This California state resolution urges federal immigration agencies to prioritize and expedite the processing of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals renewals, work authorization documents, and H-1B visas. It cites significant delays in application processing that have caused income instability and job losses for over 140,000 Californians participating in the DACA program. The resolution specifically highlights the impact on essential workers in education and health care, arguing that timely processing is necessary to protect community economic stability and workforce availability.
The Personal Income Tax Law allows various credits against the taxes imposed by that law, including, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2014, and before January 1, 2026, a credit for hiring qualified full-time employees within a designated census tract or economic development area, except as specified, in an amount equal to 35% of the qualified wages paid to those employees multiplied by the applicable percentage for that taxable year. This bill would make a nonsubstantive change to this provision.
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Economic Development
The Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (PAGA) authorizes an aggrieved employee, as defined, to bring a civil action on behalf of that employee, and other current or former employees against whom a violation of the same provision of the Labor Code was committed, to enforce a violation of any provision of the Labor Code that provides for a civil penalty to be assessed and collected by the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, as specified, pursuant to certain notice and cure provisions, as prescribed. Before a civil action alleging certain violations of the Labor Code by an aggrieved employee pursuant to PAGA commences, PAGA requires the aggrieved employee or representative to give written notice by online filing with the Labor and Workforce Development Agency and by certified mail to the employer of the specific provisions of the Labor Code alleged to have been violated, including the facts and theories to support the alleged violation, and requires that notice and any response to that notice by the employer to be accompanied by a filing fee of $75, as specified. This bill would exempt a nonprofit organization exempt from federal income taxation pursuant to Section 501(c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 from the requirement to pay those filing fees.
Existing law establishes the Employment Development Department, administered by the Director of Employment Development who is vested with certain duties relating to unemployment compensation. Under existing law, employer contributions to the Unemployment Fund accrue and become payable by every employer, except as specified, for each calendar year with respect to wages paid for employment. Existing law prohibits employers from deducting the required employer contributions from the wages of their employees. This bill would make a nonsubstantive change to that latter provision.
Existing law generally prohibits an employer from employing an employee for a work period of more than 5 hours per day without providing the employee with a meal period of not less than 30 minutes, except as specified. Existing law also prohibits an employer from employing an employee for a work period of more than 10 hours per day without providing the employee with a 2nd meal period, as prescribed. Existing law creates exceptions from these work limits for employees in specified occupations, including those in a construction occupation, as defined, covered by a valid collective bargaining agreement expressly providing for wages, hours of work, and working conditions. Existing law also authorizes the Industrial Welfare Commission to adopt a working condition order permitting a meal period to commence after 6 hours of work if it determines that the order is consistent with the health and welfare of the affected workers. Existing law charges the Labor Commissioner with enforcement of these provisions. This bill would create an exception from the above-described work period limits for an employee in a construction occupation while the employee is on the jobsite, as specified.
Existing law establishes the Department of Industrial Relations in the Labor and Workforce Development Agency and provides that one of the functions of the department is to foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners of California, to improve their working conditions, and to advance their opportunities for profitable employment. This bill would require the department, in consultation with the Department of Managed Health Care, the Department of Insurance, the Department of Health Care Access and Information, and the Office of Health Care Affordability, to conduct a comparable worth study to examine and compare compensation and reimbursement for behavioral health providers with compensation and reimbursement for similarly situated medical-surgical providers. The bill would require the study to analyze compensation and reimbursement across specified payment flows, including payments made by health care service plans and health insurers directly to behavioral health providers and medical-surgical providers, and payments made to intermediaries and health systems for behavioral health services and medical-surgical services. The bill would require the department to take certain actions in conducting the study, including developing a methodology for determining which behavioral health provider roles are comparable to which medical-surgical provider roles. The bill would require a health care service plan or health insurer to report certain data to the department with respect to payments made directly to providers and payments made to intermediaries and health systems. The bill would also require specified intermediaries and health systems to report certain data to the department relating to payments received and payments made. The bill would make an entity that fails to comply with the reporting requirements subject to civil penalty, as prescribed. The bill would require the department and the other state entities listed above to protect the confidentiality of any propriety or commercially sensitive information submitted pursuant to the bill, as provided. The bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2028, to submit a report to the Legislature containing the findings of the study. 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, the Public Employees' Medical and Hospital Care Act (PEMHCA) , which is administered by the Board of Administration of the Public Employees' Retirement System, authorizes the board to contract for health benefit plans for employees and annuitants, as defined, which may include employees and annuitants of contracting agencies, as specified. Under existing law, the employee's or annuitant's contribution is the total cost per month of coverage less the portion contributed by the employer. Existing law prescribes a minimum level for the employer's contribution toward the employee's or annuitant's health benefits coverage. Existing law provides that the provisions governing PEMHCA are controlling over a memorandum of understanding, except as specified. Notwithstanding these PEMHCA provisions, existing law authorizes the City of San Gabriel to agree with its employees, as specified, that the employer contribution for postretirement health care coverage shall be subject to specified conditions, including, among other things, a collectively bargained memorandum of understanding and a minimum level for employer contributions, as specified. This bill would, similarly, authorize the City of Indio to enter into an agreement with certain employees hired on or after January 1, 2025 to provide employer contributions for postretirement health care coverage, subject to specified conditions, including, among other things, a collectively bargained memorandum of understanding and a minimum level for employer contributions, as specified. The bill would invalidate an agreement if it provides an employer contribution to employees with less than 5 years of credited service with the City of Indio. The bill would apply only to employees who retire after the date that a memorandum of understanding authorizing this benefit becomes effective. The bill would require the City of Indio to provide notification, as prescribed, of the agreement and any additional information necessary to implement those benefits. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the City of Indio.
Existing law defines human trafficking to include both sex trafficking and labor trafficking. Existing law allows a child who is sexually trafficked, or who receives food or shelter in exchange for, or who is paid to perform, sexual acts, and whose parent or guardian has failed or was unable to protect the child, to be adjudged a dependent of the juvenile court. This bill would instead authorize a child who is or was a victim of human trafficking, and whose parent or guardian has failed or was unable to protect the child, to be adjudged a dependent of the juvenile court, thereby expanding the bases on which a child can be adjudged a dependent child of the juvenile court to explicitly include children who are victims of labor trafficking. The bill would make various related changes to reflect this expansion, including, among other things, revising a requirement relating to the case plan for a child or nonminor dependent who is, or who is at risk of becoming, the victim of commercial sexual exploitation, to instead apply to a child or nonminor dependent who is, or who is at risk of becoming, the victim of human trafficking. By expanding county duties, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law authorizes a social worker, in specified circumstances, to take temporary custody of a child who is or may be subject to the dependency jurisdiction of the court. The bill would generally prohibit a social worker from taking temporary custody of a child who is the victim of human trafficking if the child's parent or guardian has not participated, either directly or indirectly, in the child's trafficking. Existing law establishes the Commercially Sexually Exploited Children Program, which is administered by the State Department of Social Services. The program requires the department to provide funds to participating counties to provide training to county children's services workers to identify, intervene, and provide case management services to children who are victims of commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking and to foster caregivers for the prevention and identification of potential victims. Existing law requires the department to provide specified information to the Legislature regarding the implementation of these provisions, including the number of victims served by each county and the types of services provided, no later than April 1, 2017. This bill would change the name of the program to the Human Trafficked Children Program and revise all parts of the program to include all children who are victims of human trafficking, including those who are the victims of labor trafficking. The bill would require the department to provide and update information provided to the Legislature regarding implementation of these provisions, and to provide additional information relating to serving child victims of labor trafficking, no later than April 1, 2028. Existing law requires the department, in consultation with the County Welfare Directors Association, to ensure that the child welfare information system is capable of collecting data concerning children who are commercially sexually exploited, as specified. This bill would require the department to ensure that the Child Welfare Services/Case Management System is capable of collecting data concerning children who are victims of human trafficking no later than June 1, 2027. 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.
The Personal Income Tax Law, in modified conformity with federal income tax laws, defines "gross income" as income from whatever source derived, except as specifically excluded, and provides various exclusions from gross income. This bill would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, and before January 1, 2031, exclude from gross income the first $25,000 of overtime pay received by a taxpayer during the taxable year. The bill would also exclude from gross income the first $25,000 received by a taxpayer as proceeds from a defined benefit plan, as defined. Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals that the tax expenditure will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill also would include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Existing law establishes the Division of Occupational Safety and Health in the Department of Industrial Relations, and charges the division with the enforcement of various laws affecting safe working conditions, including the California Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1973. Existing law requires the Director of Industrial Relations to prepare and submit to the Legislature an annual report on the activities of the division, as specified. Existing law establishes the University of California, under the administration of the Regents of the University of California, as one of the segments of postsecondary education in the state. Existing law requires the department to contract with the University of California, Los Angeles Labor Center, to conduct a study evaluating opportunities to improve worker safety and safeguard employment rights, as specified. This bill would require the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to contract with the University of California, Berkeley Labor Occupational Health Program and the University of California, Los Angeles Labor Occupational Safety and Health Program to conduct a study to evaluate the understaffing and vacancies within the division and make recommendations to the department, the Department of Human Resources, and the Legislature on policies the state shall use to inform the consideration and establishment of career pathways to the Compliance Safety and Health Officer classification. The bill would authorize the University of California, as defined, to subcontract the responsibility for conducting the study to other specified entities. The bill would require the department to cooperate and collaborate with the University of California and its subcontractors, if any, in the conduct of the study. The bill would require the University of California and its subcontractors, if any, as part of the study, to hold at least one well-publicized and conveniently located meeting to provide an opportunity for comment by stakeholders and the public on the issues addressed in the study. The bill would require the University of California and its subcontractors, if any, to issue a report that includes certain information about the understaffing and vacancies of Compliance Safety and Health Officers within the division. The bill would require the report to be completed in 18 months, posted on the division's internet website, and forwarded to the Governor and the chairs of specified legislative committees. The bill would define terms for these purposes.
