, among other requirements, a breakdown of notices by industry type.
Existing law requires an employer, semimonthly or at the time of payment of wages, to furnish an employee an accurate, itemized, written statement containing specified information regarding the amounts earned, hours worked, and the employee's identity, among other things, subject to certain variations. Existing law provides that an itemized wage statement furnished by an employer pursuant to these provisions is not required to show total hours worked by the employee if, among other things, the employee is exempt from the payment of minimum wage and overtime under specified law. Existing federal law, the Railway Labor Act, regulates labor relations for rail and air carriers and entitles employees to organize and bargain collectively. This bill would provide that an itemized wage statement may, in lieu of total hours worked, show all applicable hourly rates in effect during the pay period and the corresponding number of hours worked at each hourly rate if the employee is a flight deck crewmember or cabin crewmember covered by the federal Railway Labor Act and the employer makes available certain information regarding duty hours in accordance with federal regulations, as specified. The bill would also provide that an itemized wage statement may not be required to show the number of piece-rate units earned and any applicable piece rate for a covered employee under specified circumstances. The bill would prohibit a person, commencing June 11, 2026, from filing a new legal action by or on behalf of a crewmember asserting specified violations of the wage statement requirements.
Senate Resolution 84 designates the week of March 1 to March 7, 2026, as Women in Construction Week in California. This legislative measure requests that the Governor issue a proclamation encouraging the public to observe the week with programs and educational activities focused on women in the construction industry. The resolution highlights the importance of increasing female participation in construction to address workforce shortages and promote diversity, while also supporting existing apprenticeship initiatives. It serves as a commemorative observance rather than establishing new laws or funding requirements.
Existing law provides for various employment programs to assist formerly incarcerated individuals in finding and retaining employment, including the Pre-Release Construction Trades Certificate Program administered by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the Prison to Employment Program administered by the California Workforce Development Board. Existing law establishes the California Workforce Development Board as the body responsible for assisting the Governor in the development, oversight, and continuous improvement of California's workforce investment system and the alignment of the education and workforce investment systems to the needs of the 21st century economy and workforce. This bill would, by January 1, 2028, require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, in partnership with the Department of Industrial Relations, to establish the Preapprenticeship Pathways to Employment Pilot Program. The bill would, until January 1, 2032, provide incarcerated individuals access to preapprenticeship training in the skilled construction and building trades. The bill would require the program to provide, among other things, instruction based on the Multi-Craft Core Curriculum and content coordinated with joint apprenticeship training committees. The bill would require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to implement the program at one men's facility and one women's facility. The bill would require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, beginning January 1, 2029, to annually report certain data regarding participation in the program to the Legislature.
Existing law regulates the operation of ports and harbors. Existing law requires a person providing labor or services for remuneration to be considered an employee rather than an independent contractor unless the hiring entity demonstrates that certain conditions are satisfied, including that the person is free from the control and direction of the hiring entity in connection with the performance of the work, both under the contract for the performance of the work and in fact. This bill would require a trucking company, and a truck driver who is not classified as an employee by a trucking company, to provide to a port, defined to mean the Port of Long Beach or the Port of Los Angeles, certain information, including, with respect to a trucking company, a sworn affirmation by the trucking company that the trucking company is withholding all required taxes from the wages of any truck driver who is considered an employee under state law, as specified. By expanding the scope of the crime of perjury, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would also require, beginning January 1, 2027, that information to be made publicly available by the port. The bill would require a trucking company to update a port within 30 days of a change to its operation that results in more than 50% of its employees being replaced by independent contractors and would impose a civil penalty of $5,000 for failure to do so. The bill would make a person who provides false or misleading information for the purpose of representing compliance with those requirements liable for a civil penalty of $20,000, as prescribed. This bill would require, beginning January 1, 2027, a port, on a quarterly basis, to publish on its internet website specified information regarding each truck that entered the port during the prior quarter. The bill would require a port, upon request of the Labor Commissioner, to provide to the Labor Commissioner additional information in the possession of the port regarding a truck that entered the port. By imposing new duties on a port, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles. 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.
