SB 1049: Department of Industrial Relations: living wage: report and employer certification program.

Existing law establishes the Department of Industrial Relations within the Labor and Workforce Development Agency to, among other things, 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. Existing law requires the department to collect various forms of data, statistics, and research regarding labor within the state.

This bill would require the Department of Industrial Relations, in conjunction with the Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development and the Director of Housing and Community Development, to develop a certification program for employers that pay a living wage, which the bill would define as the lowest wage that allows full-time and part-time wage earners to afford a decent standard of living, as specified. In order to determine a decent standard of living, the bill would require the department to examine housing costs by county, by region, and in the state and create a formula to ascertain the living wage for each county, each region, and the state. The bill, commencing in 2025, would also require the department to report to the Legislature by December 15 of each year the living wage in each county, each region, and the state and develop a method to annually adjust figures to account for housing cost inflation and inflation broadly.