Existing law establishes in the Labor and Workforce Development Agency the Department of Industrial Relations. Existing law requires the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to establish a Women in Construction Priority Unit to, among other things, provide resources for employers and project owners, including public agencies, to improve construction worksite culture, address barriers to employment, and develop training and materials for workforce pipeline professionals specific to women and nonbinary individuals in construction. This bill would, upon appropriation by the Legislature, require the department to establish, through the Division of Apprenticeship Standards, the Equal Representation in Construction Apprenticeships Grant Program, and would state the goals of the program, including, among other things, providing women, nonbinary individuals, and underrepresented populations with opportunities to train for a construction career with greater access to preapprenticeship and apprenticeship programs that are registered with the division. The bill would authorize the department to issue rules, regulations, guidelines, policies, or procedures necessary to implement the bill's provisions described above.
Under existing law, it is the public policy of this state to encourage the utilization of apprenticeship as a form of on-the-job training, when such training is cost effective in developing skills needed to perform public services. Existing law requires state and local public agencies to make a diligent effort to establish apprenticeship programs for apprenticeable occupations in their respective workforces. Existing law requires the Commission on Teacher Credentialing to, among other duties, establish standards for the issuance and renewal of credentials. Existing law requires, as a minimum requirement for a preliminary multiple subject, single subject, or education specialist teaching credential, the satisfactory completion of a program of professional preparation, as specified. This bill would require the commission and the Division of Apprenticeship Standards to partner in the dissemination, approval, and monitoring of credentialed educator apprenticeship programs in California, and to communicate apprenticeship requirements to professional preparation programs, local educational agencies, and other potential sponsors of credentialed educator apprenticeship programs. The bill, notwithstanding any other law, would authorize the commission to issue apprenticeship certificates or permits to educator candidates without a credential who are employed by local educational agencies and participating in commission-approved credentialed educator apprenticeship programs, as specified, and would require the commission to adopt regulations for that purpose. The bill would authorize the commission and the division to enter into a memorandum of understanding to establish processes and procedures for information sharing, application review, and data collection and reporting, and would authorize the Chief of the Division of Apprenticeship Standards, in consultation with the commission, to issue rules and regulations that govern credentialed educator apprenticeship programs, including the approval and denial of programs, registration of agreements, program administration and procedures, evaluations, working conditions, and minimum standards, as specified. The bill would require an applicant for a new credentialed educator apprenticeship program or for the expansion of an existing credentialed educator apprenticeship program into a new geographic or credential area to submit specified documentation to the chief. The bill would require the division to present the apprenticeship program application to the commission for its review, as provided, and would require the commission, if it is satisfied that specified conditions have been met, to provide written notice of that fact to the chief. The bill would require the commission to, among other things, publish on its internet website guidance for prospective and commission-approved apprenticeship sponsors, commission-accredited professional preparation programs, and employing local educational agencies on the relationship between educator apprenticeships and professional preparation programs, as specified, and to support the development and expansion of educator apprenticeships in credential shortage areas and geographic areas with persistent educator workforce needs, including, but not limited to, through commission-administered grant programs, as applicable. Existing law requires the commission, by April 15 of each year, to report to the Legislature and the Governor information on the availability of teachers in California, including, among other things, the number and percentage of individuals serving pursuant to an emergency permit or credential waiver, as specified. This bill would require that report to also include the number and percentage of individuals serving pursuant to an apprenticeship certificate or permit, as specified.
Existing law, the California Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act (Cal/WARN Act) , prohibits an employer from ordering a mass layoff, relocation, or termination at a covered establishment unless, 60 days before the order takes effect, the employer gives written notice of the order to the employees affected by the order and to the Employment Development Department and certain local officials. Existing law makes an employer who fails to give specified notice regarding a mass layoff, relocation, or termination subject to a civil penalty of not more than $500 for each day of the employer's violation. This bill would revise the Cal/WARN Act to also require an employer giving notice of a mass layoff, relocation, or termination caused in whole or in substantial part by an artificial intelligence (AI) system or other automated technology replacing or automating employment positions to include certain information in the notice, including the job functions performed by workers that will be automated by AI or other automated technology. The bill would require the department to publish a summary of the notices received on its internet website and to post a quarterly statewide summary of technological displacements reported. The bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2028, to submit a report to the Legislature on artificial intelligence's effects on business hiring practices, including its impact on industries and occupations at the state and regional level. The bill would repeal the provision requiring that report on January 1, 2029.
Existing law establishes requirements with respect to public contracts that apply when a public entity is required by statute or regulation to obtain an enforceable commitment that a bidder, contractor, or other entity will use a skilled and trained workforce to complete a contract or project, as specified. Existing law requires a public entity subject to skilled and trained workforce requirements to include a specified notice in all bid documents. Existing law specifies that a failure of a public entity to include the required notice that a project is subject to the skilled and trained workforce requirement does not excuse a public entity from those requirements. This bill would expand the circumstances under which those requirements apply to specified instruments and laws, including development agreements and resolutions, as provided. The bill would, in addition to the specified notice in bid documents, require a public entity to post, or require a prime contractor to post, a job site notice specifying that the project is subject to the skilled and trained workforce requirement. The bill would also extend the same posting and notice requirement to private developers. The bill would impose a penalty of no more than $10,000 per month on a private developer who failed to comply with the above-described posting or notice requirement, following an investigation by the Labor Commissioner or its designee. The bill would authorize the Labor Commissioner to reduce or waive the penalty under specified circumstances. The bill would further require the Labor Commissioner or its designee to issue a civil wage and penalty assessment to the developer, as specified, for a violation of the posting and notice requirement, and would authorize a request for review of the assessment under certain statutory processes. The bill would make a willful violation of the posting or notice requirement by a developer, its agent, or representative, to be a misdemeanor. By creating a new crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires a contractor or bidder, among others, to submit a monthly report to the public entity while the project or contract is being performed demonstrating compliance with skilled and trained workforce requirements, as specified. Existing law authorizes the Labor Commissioner to assess specified civil penalties against a contractor or subcontractor for a violation of the skilled and workforce requirements, and authorizes reduction or waiver of a penalty for specified conditions. Among these conditions is whether a contractor or subcontractor submitted and followed a plan to achieve substantial compliance with the skilled and trained workforce requirements. This bill would prohibit the Labor Commissioner from waiving penalties for an incomplete or absent monthly compliance report and a material misrepresentation. The bill would impose the highest penalty for violations of skilled and trained workforce requirements committed after a noncompliance notice, as specified. The bill would expand the conditions that the Labor Commissioner should consider when setting a monetary penalty for failure to use a skilled and trained workforce, including, for the first violation in the prior 3 years, whether a contractor or subcontractor submitted and followed a substantial compliance plan to remedy noncompliance. The bill would define various terms for these purposes, including "substantial compliance plan" and "material misrepresentation." This bill would require the Labor Commissioner to accept complaints from a labor-management committee, as provided, alleging a skilled and trained workforce violation by a contractor or subcontractor. The bill would make various technical and conforming changes. 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 establishes the Employment Training Panel within the Employment Development Department and sets forth its powers and duties with respect to certain employment training programs. Existing law declares the intent of the Legislature that the purpose of provisions relating to the panel is to establish an employment training program to promote a healthy labor market in a growing, competitive economy and to fund only projects that meet specified criteria, including, among other things, fostering retention of high-wage, high-skilled jobs in manufacturing, and other industries, as provided. Existing law also establishes the Employment Training Fund in the State Treasury, and requires that moneys in the fund be expended only for the purposes of the Employment Training Panel, except as provided. Existing law authorizes the panel to allocate moneys in the fund for reimbursement of reasonable training costs, administrative costs incurred by contractors, costs of program administration, and related services. This bill would require the panel to authorize and encourage the use of electronic systems for recordkeeping. The bill would authorize contractors and subcontractors under an agreement with the panel to satisfy recordkeeping and documentation requirements through electronic records, provided that those records are complete, accurate, and meet other specified criteria. The bill would require the panel to adopt recordkeeping and training administration standards, as specified, and to update regulations, guidance, and program materials to implement the bill's provisions.
Existing law requires the Department of Technology to conduct, in coordination with other interagency bodies as it deems appropriate, a comprehensive inventory of all high-risk automated decision systems (ADS) that have been proposed for use, development, or procurement by, or are being used, developed, or procured by, any state agency. Existing law establishes the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, which is composed of various departments responsible for protecting and promoting the rights and interests of workers in California, including the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, led by the Labor Commissioner, within the Department of Industrial Relations. This bill, beginning on July 1, 2027, would prohibit an employer, as defined, from using an ADS to perform certain functions and would limit the purposes for and way in which an ADS may be used. The bill would, when an employer primarily uses an ADS to make a disciplinary or termination decision, authorize an employee to request, and require an employer to provide, a description of the employee's own data primarily used by an ADS to make a disciplinary or termination decision, as specified. The bill would require an employer that primarily relied upon an ADS to make a disciplinary or termination decision to provide the affected employee with a written postuse notice, as specified. This bill would prohibit an employer from discharging, threatening to discharge, demoting, suspending, or in any manner discriminating or retaliating against any employee for taking certain actions asserting their rights under the bill. The bill would authorize the Labor Commissioner to enforce the bill's provisions and also authorize a public prosecutor to bring a civil enforcement action, as specified. The bill would set forth specified types of relief that a plaintiff may seek and specified penalties that an employer that violates these provisions is subject to, including a $500 civil penalty per violation. This bill would also provide that an employer who complies with the requirements related to notice in this bill is not required to comply with any substantially similar provisions under any other state law, except as specified. The bill would not apply to parties covered by a valid collective bargaining agreement if the agreement contains specified information, including an explicit waiver of the bill's provisions. The bill would provide that it does not prohibit the use of an automated decision system relating to the development of aircraft for use in the national airspace or the development of products or services for national security, military, space, or defense purposes, if the use of an automated decision system is reasonably necessary to comply with the federal statute, the federal regulation, or the binding federal contract, as specified. The bill would include a statement that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities. This bill would declare that its provisions are severable.
Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Existing law establishes the Strong Workforce Program to provide funding to career technical education regional consortia made up of community college districts and local educational agencies, as specified. Existing law authorizes a community college district to use the funds apportioned directly to the community college district to provide direct support to students, employers, or both, for paid work-based learning to increase employability and employment, as provided. Existing law requires the chancellor's office to revise, no later than June 30, 2026, policies, regulations, and guidance necessary to provide students, employers, or both, with paid work-based learning opportunities, as provided. This bill would extend the deadline for the chancellor's office to revise the policies, regulations, and guidance described above by one year. The bill would additionally authorize funds apportioned directly to regional consortia to be used to provide direct support to students, employers, or both, for paid work-based learning to increase employability and employment, as specified, and would make conforming changes.
Existing law requires the Employment Development Department, among other duties, to establish, in conjunction with other state entities, a systemwide policy of actively promoting the training of women in nontraditional occupations. Existing law defines "nontraditional occupations" as any job classification in which not more than 25% of the employees are women, according to the statistics of the United States Department of Labor. This bill would require the department to collect specified data on construction workers, including, among other data, the training and educational capacity to produce trained, certified, and licensed construction workers. This bill would also require the department to work with the Department of Industrial Relations' Division of Apprenticeship Standards to determine this capacity within state-registered construction preapprenticeship and apprenticeship programs and to determine the number of construction preapprentices and apprentices in any given year who are women. The bill would require the department, on or before July 1, 2027, and every 3 years thereafter, to report this data to the Legislature and post the report on its internet website.
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 establishes the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, consisting of various departments and entities, including the Agricultural Labor Relations Board and the Department of Industrial Relations. Existing law requires the Agricultural Labor Relations Board to, among other things, maintain a telephone line, as specified, for the purpose of providing interested persons with information concerning their rights and responsibilities, as prescribed, or for referring persons to the appropriate agency or entity with the capacity to render advice or help in dealing with any situation arising out of agricultural labor disputes. Existing law requires the Department of Industrial Relations to, among other things, perform specified functions, including fostering, promoting, and developing the welfare of the wage earners of California, to improve their working conditions, and to advance their opportunities for profitable employment. Existing law establishes the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, under the direction of the Labor Commissioner, within the Department of Industrial Relations and sets forth its powers and duties regarding the enforcement of labor laws. Existing law also establishes the Division of Occupational Safety and Health within the Department of Industrial Relations and requires the division to enforce all occupational safety and health standards, as specified. This bill would, upon appropriation by the Legislature, require the Agricultural Labor Relations Board, Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, or Division of Occupational Safety and Health, upon intake of a complaint from an agricultural employee by any department, division, or board within the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, to collaborate with each other and take all reasonable efforts to transmit the complaint to the appropriate entity for processing and investigation. The bill would prohibit the transmitting entity from disclosing the identity and personal information of the agricultural employee complainant to the extent prohibited by law without their consent. The bill would define various terms for these purposes.
