Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 5 on State Administration

Good afternoon and welcome to our first Assembly Budget Subcommitee five hearing. Today, we will kick off a series of hearings held by this Committee to examine various budget proposals included in the Governor's Budget related to state Administration. Over the next few months, this Committee will dive into a wide variety of fiscal issues important to Californians, ranging from housing, banking, veterans affairs, consumer protection, elections, and more. While this budget year may face challenges, I am optimistic about our state's commitment to protecting those who are most vulnerable.

Today, this hearing will focus on labor and workforce development. The hearing will cover seven issues as listed on the agenda. The agenda is available online on our Committee website and physical copies are available outside the hearing room. Housekeeping a few housekeeping notes this is an in person hearing with all panelists testifying in person. We will take questions from the Members at the end of each panel and then move to public comment. All public comments will be taken in person at the end of this hearing.

So what that means is we're going to hear all of the panels and then at the very end we'll have public comments. If you are unable to attend this hearing in person, you may submit your comments via email to assemblybudget@Assembly.asm.CA.Gov. Before we Start, I 'd Like ask my colleague here if you'd like to make any opening comments. Yes? No? So we will go ahead and invite our panelists up for our very first panel, labor zero, we need to do roll call.

[Roll Call]

You can see we are a small but mighty Committee. All right, so our first issue, labor and workforce development program cuts, delays and shifts. So first on our agenda, workforce development programs. The Governor's Budget proposes approximately 500 million in program cuts, delays or funding shifts that would impact workforce programs under the labor agency. I'd like we've invited our Department of Finance, Labor Agency and Legislative Analyst Office here. We're going to go ahead and let you introduce yourself, and you may go ahead and begin.

Hi, Andrew March with the Department of Finance. So, as the chair noted, the Governor's Budget proposes a number of reductions and delays for workforce development program s. Most of these programs were funded in the 2022 budget, which included approximately $2.2 billion of General Fund towards increasing the number of apprenticeships, workforce training to mitigate the effects of climate change, and creating more innovative and accessible opportunities to recruit, train, hire and advance the workforce of California. These include also programs that are in the healthcare sector as well.

So the numbers that I'll be referring to include some of the investments that were included in the healthcare workspace as well. So overall, the Governor's Budget includes $100 million of reductions for those programs and approximately $700 million of delays. We're happy to take any questions on any of the specific reductions or delays that are in the agenda today.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Madam Chair Members. Chas Alamo with the Legislative Analyst Office for issue one. We're here to answer any questions or be helpful, but don't have any specific comments. Thanks.

And next to you. Yes.

Matthew Perky with the Department of Finance. As part of this budget. Nothing to add right now.

All right. So are we going to go through what we're going to start as we see our chamber filled here? I know that I'll just make the overarching statement that every program that is up for cut or delay is meaningful. And we know hard work has gone into moving these programs forward. So I am sure it has not been an easy discussion for you as you have made some decisions on what you are thinking might be cut or delayed.

So that is my question is how did you identify the programs proposed to be cut and what was the methodology that was used to determine the reduction amounts?

So generally the programs that were delayed are programs where the funding wasn't going to be needed until future years out. For example, in surf, what is now called California jobs, first of the delay of $300 million, where that funding wasn't going to be allocated until these future years, regardless of the deferral or delay. So generally across the board for many of the delays, that was the strategy there as far as making sure that the funding aligned with when that funding would be needed or allocated.

As it goes to the reductions, there were many difficult decisions that were made in order to help balance the budget. Obviously, the Administration looks forward to discussing with the Legislature differences in priorities or other reductions or choices that would be made. But I don't have any specific comments to speak to any methodology or strategy with the specific reductions.

And then following up on that, as you mentioned, surf, what are some of the projects that have been funded to date? Because I know they are on round one. And then the delayed funding would be the second round of funding, which is 300 million. But on the first round, what would be some of those programs that have been funded?

Yeah, I'll defer to my colleague Derek Kirk from the Labor and Workforce Development Agency to answer those questions.

Welcome.

Thank you. Andrew and Madam Chair and Members appreciate the opportunity to share with you today. So the $300 million that's proposed to be delayed includes really two rounds of funding opportunities. 25 million of the 300 million is dedicated to the tribal investment initiative. We currently have an RFP on the streets to select an intermediary to administer that program for California Native American tribes.

The remaining portion of the funds would be allocated towards implementation projects across the state, ready to go projects, those that, or shovel ready projects that can be executed immediately upon funding.

And that's for this next round of funding that's being proposed to be delayed. But what are some of the projects that have been funded as of the current funding?

Sure. So the first round of funding that was put out was approximately $65 million to each of the 13 regions to develop economic development strategies. So all 13 regions across the state are in that process right now. We are also in the final stage of awarding $182,000,000 to Fund pre development work across the state. Funds that would allow each of the regions to prep projects to draw down additional state or federal dollars in their communities, things like CEQA NEPA feasibility studies. We also, per the legislation, did one initial pilot round and allocated $39 million to pilot projects in a few regions across the state.

What would be a few examples of those pilot projects?

Sure. So in Orange County, in the City of Santa Ana, we co funded with the US Department of Agriculture the Walnut Daisy Creek Farm, an urban farm that's providing jobs for individuals in the community of Santa Ana.

Right here in the Greater Sacramento region, we co funded with the US Economic Development Administration and the Legislature, through prior budget years, the development of the alchemist public market in the river district adjacent to some affordable housing that's being funded by the TCC program and that will ultimately provide a business incubation space for cottage food based businesses, as well as provide a grocery store for residents in a food desert.

Thank you for this information. I'm kind of curious, just maybe, for anybody that wants to speak across all of these programs, I'm going to generalize that approximately one third, give or take, of a lot of these allocations over three years are sort of being proposed for either deferrals or reductions. That, on its face, it seems a little bit of a broad brush.

And what is not meaningful enough to me is I don't understand how effective these programs have been to accomplish their goals. Right. So when we're looking forward for workforce development in the coming couple of years, how am I to know whether or not that $10 million here or that $20 million there was even going to be meaningful? Right?

Where's the least arm in some of these cuts, based on where we're projecting some of these programs are going, maybe just by way of example, let's talk about the high road training partnership for health and Human Services, where we had hoped for 135,000,000 over three years, we're reducing that by 45 million. How has that gone over the last year? Have you been able to use the first $45 million, or have you hit a capacity where maybe you just didn't need that to begin with?

I think specifically to your question on HRTP, as we call it, high road training partnerships for health and human services, as you noted, there was $145,000,000 and the proposal is to reduce that by $45 million, or 135,000,000 to reduce by 45 million. I think specifically to how that program is going.

I know the California Workforce Development Board is here and can speak to some of the specifics on how that program is operating, but they are in the process of putting out the previous funding and allocating that. And I think some of the metrics that maybe you'd be looking for might be a little bit more delayed.

Many of these programs are multi year funding, where sort of the process to award the programs and actually see the results of those programs may take many years that we wouldn't necessarily have at this moment. However, the HRTP program has been around for quite some time. But specific to the program that's being cut right now or proposed for reduction, Curtis Knotsina can speak to more of the specifics.

Thank you. Assembly Member Curtis Notsinneh with the California Workforce Development Board, specifically on the HRTP for healthcare, those funds, the first 90 million, are in contract. They are in the field across a variety of different healthcare based projects in the field. So the money is out there, as Mr. March mentioned, the outcomes we can get you the metrics that we track for each of those projects.

We can get you what those metrics are and what we track the outcomes are going to be as those projects implement their programs in the field. We'll continue tracking them. We can provide updates to the Legislature on how those programs are going. Thank you.

No, that'd be helpful. And I'm just going to start this off by saying this is probably a very General comment that I'm going to be making a lot throughout all these hearings, that it is really important to understand maybe the intended impact, the programs and the metrics of what we were hoping to Fund over the next couple of years.

That information is critical for us to decide where we may not have actually achieved that because there wasn't the workforce to be developed there, or essentially where was there excess to begin with? Right. That's a little bit easier for us to be able to justify some cuts to begin with.

And if we're only looking at just a raw dollar amount, to say that, well, we're just going to take a third of this and delay, okay, we're going to have to make a lot of difficult decisions, but it's less informative unless we're tying that to how is this impacting Californians opportunities? I would love to be able to get more information to help us make. I know we're only holding this open today, but sort of final recommendations as this process moves forward.

I'd appreciate that we could broad brush and say, I want to cut 45 million, I want to cut 50 million, I only want to cut 20 million. That's not enough information for me to make a responsible decision. Thank you.

If I might add, Chas Alamo with the Legislative Analyst Office, just two points that I think might be warranted here. The first is a bit of context that the 202223 budget act included, I think, if I recall correctly, at the time, $5 billion in new workforce development programs across the budget. So not just at the workforce development Board, but across the budget. That was an unprecedented expansion of the state's efforts in workforce development. Those were all for primarily new programs.

And so we have two years ago, a large expansion of programming. At the time, our office raised concerns about the state's capacity to get all these programs implemented quickly and effectively track the very metrics that you're raising. And so not only as part of this year's Governor's Budget, but as part of last year's Governor's Budget. As the budget landscape has changed, some of those programs have been proposed to be pulled back.

And so we don't have very good information, as the other panelists have mentioned, because these are new programs. So I wanted to sort of introduce that context because we're in a kind of a unique situation in history with workforce development. The second point I wanted to make was that as part of last year's, January's Governor's Budget proposal, there were delays, deferrals and reductions of workforce development programs. Many of them are included in detail in the agenda.

But those original reductions were not entirely adopted as part of the budget act. So there was this sort of point a to point b conversation and dialogue between the Administration, this Subcommitee and the Legislature about which reductions we were going to go forward with given the budget constraints. And I think that's the same position that the Subcommitee finds itself in now with the Administration in these proposals. We can learn more about them, work with staff, and if there are different directions that the Subcommitee wants to go, we can pursue those.

And I do concur with my colleague that it is hard for us to, we're just going to get a broad overview, but to kind of drill down into the particular programs, it is helpful for me to the examples. Hi, Curtis. Nice to see you.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

And you mentioned a few programs under the health. Can you give us an example of a few of those programs that those dollars are working towards?

Yeah, we can provide a list to the Subcommitee of our funded projects, and we can include information on what partnerships have been funded, what the targets are, even which regions we're targeting. I would say generally we're looking at a lot of the allied trades and a lot of the professional trades in healthcare have a variety of programs and professional programs associated with them. But we work a lot in partnership with employers, organized labor, community based organizations.

Again, most of our, the programs that are funded there are mostly in the allied trades. So a lot of medical know x ray folks, other folks that are not necessarily in the professional class but could really benefit from these kind of training programs.

Thank you, Assemblymember Patterson. Any comments before we move to our next panel? Any last questions? Thank you so much. We're going to move to issue two special Fund loans to the General Fund and budget change proposals. This issue will cover proposals to make loans from the labor and Workforce Development Fund to the General Fund. We will also cover labor agency's budget change proposal included in the Governor's Budget. And we will continue to have our Lao experts here and then our new guests. Can you introduce yourself?

My name is Isaac Garcia Long. I'm the agency operations officer.

And I'm Jay Sturgess with the labor agency as the Deputy Secretary for Administration.

Welcome. And do we have Chas. Sorry. Okay. Thank you. So we are going to have you go ahead and give us a summary about what you are working on.

Yes.

So Andrew March, Department of Finance. So the Governor's Budget includes a number of, couple of changes for labor and workforce development Fund loans to the General Fund. First, there's a delay of a repayment from $107,000,000 loan that was made in 2021. It was due to be repaid in 2000 and 425. And we're proposing to delay that repayment to 2027-28. Given the General Fund budget situation and the General Fund not being able to repay that loan this year.

And then additionally, the Governor's Budget proposes an additional loan from the labor and Workforce Development Fund of $125,000,000 to be repaid in 2000 and 829. And then just one clarification on the agenda. So the 2023 Budget act included control Section 13.4, which authorized the Department of Finance to make special Fund loans to the General Fund. So as part of that control section, the Department of Finance made a loan from the labor and Workforce Development Fund to the General Fund of $35 million.

So this isn't something that's a proposal in the Governor's Budget, but it was an action that was previously taken. So with these loans, there's still sufficient funding in the Fund balance of the labor and Workforce Development Fund of approximately $120,000,000, of which there's approximately $13 million of ongoing obligations for the Fund, which are the Department of Industrial Relations, the Agricultural Labor Relations Board, and the labor and Workforce Development Agency, and then specifically to the labor and Workforce Development Agency's budget change proposal. I'll defer to my colleagues.

Good afternoon again. First, thanks for the opportunity to present today. I know the agenda is pretty long, so I'm going to try to be brief. The proposal does request 612,000 ongoing reimbursement authority to continue to Fund three positions to manage new and existing workloads within the labor agency. Currently, the three positions are limited term, with funding ending June 30 of this year.

The request will make the three limited term positions permanent, and the positions themselves are deputy secretary of strategic workforce as well as two civil service staff to continue the support of General operations. I'm happy to answer any additional questions the Subcommitee may have regarding the proposal.

Chas Alamo with the Lao no specific comments about the labor agency budget change proposal, but just a bit of context on the paga Fund loans or the LWDF Fund loans, largely derived from paga revenues. Until recently, state proceeds into this Fund from PAGA case settlements were relatively small, and it's only recently that these proceeds have increased so substantially. That's part of the reason why the ongoing commitments coming out of the Fund, as my colleague from the Department of Finance mentioned, are relatively low.

I think $13 million a year. That obviously presents an opportunity in a budget situation that we're currently in for the state to borrow those funds from those resources. But it's part of the reason why there's this availability or excess revenue in the Fund that hasn't been committed, and simply because until recently there wasn't this amount of proceeds coming in each year.

All right. Any questions? I, you mentioned Paga and we know that there will be changes this year. Does the Administration have a plan to continue supporting the program relying on this special Fund? Should revenue structure change?

So Andrew Marsh, Department of Finance I assume we're referencing the proposed ballot initiative that's slated for the November ballot. So the Governor's Budget does not include or does not contemplate any changes to existing law, whether they would maybe pass by the Legislature or by the voters. So the Governor's Budget doesn't include any sort of action to change any of the activities that are funded by the labor and Workforce Development Fund should a change in revenue structure take place.

Any change in revenue structure that would happen either through the Legislature or through the voters would be included in the Governor's Budget for 2025.

But not because I, mostly because when we start borrowing from the special Fund, try to mount this out.

Sorry about that. Anyhow, you can just see the explanation on taking certain amount of funds out of this special Fund. To then pay other types of programs or to keep programs is concerning, not up. It's a way to balance the budget now.

But as we look towards next year and the year after, we could find ourselves in a very precarious place with that. Any other questions from members of the panel? Seeing none. Thank you.

We'll be transitioning now to Employment Development Department or better known as EDD. Our third issue will be on EDD's modernization project, also known as EDDNext. Again, we have many of our constituents all too familiar with EDD.

As with the pandemic, we know that your phones were ringing off the hook and there was a lot of modernization that we know that we were faced with. With that, we have new panelists, if you welcome. If you'd like to introduce yourselves.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm funded equally by the General Fund and the Unemployment Compensation Disability Fund to continue the EDDNext customer service improvement effort. This will be the third year of the modernization of EDD's benefit systems and services.

The third year requests funding in the following work streams. The transformation office this funding ensures the project stays on schedule and on budget. It's really funding for a basket of services, including project management services, quality assurance and quality control services.

Enterprise Architect Services OCM Governance Procurement Services a project Executive and a project advisor is requested by CDT and customer experience services. The second work stream is the integrated Claims management integrated data management system.

This will allow us to complete the procurement of the ICMS IDMS solution, complete the associated PAL processes, begin the replacement of core claims management system, and begin the implementation of a modernized claims management system. As I'm sure you're all aware, the existing system is over 40 years old.

The next funding source system is shared customer portal. This funding will allow us to enhance our customer data analytics, integrate a new ID proofing solution, add a claims intake navigator to direct the public to any programs they're eligible for, as well as fund existing operations and maintenance.

Document management solution this funding will allow us to replace our legacy document management solution with a modern solution that will provide imaging, data capture, and content management that simply isn't available today.

Integrated contact center this funding will allow us to complete the implementation of the new AWS connect contact center solution for disability insurance and paid family leave, and begin implementation planning for unemployment insurance solution. And lastly, fraud and data analytics.

This funding will allow us to complete the implementation of our enhanced ID proofing solution and enhance our fraud and data analytics capabilities. We actually have a roadmap that I'm glad to see is up on the screen here that we can go through.

I can tell you the status of each of the work streams if you'd like. So we can start with. And by the way, these work streams, we refer to EDDNext as one project, but it's really seven different projects, or we call them work streams, and they're based on lessons learned during the pandemic.

We prioritized everything based on what would have the largest impact to the public. So, for example, one of the challenges during the pandemic was our existing claims intake portal.

We went from hundreds of thousands of claims to millions, and it simply overwhelmed the legacy system that we had in place. We replaced that with a salesforce based shared customer portal. We call it myEDD.

We gave it a lot of capabilities the older system didn't have, including multi factor authentications, a lot of different self service capabilities. We added six additional languages, so we added three in December. We're adding three more in March.

We will support eight languages in our shared customer portal across all of the programs at EDD come March. We're also looking at a claims intake navigator, and what that does is it really just directs the claimant to whatever programs they're eligible for. So that's one work stream.

Another lesson learned was integrated contact center. Way too many acronyms. And during the pandemic, people couldn't log on to file a claim, so they called. And again, we went from hundreds of thousands, tens of millions of people calling.

It overwhelmed our legacy contact center solution. We recently procured an AWS contact center solution. We're in the process of planning that implementation. It'll have a lot of features that simply weren't available with our old platform.

For example, one of the primary benefits is if you call when we have this new solution implemented, you can schedule a call back. You don't have to stay on the phone, you don't stay on hold, you don't have to keep calling. So that's another work stream.

We also found that our forms are way too complex. There are way too many redundant questions. So we've made an effort to go through and reduce the number of questions on our forms and also move to plain language for the forms. So that's a process.

There's 3200 forms of EDD, so we are in the process of changing those. And again, based on our approach to this project, we started with the form that's most commonly used by the public, which is the unemployment initial intake form.

And then obviously we didn't do a great job of communicating during the pandemic, either with our stakeholders or the public. So in addition to all the other methods that we're using for communication, we're looking to do more social media communication with the public and with our stakeholders.

So we purchased some social media tools. We purchased tools to measure the effectiveness of those measures. Obviously, fraud was a problem during the pandemic.

I wasn't there, but I understand they implemented a lot of solutions to try and reduce the amount of fraud. Some of those solutions they implemented were ID.me, Thompson Reuter. These are fraud prevention and ID proofing solutions. At EDDNext, we're actually rolling out a new solution called Socure.

It's a frictionless fraud prevention solution. And what I mean by frictionless is it doesn't require the claimant to upload any documents. It'll allow us to handle nontraditional forms of identification much easier than our existing solutions.

We are also enhancing our fraud and data analytics using an elastic solution. Again, we're taking measure steps to try and prevent fraud at EDD. We also are enhancing our document management solution. A lot of people don't realize, but EDD manages between 15 and 20 million paper documents a year.

And we have an existing document management solution that's over 20 years old, hasn't been upgraded in that entire time. So we're in the process of procuring a new document management solution.

We'll begin implementation of that document management solution as soon as we finish the procurement, which is expected before the end of the fiscal year. And then lastly, the project that most people think of when they think of EDDNext is our integrated claims management integrated data management solution.

Our existing system is over 40 years old. It's mainframe based, and the problem with it being mainframe based is it's really difficult to support, it's really expensive to support, and it's really difficult to make changes to.

So we're in the process of an RFP, writing an RFP to replace that system. The new system will be a lot more flexible and able to respond to program changes much more quickly. So that's kind of a summary of where we are. Again, I appreciate you giving me the opportunity to talk to you about this project. I'd be happy to answer any questions that you have.

Thank you. And we're referring to this document, and I appreciate this document. It does give us a clear roadmap, as you have titled of not only the expenditures, many of the legislative body that were here during the pandemic interfaced on a very regular basis with EDD to try to help our constituents with these cases. So we're aware of some of the issues that you endured. Did you say that the system is 40 years old or four years old?

It's over 40 years old. It's a mainframe based system today.

Right. So we know that it definitely needs this updating. The investment is substantial, but it certainly needs to be updated. I don't know if any of us are working on technology from 40 years ago. We didn't have it as we speak. But the point is, it certainly calls for it. Any questions that we have?

Great. Thank you for this update and for all the hard work to try to reform systems. On behalf of my field representatives who have been handling a lot of the case management for people in need, we appreciate the modernization efforts. I'm wondering a couple. I have three questions I that think come to mind.

One is certainly concerned with the total cost of the project and how was that evaluated as maybe the least costly option to get to $1.2 billion over five years to achieve what we're trying to achieve, which is basically a new computer system that can handle certain functions. Right. What were some of the other options that were potentially evaluated to try to be more competitive with producing that product?

So we still have two procurements we have to complete the document management solution and the integrated claims management system. There's probably five different viable vendors out there with five different cost ranges and five different implementation times.

So until we procure it, we won't know the final cost. But all of the estimates we've gotten from all five vendors are below what we budgeted. So we're pretty confident that we'll be at or below the budget that we have today.

Does anyone else have anything to add?

Chad Dalamo with the analyst office. I think the work streams or workflows basis of EDDNext is an important sort of conceptual piece to keep in mind that these are basically several seven projects that are built together. I would note that as to my understanding the document management system and the integrated claims management system, the bottom two workflows on the sheet are last to be implemented and also some of the most complex steps.

So project funding cost estimates at this time, as mentioned by the department, are best estimates informed by sort of potential vendor ideas about what these costs could be. But until the state gets into procurement on these two most complex final steps, it'll be very difficult to know how much the project will end up costing, ultimately.

I think from our position this year and in prior years with EDDNext, our main focus as an office has been to assist the subcommittee and the legislature with oversight.

We've worked with budget bill language in the past years to ensure that if there are sort of midstream or mid budget year changes to the project scope or timeline or approach that EDDNext is taking, that they notify the legislature so that you all have an opportunity to weigh in on the direction.

Our key goal now is to bridge that gap between a complex process that's happening quickly at the department and legislative oversight that can only happen a couple of times during the year here in this room.

Thank you. And also for the LAO we're looking at to keep on track needing to apply $326 million for this year's budget split evenly between the General Fund and the Disability Fund. And I'm wondering General Fund being precious that it is, and also seeing we've split evenly in recent years, too.

Are there other options? Is there a requirement that we have to use 50% of our funds out of the General Fund, or what might some other options be for us to be able to consider here?

I will give my counterparts to the Department of Finance an opportunity to correct me if I'm wrong. I don't believe that there's a requirement. I think it is customary that EDD it projects have been funded one half with General Fund and one half with the benefit fund.

That is the sort of main beneficiary of the program. I would note that this fund is the fund associated with the Unemployment Insurance program, and there's also the paid family leave and disability insurance program as well. To consider with respect to the position the state finds itself in with this budget cycle.

I think working with our office and the department to potentially identify areas that could be delayed, that maybe aren't ready to go to procurement, or where the department can make progress on key work streams this year without incurring an additional budget augmentation as part of this budget act could be a worthwhile exercise over the next couple of months as we move towards the budget act. In case there are instances where, much like the governor's proposed as part of the January proposal for workforce development programs that could be delayed without effect.

Are there potential areas within EDDNext that could be delayed without hampering progress, but provide some budget stability or alleviation of the budget situation in the budget year? I don't know the answer to that question now it's something that our office is willing to work on your behalf with the department on over the next couple of months.

That could be helpful information, given the size of this allocation here, that we might need to think about without delaying the overall timeline. How much are they really going to need for this year's activity? Did finance have anything further to add?

Andrew March, Department of Finance I would note that, as my colleague from the LAO noted, customarily we funded it projects at EDD with 50% General Fund, 50% Disability Insurance Fund, which is used for paid family leave.

The reason why General Fund is used for the Unemployment Insurance, necessarily half of the project, is because California's administration of the Unemployment Insurance program is funded by federal grants that come back to the state.

And that's typically not been enough to operate the program, which is why the state does supplement the Unemployment Insurance program with General Fund as part of EDD's ongoing administration of the Unemployment Insurance program. And then additionally for any improvements to the program that is also funded by the General Fund because there is not another funding option.

That's what I wanted to get to. Okay, we'll process that. On the issues of fraud, I understand I'm getting limited information that some claims that are coming in may not be best supported by some of the wage data that's out there right now. And I'm wondering, what do you do to ensure, what are some options that you've been looking at to ensure that you have the most accurate wage information for some of the applicants or some of the requesters?

I am definitely not the fraud expert. We have a fraud and cybersecurity group. I'd be more than happy to follow up with them and get back to you.

Do you feel like you have access or you have partnerships out there to be able to verify wage information?

Yeah, absolutely.

Okay, thank you. And then finally, when you're designing some of the product that's going out there for public interface, one thing that's always frustrated me is whether or not we are putting out product that is user friendly and is achieving the ends of what people are trying to actually get to. And I'm wondering, as part of your evaluation of some of these systems, are you using any kind of quality control team? Are you engaging with potential customers to understand?

Because sometimes a tech developer is not necessarily thinking about it through the lens of the average Californian. That's just trying to get online, simplify an issue to get them in process and get their support. Do you have quality control as part of your procurement process?

We do. In fact, we have a customer experience group. They look at every design decision we make from the view of the customer to see if we're using plain language.

Include potential customers or are they?

We actually use focus groups. So we get the public, we get advocacy groups involved in it. But yeah, every design decision is built on. Does it make sense? Is it clear? Is it easy to understand?

Okay. All right, thank you.

Stain on that. Go ahead.

Well, if you wanted to continue that.

Well, just related to fraud, but more on the ids. I know that you mentioned kind of a super ID that would be a little bit more agreeable. When we were doing case managing related to EDD, that was where we would get stuck, is trying to upload these documents and then the wait time, from the time they might have been uploaded to the next, if you want to say appointment or so forth. What is going to be the new process with the ID?

So, I mean, basically you answer some basic questions and it verifies your identity based on publicly available information. If you don't pass that initial screening, and we think somewhere between 90 and 97% of people will, then it asks you to upload documents.

And we're still keeping the other ID proofing solutions as well. So if you don't pass Socure, we'll run you through IDME and see if there's any challenges with the IDME solution. And then we've always got Thompson Reuter as a backup.

So the constituent would initially get on to file a claim. They get to the part where they want to identify, make sure it's not fraud. Then they're going to ask what type of questions would they ask?

I couldn't tell you specifically what questions they asked them, but what we're doing is we're trying to verify your identity before you establish an EDD account. Because what we found was we had a lot of fraudulent EDD accounts, so we've moved that step in front of that. So when you first try to register, you'll have to go through an ID verification process.

And this will be tested because some of the individuals that are really good at fraud are usually five steps ahead of us. So we're going to make sure they're not able to answer these questions as well.

I mean, it's a very robust ID proofing solution. We did a lot of market research, looked at a lot of different vendors, and ended up selecting Socure. So we're pretty happy. We've just started running the data through them to see what they find, and they've identified some fraud that our other identity proofing solutions didn't pick up.

What is that called? Socure.

Socure. Yeah.

All right, next question.

Great. Thank you very much. Just on the debt repayments, or at least the interest payment that needs to be made on a $20 billion and it seems growing debt to the Federal Government. I guess it's probably for finance, but maybe the department as well. Is there any track record, whether in California or any other state, that their request to waive that debt repayment?

I think you're talking about our next issue, but you can set up for it.

Yeah, well, we can go ahead with that as well, but that's fine. I can wait for that next issue. I did work at EDD 20 years ago, probably use the same computer systems now as then, and then they were old also. And we used. At that time, I actually worked in the ID verification unit, and before that I worked in a unit that processed the DE9 s. And if there was an error, we would have to figure that out and then do it.

So I do, oddly have experience at least a couple of decades ago doing these sorts of things. But in terms of the computer systems that are going to be doing a lot of this work now, that did not exist when I was there. I'll be very interested when this is all said and done. And we use vendors now to help with ID verification. And I think you just. Socure mentioned one of them. Well, the De nine s, as you know, are done quarterly. Right.

So that's not really timely or accurate information. When people are getting let go from their jobs or whatever it might be. Are we using a vendor, or have we considered using a vendor for more accurate and timely wage information?

I know we've looked at a solution that allow us to identify people that go back to work faster, because that's a challenge that we've had, is overpayments. When people don't report that they went back to work, and then a month later they report it. Now we've overpaid them for a month. So I know we have solutions in place to prevent that. But again, I'm really not the fraud and cybersecurity expert, but I'd be happy to take that question to them.

Yeah, it might be worth, because I think there's going to be some discussion on whether or not we need to repay some of this money to FEMA or whatnot.

But if we had accurate and more timely wage information, could not only prevent fraud in terms of just generally speaking, but also just the amount of money that people are actually making, because a quarter is a lifetime, especially in the middle of a pandemic or something like that, where people are in and out of jobs or going back for a few weeks and then asking to no longer go to work or whatever it may be. Right.

So just want to say it might be worth considering, something like that.

That's a great point.

Thank you. All right. Then we're going to go ahead and move to issue four, which is the unemployment and insurance federal debt repayment, which you were actually asking about.

Moving on, now.

Do we have additional panelists that will be speaking to that? Welcome. If you want to introduce yourself, make your comments.

Yes.

Good afternoon, committee. My name is Simon Gutierrez. I'm with the employment training panel, here to assist and answer any questions you may have from ETP, the employment training panel.

All right, something. Would you like to make comments before? Go ahead.

Andrew March, Department of Finance. So, as the agenda notes, the Governor's Budget includes or projects a $331 million debt payment or interest payment on the state's UI debt. Of that, 231 million is proposed as General Fund. 100 million is proposed from the employment training fund, which is an existing allowable use of that fund. The fund is funded by a 0.1% add on tax on employers and on top of their UI taxes. So happy to take any questions on that.

Assemblymember Patterson, you want to ask your question?

Can I just replay what I already asked? Yeah. Just wondering if there was some kind of track record for asking for that.

For asking for forgiveness on the interest.

President Biden seems in a very giving mood of waiving debts these days.

The administration continues to advocate at the federal level. We are also part of the National Association of State Workforce Agencies, which has advocated for the waiver of interest payments which happened during the pandemic or forgiveness on states UI debt. So it is something that the administration continues to advocate for at the federal level.

How many states currently have a UI debt?

So there are three states and then the US Virgin Islands. So four total. Yeah.

And ours is by far the largest, correct?

That's correct.

And did we use other states? I'm trying to just get the facts about what happened here. Did other states use other pandemic dollars or stimulus funds or things like that to repay their debt?

Yeah, I believe other states did. California did as well. We used $250 million from pandemic relief funds to pay off some of the debt.

No. Okay, great. Thank you.

Assemblymember. All right, a few questions. Why has the employment training panel built such a high reserve in prior years?

So we normally, Simon Gutierrez with the employment training panel. We normally do have a healthy reserve that we try to keep in case of emergencies. In this particular situation, like most departments, when the pandemic hit, we assumed that there would be a significant reduction in the collections of the tax and therefore allocated accordingly.

Because of that, our reserve grew significantly because the collections actually came over the last three years, especially after the pandemic, the collections actually grew significantly, which gave us the variance that we have today.

Comments what is the timeline, the administration's timeline to pay back the federal UI loan?

Currently, the administration does not have a timeline to pay back the UI loan. As noted in the agenda, benefits outweigh receipts at the moment, so the state's UI debt continues to grow. Therefore, any repayment of the loan is dependent on the economic health of the state, the balance of the loan, and other factors.

Any other comments from?

No, not this time.

Any other comments from members up here?

Madam Chair, to your last question, I think about 18 months ago our office did a sort of rudimentary forecast of repayment structure, and at the time it looked like the state would not likely repay the federal loan. I should say the state and employers, as it is a joint repayment for at least 10 years.

And we made that estimate prior to the most recent administration fund forecast for the UI program, which is now showing this structural imbalance between contributions and revenues.

The outstanding loan balance is projected to continue increasing at least through 2025, at which point sort of special surcharge revenues from employers that are collected specifically to repay outstanding federal loans should begin chipping away at the outstanding loan amount.

But that could take many years before that loan is fully repaid. For context, the loan we took out, I believe beginning in that we began repaying in 2010 or 2011 after the Great Recession we were making payments on until 2018.

Thank you. Important information, especially when we already have debts that we need to take seriously. That being said, we're going to go ahead and move to issue five, which is transportation infrastructure workforce development program, known as CWDB. We have one issue for the board related to the infrastructure investment in jobs act, federal funding we will call up. We're going to go ahead and ask you to make comments in whichever order you agree to.

Thank you, Madam Chair, Members of the Committee Curtis Notsinneh with the California Workforce Development Board.

The CWDB works closely with state building and construction Trades Council and currently oversees and funds 13 regional high road construction career partnerships covering all 58 counties in the state.

With local building trades councils, joint apprenticeship programs, local workforce boards, colleges and other education providers, and community based organizations, all at one table using multicraft core curriculum to coordinate and deliver high quality programming that meets the needs of employers, workers and communities.

HRCC trainees are provided with various opportunities to further their career goals within the construction sector, including, but not limited to, training, access to state approved joint apprenticeship programs in the trades and placements, and in this case specifically placements on Caltrans projects.

To ensure the success of our trainees, HRCCs provide wraparound services provide we feel that these supportive services are critical to the success of trainees entering our programs. SB 150 required Caltrans to set aside a total of 50 million of federal funds from the IIJA to be allocated over four years to support HRCC.

We're partnering with Caltrans to develop an interagency agreement where Caltrans is seeking the assistance of the CWDB to administer High Road Construction Careers program on their behalf, and it spells out the roles of each entity. We will use our existing HRCC solicitation and award process through our Cal-E-Grant system for eligible entities to apply for and access funding.

The CWDB will also do outreach to ensure that providers and relevant stakeholders are aware of the funding opportunity, convene communities of practice, solicit and score applications, recommend awards to the secretary for final approval, and develop and execute grant agreements for HRCCs across the state.

We'll also provide grant management after the grant agreements are executed, and this includes supporting our grantees to ensure that grant goals and deliverables are documented and on track, monitoring and tracking budgets and fiscal spending, managing invoice submission, quantitative and qualitative data collection, and managing close out processes.

The CWDB will receive 50 million over four fiscal years starting in fiscal year 24-25 through fiscal year 272-8 per federal requirements. The 50 million will also cover technical assistance and evaluation, as well as covering CWDB staffing costs.

We continue to work closely with Caltrans on the draft scope of work and related forms required for the Federal Government, and we will report to Caltrans, in alignment with federal guidance addressing expenditure amounts, project development, participants in training outcomes and other benefits identified by the projects, Caltrans and the state workforce board.

Thank you. Next. You're just here for any additional questions?

Yeah, I'm sorry, I'm Emily Sunahara, the deputy director of operations for the Workforce Development Board. Thank you.

Thank you. All right, welcome.

Zachary Voss, California Department of Finance and I've got nothing further to add.

Okay, any comments to add? All right, as you're explaining, the partnership with Caltrans that was, I know, implemented last year with SB 150. What does that look like? What is that additional $50 million doing?

So that will be used to grow and expand our existing high road construction careers program. So it's an established network throughout the state. The 50 million will continue funding and supporting that program.

And is that to recruit workers? Is it to train them? What does that do?

Yeah, it's a pre apprenticeship or apprenticeship readiness program. And so it's administered by partnerships throughout the state. The trainees who are entered into that program do what we call MC3 multi craft core curriculum certification program.

They get exposure to work sites, they get soft skills, all kinds of other skills, through our HRCC programs. And when they complete those programs with the joint apprenticeship committees at the table, it also creates pathways into those apprenticeship programs.

How does an individual find out about these apprentice programs? Whether it's with the Caltrans or any of the other high road construction apprentice.

Programs, there's a variety of outreach programs that we do. We work with a lot of community based organizations because we focus on a lot of populations that are historically underserved. And so we work with a lot of CBOs who are closest to those communities who help us do recruitment and outreach into the communities who are targeting with our programs.

They work and they get programs in there. All of our HRCCs also have local workforce boards as part of their partnerships. So we do recruit through the America's Job Centers of California also, and our local workforce boards.

When will Caltrans be able to publish the evaluation of this program? I know it's just being implemented.

Right. Yeah, it's just being implemented. I mean, typically our evaluations are multi-year evaluations. So this is four years of funding. We are collecting the data as we go. But for a full evaluation, usually takes place after the program closes, this is a four year funding stream and then there's a few years for program implementation after those four years. We generally contract with third party independent providers for independent evaluation of our programs. We anticipate working with Caltrans to do that evaluation work.

Thank you. Any other comments from up here? Any other comments? All right, well, Ms. Fasten, thank you so much. Appreciate you.

We're going to be moving to the Department of Industrial Relations. Please join us. We have 12 budget change proposals and two trailer bills this year requested by the department. In the interest of time and efficiency, we are asking the department to present those requests in three buckets. First bucket will be on workers' compensation, the second will be on Cal/OSHA and the third will be on department wide budget requests. Welcome. We appreciate you being here. And let's go ahead and begin.

Good afternoon. Thank you for having us. My name is Josh Iverson. I am the chief financial officer for the California Department of Industrial Relations. I'm joined today by Deanna Ping, chief deputy director; Benjamin Bonte, chief information officer; and Katherine Zalewski, chair of Workers' Compensation Appeals Board. I'll start with our first grouping of budget change proposals and the related trailer bill language as they relate to the Division of Workers' Compensation and the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board.

The Division of Workers' Compensation regulates the administration of workers' compensation claims and provides administrative and judicial services to assist in resolving disputes that arise in connection with claims for benefits. The Workers' Compensation Appeals Board is the statewide administrative law court of appeal for workers compensation claims, primarily adjudicating claims for benefits by injured workers. Our first budget change proposal relates to the Division of Workers' Compensation. We're requesting a three year phase-in of 71 positions.

The intention of this proposal is to better equip the division with the resources it needs to meet its statutory obligations for setting timely hearings, reducing wait times and to provide services to injured workers. The increased demand for services is partly due to organic growth in claims and also partly due to the effects of Senate Bill 1127, which allows for injured workers whose cases have been denied to claim a penalty if a judge determines that the denial was issued in bad faith, which are new duties for workers; compensation judges. The next budget change proposal is for electronic adjudication management system, or EAMS, modernization. We're requesting one time, $22.2 million. This is not funded by the state general fund.

This budget change proposal is for the second year for the electronic case management and document storage system, known as EAMS, to replace the Division of Workers Compensation's aging, 15-year-old technology that's nearing its end of life. EAMS is a mission critical system that serves the needs of injured workers and employers of the state. The court case management and claims benefit administration management functions are currently in EAMS, which now supports over 8 million cases.

The system is used primarily to manage the adjudication of benefit-related issues, including the scheduling of hearings to review the issues brought before DWC, and as a document intake and repository for case-related court documents. This proposal provides funding for the next one-year phase of the project. The Workers' Compensation Appeals Board has submitted a budget change proposal, not paid for by the state general fund, for a three year phase-in of 13 positions.

Workload for the Appeals Board has increased significantly over the last few years due to the increase in complexity of legal issues, new legislative mandates, the impact of the COVID pandemic and increases in litigation. These requested resources will allow the board to manage increased workload and reduce backlogs. That brings us to the trailer bill language proposal relating to the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board. The Appeals Board has been facing challenges with a growing backlog of cases.

In addition to the budget change proposal, the board is requesting trailer bill language to adjust the timelines by which the Appeals Board must act on a petition. Under existing law, individuals have the right to petition the Appeals Board for a reconsideration of any decisions, orders, or awards related to workers' compensation. A petition for reconsideration is automatically considered denied if the Appeals Board does not take action within 60 days from the date the petition was filed.

The proposed trailer bill language seeks to modify this procedure by starting the 60-day countdown from the moment the Appeals Board receives the petition instead of when it is filed. This change is necessary because the initial process of filing the petition itself consumes a portion of the 60-day period due to the various administrative steps involved. By adjusting the timeline to begin when the petition is actually received, the Appeals Board believes it would have more time to act within the allowed 60-day window.

Moving on to our Cal/OSHA-related budget change proposals; there are two. They relate specifically to Cal/OSHA. Cal/OSHA protects and improves the health and safety of workers in California by setting and enforcing standards and consulting with employers. Cal/OSHA has submitted a budget change proposal, not funded by the state general fund, for $25.3 million relating to the Cal/OSHA Data Modernization Project.

This is the second year's budget change proposal to continue the development of an information technology system to meet federal and state mandated requirements, consolidate information into a central database repository, interface to other DIR systems and automate manual processes across its units.

The project will streamline data input across all units, reduce the number of new paper case files and use of paper forms, increase the accuracy of coding to corresponding inspections, improve reporting directly from the system and provide a public portal for online reporting of complaints and accidents. Cal/OSHA has also submitted a budget change proposal relating to one of its federal grants, so this is not paid for by the state general fund.

Cal/OSHA has received a baseline increase in federal funding of approximately $1.4 million for the OSHA 23(g) grant. This grant helps support Cal/OSHA's enforcement and consultation units, the Occupational Safety and Health Appeals Board, the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board and the Labor Commissioner's Retaliation Complaints Investigations Unit. This proposal is a technical BCP to commensurately increase the state federal trust fund authority, and that brings us to our third grouping of proposals and trailer bill language.

The last grouping benefits most all of the department's divisions and helps to add additional administrative capacity generally as well as specifically to the department's public works duties, and includes trailer bill language relating to recent public works legislation. The department has submitted a budget change proposal relating to IT security enhancements for two positions. This is not funded by the state general fund.

These resources are needed to upgrade and support DIR's IT security systems by providing capacity for procedure development and process improvement to address audit findings and enhance cybersecurity compliance. The department has also submitted a budget change proposal relating to Public Records Act Oversight Unit. This is not funded by the state general fund.

This proposal is for a two year phase-in of 22 positions, which will help address challenges it has faced in responding to Public Records Act requests due to the various divisions and offices within the department. These resources will allow the department to create a dedicated, centralized unit to monitor and communicate Public Records Act requests as well as dedicated resources across all DIR divisions and offices.

DIR has also submitted a budget change proposal, not paid for by the state general fund, for safety and security resources amounting to three positions. This proposal requests resources to create a dedicated safety and security program designed to safeguard the security and safety of DIR employees and members of the public conducting business within DIR by conducting site assessments, updating evacuation maps, developing and implementing updated safety and security policies and procedures and creating and maintaining access and ID badges.

The department has also submitted a budget change proposal to add three positions for additional administrative capacity relating to its role as a federal grantee and as a pass through entity. These additional resources are not paid for by the state general fund and are needed for audit and budget support for financial reporting, financial closeout reports and meeting other grant requirements to comply with federal requirements. And that brings us to the proposals relating to public works.

We have submitted a budget change proposal for public works IT system enhancements, not paid for by the state general fund, for one year funding of $10.7 million. DIR's public works systems that serve the needs of employers and workers who work on public works projects in California are nearing the end of life for the technology and must be replaced to maintain functionality. DIR utilized $10 million appropriated in 2021-2022 for the initial phases of the project. This funding will provide resources for the final implementation phase of that project. And then, that brings us to the proposed trailer bill language regarding public works.

The Budget Act of 2023 included trailer bill language that clarified registration requirements for all contractors and subcontractors pursuant to 2022 legislation, known as AB 2011 and SB 6, and provided DIR with the authority to establish and adjust annual registration and renewal fees. In 2023, SB 4 enacted additional changes relating to housing development projects that impacted contractor registration requirements. The proposed trailer bill language is being requested to conform changes made by SB 4 to be consistent with the 2023 trailer bill. And happy to take any questions you may have.

Thank you. Before I ask questions about what you just presented to us, I do want to ask the LAO. Related to some of the legislation that has been referenced for some of the needs for the augmentation, does this get vetted out because this legislation was last year or prior to this year? Obviously, we go through the Appropriations, the governor receives the information. But then, if you want to say the additional costs to implement that type--and there were several examples put forth right now--of the need for additional funding.

Madam Chair, let me try to answer your question in two ways. First, I think there's a group of budget change proposals that the legislature sees every year that are specific to--they're literally titled something like 'a BCP to implement related legislation.' And that change proposal will include three or four or five pieces of legislation that the legislature put forth that the department has received, reviewed.

And this is the package of funding and staffing positions that, in its estimation, the department would need to execute those pieces of legislation. So that's the sort of most clear or direct example that you're mentioning. Another example is where, over a period of time, the legislature enacts laws related to a policy that add complexity or increase workload, perhaps in unforeseen ways.

And several years later, a department begins to notice that it's taking longer to adjudicate a worker's compensation claim or a claim for unpaid wages, for instance. And these are a little more complex to assess because the period from when the legislation was implemented to when we see the effects is usually a longer time period. In both of these cases, though, our office and the legislature tends to rely on the administration to estimate what the department will need in order to implement the policy.

It really is the expertise and the experience of the department that determines what these budget change proposals are best suited to implement the policy. If the subcommitee wants our office, as the LAO, or staff to look more closely at a specific piece of legislation that's driving workload, we would be happy to do so. The departments have historically, and including DIR, always worked with our office to understand better how legislative changes are affecting workload. We'd be happy to look into it more closely. If you have a specific piece of legislation in mind, happy to work with your staff.

Thank you. So with that, several of the initiatives seem to be based on this idea that there is additional workforce, thus the need for additional positions to be hired whether it's on the claims. What is the average time right now for a claim? I know one of the mentions was on an appeal, but just not even taking in the appeal, just as somebody who files a claim, what would be the timeline for somebody to get a response and that to get moved forward?

I'm happy to take that. Deanna Ping, chief deputy director for DIR. I'm going to focus, I think, on the Division of Workers' Comp workload BCP, and in that vein--the Division of Workers' Compensation, they handle when there are disputes, when there's a workers' compensation claim. So part of the reason we're putting forward this workload BCP is because they have a statutory mandate to set a hearing within a certain time frame. And so that's where it comes in.

If there's a dispute and a worker files a claim and an employer doesn't agree, currently, we're finding that one-in-five of our DWC offices have challenges setting that hearing within the time frame of 30 days. So that's when we're supposed to do it by statute, 30 days. And so we're putting forward this workload BCP to help us be able to meet that statutory mandate.

And the legislation for the 30 days--because I thought it was mentioned 60 days in there--this would add 30 days to the timeline from the time. Is that?

Hi, I'm Catherine Zalewski. I'm the chair of the WCAB, and I think I can help Deputy Director Ping. There are two branches, really, within workers' comp litigation within DIR. There's the Division of Workers' Compensation, which handles the trial level. That's the 30-day window that the deputy director is referencing. When cases are decided or some interim order issues and it comes up on appeal to the Appeals Board, that's where that 60-day period comes into play.

So there are two different tracks depending on where you are in the litigation. And you were asking about time frames, I think more generally, to resolve claims. There really isn't any statutory lifespan to a workers' comp claim other than that once a claim is made, the employer or the insurance carrier has a period of 90 days within which to accept or deny liability. After that, the time it can take to resolve a claim depends largely upon the severity of the injuries, the complexity of the issues.

If there are no disputes, DWC isn't going to see it until it's ready to settle because settlements have to be approved, and the Appeals Board is probably never going to see it. If there are hotly contested claims, they're going to be frequently before judges, and often, then, before the Appeals Board.

So depending on the case, it can be somewhat swift or very lengthy.

Yes, it can literally take years.

Okay. All right. Thank you. And I see that you're requesting permission to use additional federal funding. And again, we have a lot of authority here, so I'm just going to say yes. No. That's an easy one compared to the other ones that we're getting asked about. Yeah, we have to be a little light-hearted when we can find something that's easy, because these are quite complex and there are many requests under your division. That does not mean we don't think they're worthy. There's just quite a bit--but I absolutely understand needing the support on your team to get these claims moved forward. Do you have any other questions?

Just a couple, maybe closing comments. When we look at the package of DIR BCPs, clearly there's some capacity issues going on with the Division of Workers' Compensation. We have the trailer bill, a general provision to boost staffing for work comp administration, as well as some one time funding to clear a backlog. I think that warrants some attention both from our office and from the subcommitee. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to set a briefing with the department just based on some scheduling changes.

We'll do so, and if anything comes of that, we'll be in touch with staff. That's the first comment. Secondly, there are three sort of a constellation of IT projects that are in these BCP proposals. There are three of them related to Cal/OSHA modernization, AMEs in the Division of Workers' Compensation and the Public Works Oversight technology project. A department the size of DIR managing three separate IT projects at one time is going to put some strain on their capacity from a technology standpoint.

We've met with the department to learn more about their approach, but I think this is an instance where the subcommitee may want to consider paying careful sort of oversight attention, just because there are so many moving complex technology projects at DIR right now. Being a little more intentional about its oversight in the next year or two as these projects move forward could prove beneficial. Just, again, to connect that gap between the legislature and these complex projects.

And I do appreciate that because the group that came up before, EDD, has a major project presented as far as updating technology and their service, and it sounds like similar in your case that you need that updated system. On the other hand, all of us know that these type of updates in technology are not seamless and can take much more time and effort and cost than any of us predict. We will be talking about broadband and all of that in another subcommitee, I think actually tomorrow.

So I hear you on that, and we'll definitely continue to talk about the technology part that does not--because I always go back to the consumer. How are they accessing the services you have? If you don't have the personnel to help manage these cases, then you're not going to be able to serve the claims that are being asked for you to be administrated. But that being said, in a budget deficit, all of these things will be looked at very carefully. But we appreciate you being here. Thank you so much, and we'll be in touch.

Thank you.

All right. We are at our last panel here. I want to thank my colleague for staying here with us. So I'm not the Lone Ranger here. We have our budget change proposals, ALRB, and we'd like to call you up here, which will cover requests by the Agriculture Labor Relations Board. Welcome.

Hi, Sebastian Sanchez. I'm the deputy secretary for immigrant and agriculture workforce at the Labor and Workforce Development Agency. The rural strategic engagement program is a joint BCP between the Department of Industrial Relations and the Agricultural Labor Relations Board. This program is meant to address a few ongoing gaps and obstacles that farm workers and other workers in rural areas continue to have in engaging our services across the agency.

Primarily, the difficulty both in just getting to our offices due to distance or due to other challenges that they might have, the confusion that they have in terms of which enforcement entity they should be going to. We also want to address some of the siloed enforcement efforts that have been going on, really looking to foster more collaboration across the agency, and also continue to address the lack of information that is easily accessible to farm workers.

This program is meant to build on our ongoing outreach efforts, the Covid-19 Worker Outreach Project, CWOP, as well as our statewide agriculture and farm worker education program. Those programs have been focused primarily on delivering information to workers. This is meant to build on our capacity internally to be able to deliver services better to this community. We are focusing in on three particular strategies. The first is launching in-person clinics in rural communities.

These are spaces that we would bring all of our departments, ALRB, the Labor Commissioner's Office, Cal/OSHA, as well as EDD, so that a farm worker can walk in and get any and all of their issues addressed without having to be bounced around from office to office.

The second is really building a no wrong door policy across the agency, building a minimum competency across all our outreach and enforcement staff, and understanding what are the basic rights that farm workers have, so that if a farm worker approaches any of our agencies, they can be quickly and efficiently referred to the appropriate enforcement entity. And finally, we want to continue to invest in really developing outreach material that is culturally and linguistically appropriate for farm workers.

We really want to invest in more audio and visual tools for, particularly, indigenous language speakers, as well as navigational web tools that can make access to information online a lot easier for these communities. I can let the ALRB speak a bit more about their portions, but the Department of Industrial Relations will be the primary recipient of funds to help launch the clinics, and it's building on existing efforts that the Labor Commissioner's office in Cal/OSHA have already started in terms of developing clinics with trusted partners and communities.

Thank you. Welcome.

Good afternoon. Thank you. Good afternoon, Ms. Committee Chair. My name is Victoria Hassid. I'm the chair of the Agricultural Labor Relations Board. As the deputy secretary indicated, this rural engagement budget change proposal really builds on the foundation that the legislature has approved in the last few years. In fiscal year 2021 and then again last year, they made permanent a strategic engagement initiative which provided critical staffing to the agency to focus solely on education and outreach.

And with that, we were able to hire ultimately four positions that were made permanent and place them in rural areas across the state. That way, existing staff didn't need to take time away from casework, and these outreach workers were able to focus solely on providing that education and outreach, which has really bolstered our ability to reach that many more workers.

This next iteration of this next proposal will allow us, as the deputy secretary mentioned, to build upon that work and address some of the persistent issues that we face in serving the needs of this hard-to-reach and, as we know, vulnerable population. It will allow us to provide our services tailored to farm worker needs--things that we've heard from stakeholders that we've experienced ourselves.

So being able to meet them in nontraditional business hours, evenings, weekends, and in areas where offices may not be, and also join with some of our partner areas. We have the good fortune of being located in all the strategic agricultural regions in the state; so in Santa Rosa, in Salinas, in Oxnard, in Visalia, in Indio. But that isn't always near where a Labor Commissioner office is, or a DWC office, or a Cal/OSHA office. So this will allow us to come together.

And that way, when a worker does have both the courage and the time and the need to come see us, we can answer their questions. And even if we can't help them, we can provide that warm handoff to another agency so their needs can be met. I'm happy to go into greater detail, but want to pause in case there are any questions.

Well, you just made my day.

Happy to do so.

I am a classroom teacher, elementary school teacher, by over 25 years, and your approach of a one stop shop, if you want to call it that, or being out in the community, is a theme that I will be bringing to this Budget Sub 5 for all of the hearings. Because we have a lot of programs in California, in our school districts and our healthcare, but if the average person cannot access it, whether it's because of language, because of travel, because of their work schedule, it doesn't matter.

And that is the question I'm going to keep asking, is: who has access to these programs? And if we are investing these state dollars and we have limited funds and are going to have to make cuts, I'm going to be looking for programs that are out there in the community. You mentioned in-person clinics, you mentioned outreach, you mentioned non-traditional hours.

This really should be the guidelines for many, many of our California programs. Because we have unseen populations, whether they're farm workers or women that are working and are trying to get access for their families and cannot get to an office after hours, whether it's our formerly incarcerated population--really, any population--are working Californians. They cannot take an hour out of their day to be on the phone waiting and waiting and waiting. They need to get-

As a classroom teacher, you have 30 minutes for a lunch, but really, it's 20 minutes by the time you get kids out. You do the things and you cannot be stuck on a line waiting for somebody to navigate you. So, in essence, you're navigators. You're California navigators. And I'm really proud of the work you do, and you made my day. But with that, do you have comments to add? Well, as you know, we have limited dollars. You mentioned rural California. Is there any other regions, Southern California, that you're in, or is it mostly Northern California?

We have some in the coast. So the ALRB has offices in Oxnard as well as Visalia, which is just a little bit north of Bakersfield, and then Indio in the Coachella Valley.

And as they should be, that's where the workers are. But if anybody is listening to this Budget Sub 5 hearing, know that being out in the community giving direct services, whether it's clinics, whether it's pop-ups, whether it's knocking on doors. When we look at our schools and we look at absentee rates and we said, "Where did all the kids go?" They didn't go anywhere. They're just not going to school for many reasons.

So we need to knock on those doors and get them to school, and that's how we need to be doing this California work. Thank you. There are nobody else to ask questions. So with that, this is our first of many hearings. Stay tuned. We will be scouring the budget to do the least amount of cuts. We like to hear from you and we are ready for public comment. We will keep them extremely brief. Thank you, panelists, for being here. Our comments will be limited to less than 30 seconds. Name and what you're proposing. Welcome.

Good afternoon, Madam Chair. My name is Mike West on behalf of the State Building Trades. Two in opposition: the funding reduction on women in construction priority unit and also the 100 million from ETP funds to pay off the IU debt. We're in support of the budget change proposal; adding positions to the women in construction priority program; the BCP for transportation infrastructure; the one for Workers' Compensation Appeals Board funding for 71 staff members; and the BCP for public works IT enhancements, $10.6 million. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good to see you, Chair. Nate Solov on behalf of the Port of LA. I'm also speaking today on behalf of Marvin Panetta for ILWU, who couldn't be here today. Just wanted to thank you and the committee members for your continued support of the Goods Movement Workforce Training Campus, the nation's first training facility specifically devoted to supply chain workers. Of the $110 million originally approved in 2022, $70 million has already been provided by the state.

And we are supportive of the governor's proposal to spread out the $40 million that was supposed to be provided this year and instead provide $20 million next year and $20 million in 2026. This 20-acre campus, expected to open by 2029, is a partnership between the Port of LA, Port of Long Beach, the California Workforce Development Board and ILWU and the Pacific Maritime Association. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Thank you. I would just ask, as you make your comments, also follow up with a letter to our committee of some of the specifics. Thank you.

Will do. Dan Chia, representing Port of Long Beach, reiterating Port of LA's comments. Thank you for your support and the governor's proposal. These jobs at the training campus will be important for Port of Long Beach workers as well. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Chair. I'm here on behalf of a list of organizations: the California Farmer Advocacy Working Group, the Central Coast Alliance United for Sustainable Economy, the Central California Environmental Justice Network, Centro Binacional Para El Desarrollo Indígena Oaxaqueño, Indigenous Pesticide Action Network, and California Food and Farming Network in support of issue seven, the rural strategic engagement program. We have some specific ideas on how to invest more into existing trusted CBOs that we can follow up with. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Madam Chair. Anna Alvarado of the California EDGE Coalition, here to respectfully request the committee to reject the delays and cuts to various workforce training programs, including the Apprenticeship Innovation Fund, the California Apprenticeship Youth Program, the High Road Training Partnerships, Women in Construction Unit, and the California Jobs First. These workforce programs are very important to our underserved Californians who are seeking to up-skill and ultimately lead them to good family sustaining jobs and more economic mobility for California. So we look forward to working with you and the administration. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Good afternoon. My name is Susan Buensuceso. I'm from the Filipino Advocates for Justice and I'm here to thank the subcommitee for the support that it has given the Domestic Workers and Employers Outreach Program, or DWEOP. We have had a great success in reaching domestic workers and teaching them about their rights, and it is very important that this funding be continued so that we can continue to keep working and getting them the rights and the information that they need. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

So this next comment is going to be three different languages. It's going to be Mixtec, Spanish, and then English.

Perfect. Welcome.

[Foreign Language]

Thank you. You can move the microphone up and down.

Thank you. I will be interpreting for Simita Rendon, who's from Fresno, California. She's been working for more than 16 years in the agriculture sector, and she's here to talk a little bit more and advocate for SB 227 that will guarantee unemployment insurance for farm workers who don't have access to unemployment when there's a lot of natural disasters like the recent rains. And she's also advocating for the budget for the CWAP, which is the Covenant Workplace Outreach Project.

It is essential to not cut down the budget for this project because a lot of farm workers will lose out on the information and the resources that CWAP can provide.

Can you have her come to the mic again and tell me her name? Yeah, just introduce her name.

Simita Rendon.

I'm very proud of you for coming. Thank you.

Thank you.

[Foreign Language]

Hello. My name is Fidelina for the Binational Center of Guatemala, and I'm asking for the security of unemployment and also for the support of SB 1030.

Thank you.

Hello. My name is Simran Kaur, with the Jakara Movement supporting workers in Sutter, Sacramento, Merced, Madeira, Fresno, and Kern County. I urge you to protect funding for CWOP, the California Workplace Outreach Program. This Fund is vital for informing workers about their right to a safe workplace and fighting wage theft. We ask that you reject the proposed transfer from the Labor and Workforce Development Fund so the money can be used for its intended purpose, for empowering workers.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Take the time to do my public comment. My name is Fernando Martinez, community organizer with the Mixteco Indigenous Community Organizing Project, based in Santa Barbara County and the City of Santa Maria. CWOP has been able to reach thousands of farmworkers and other workers in other industries. We know that farmworkers and other workers are the backbone of California, so it is very essential to not cut down the budget for CWOP. So I come here to ask that we do not make any transfers.

Keep the budget and make sure workers are protected because CWOP has done a lot of work for farmworkers. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good afternoon. I'm David Valencia, and I'm here with the California Domestic Worker Coalition, and I'm a staff person of the Women's Collective in San Francisco, California. I'm here to talk about the DWOP program as well. This program has helped us reach and train thousands of domestic workers in the area of San Francisco and many other cities in California and also educate them about their rights and protections. So I'm hoping the state will continue to allocate funds to this essential program. Thank you.

And I'm going to interpret for some of more members of the coalition.

Thank you.

[Foreign Language]

Good afternoon. My name is Adriana Sanchez and I'm a domestic worker and also a member of the California Domestic Worker Coalition and a member of the Women's Collective in San Francisco. The DWOP program has impacted my life in such a great way and I've been able to support other domestic workers and immigrant women in the area of San Francisco. Thank you.

Thank you.

[Foreign Language]

Thank you.

Good afternoon. My name is Veronica Nieto. I'm an organizer with Mujeres Unidas Y Activas in San Francisco, California. I wanted to thank this Subcommittee for recognizing the importance of domestic workers and employer education and outreach program to keep organizing and empowering women in the area of San Francisco. Also, I wanted to take an opportunity to mention about the safety net for all, and I hope this will be included in future budget discussions. Thank you.

Thank you.

[Foreign Language]

Good afternoon. My name is Marta Erella a domestic worker member of Mujeres Unidas Activas, and I wanted to thank the Subcommittee for recognizing the importance of DWOP program, and this has helped me to empower myself and to know my rights and to help other domestic workers to know their rights, too. Thank you.

Hi, Madam Chair, thank you so much for the time. My name is Megan Whelan. I am the Deputy Director with the California Domestic Workers Coalition. We really appreciate seeing the budget and the funds preserved and making permanent the program this year, and we're just hopeful in a difficult budget year that those funds for the domestic worker and employer education outreach program can continue. Thank you so much.

Hello. My name is Rose Arieta, and I'm a staff person at the California Domestic Worker Coalition. Thank you, Madam Chair, and the state Legislature for recognizing the importance of DWOP program. We're pleased to see the funding preserved in the Governor's proposed budget, and we're hoping the state will continue to allocate funds for this essential program that has helped us train and reach thousands of domestic workers in the community. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Madam Chair. My name is Chloe Steck, and I'm here on behalf of the California Immigrant Policy Center. We want to thank the legislature for the allocation to make the domestic worker and employment, education and outreach program permanent in this year's budget, and we were pleased to see the funding preserved in the governor's proposed budget. We ask that the legislature prioritize investments toward creating a statewide excluded workers program. Additionally, we want to urge you to protect funding for the California Workplace Outreach program.

This fund is vital for informing workers about their right to a safe workplace and fighting wage theft. Finally, we ask that you reject the proposed transfer from the Labor and Workforce Development Fund so the money can be used for its intended purpose of empowering workers. Thank you.

Thank you.

[Foreign Language]

Gracias.

Hello, everyone. My name is Virginia Moscoso from Lidres Campesinas, and we're from Sacramento and Yolo County, and I am here to support SB 1032 for it to be permanent so that people like me can be informed and know our rights. Thank you.

[Foreign Language]

Gracias.

Hello, everyone. My name is Juan Castro from Madeira, California, and I'm here to support SB 227, which is the safety net for all to help workers, farm workers like us, to satisfy our needs. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi there. My name is Kevin Torres. I'm with the Warehouse Worker Resource Center, and we're here to advocate for the California Worker Outreach program, CWOP for short, because it has allowed us to further outreach within the Inland Empire. The warehouse working industry keeps on increasing so specifically want to continue providing those accessible resources, vaccine clinics, workshops and everything as well. We do come in support of the SB 227 for the safety net for all coalition. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good afternoon. My name is Dawn Modkins. I'm the Director of the Southern California Black Worker Hub representing nearly 25,000 black workers across Southern California in counties of San Diego, LA, San Bernardino and Riverside. CWOP, the California Worker Outreach program over the last three years has allowed our worker centers to support black workers in gaining access to employment pathways to family, supportive careers in various industries, help decrease unemployment and homelessness. Extend the program, please, via SB 1030 and support Senate Bill 16 to allow for localizing protections against discrimination. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi. Good afternoon. My name is Carmen Gutierrez. I am an organizer at the Clean Car Wash Workers Center and we represent car wash workers. We are located in the City of LA and we service members throughout Los Angeles, Inland Empire and Orange County. And we are here in support of not taking away funds from this very vital program, the California Worker Outreach Program.

It's vital for our members to receive this very valuable information, and I urge you to help secure more funds for many of the CBOs that are here. It has really increased our capacity to do this work. Thank you.

Thank you.

[Foreign Language]

Hello, everyone. My name is Aracele Barrios from Valley Voices representing King County in Hamford, and I'm here in support of the farm workers. I myself have worked 28 years in the fields, and Valley Voices has given me the voice to represent and also to inform those that don't know about their rights, whether it's about the water, shade, food, because they don't know. And this would help us keep informing them about their rights. Thank you.

Thank you.

Gracias.

Hello. My name is Juvenal Solano from MICOP from Ventura County. And I am the Director of the community organization of MICOP in Ventura County. And we're an organization that works mainly with farm workers, indigenous farm workers like Mixtecos, Zapotecas, Purépechas, among others. And for farm workers, it's very important and crucial to have the resources available for their workers rights and their health. For them to be reached in the language that they speak. And more so to collaborate.

And so that they can know also culturally and linguistically, the rights. To also know their worker rights is the first step to justice, dignity for people that put food in our tables, but also to exercise this is fundamental. That's why the organizations here representing us, we're asking to keep the funding, the appropriate fundings for CWOP, the project and the outreach program in place, so that we can keep obtaining the money. So that it can be used for the education of these farm workers in the different industries as we go along. Thank you.

Thank you. Excellent translating there.

Sorry. I'm so short. Hola, muy buenas tardes a presidente y miembros del Comité. Me llamo Griselda Reyes Basurto. Soy Gerente del programa del CWOP y represento a mi organización proyecto mixteco indígena en la costa central de California. Nuestro empuje nuestro enfoque y objetivo es llegar a los trabajadores en la área geográfica afectada por el hobby a través de información. A las divulgaciones educativa y en diferentes lenguas indigenas con los trabajadores informando ampliamente y concientizar a las leyes laborales relacionadas con las proyecciones de salud y seguridad en el lugar de trabajo los derechos de los beneficios y licencias enfermedades por pagadas y por protección a los empleados y a otros recursos los siguientes servicios son críticos tales como compensación de trabajadores protección contra las represalias apoyar a las presentaciones de quejas por incumplimiento para los trabajadores agrícolas. Agradezco mucho de su tiempo y esperemos que los fondos sigan permaneciendo para que organizaciones sin fines de lucro como nosotros sigmas continuando con nuestro labor. Gracias.

Hello. My name is Griselda Reyes. And this is regarding the project, the outreach program in the place of Covid-19 in California. So, good afternoon. President and Members of the Committee. I'm here representing the people from CWOP, representing in favor of CWOP. And I represent the community organization Proyecto Mixteco in the counties of Central California.

Our focus and objective is to reach the workers in these geographic areas and the affected areas by Covid-19 through the dissemination of information and education in different indigenous languages to these workers, informing them and amplifying their conscience about these working laws related to the protections to the health protections and security in place in their workplaces, and also their rights and benefits to whenever they are sick, and the protections of these employees.

The following services are critical, such as compensation for workers, protections against revenge, and to support the representation, the presentation of any of any comments against the employers. Thank you.

Buenas tardes a presidente y miembros del Comité. Mi nombre es Jacqueline Gabriel. Soy miembro de la comunidad Purépecha y organizadora comunitaria del Proyecto Mixteco Indígena donde apoyo a los trabajadores agrícolas indigenas en la cuidad desde Santa Paula, Fillmore y Piru. Se por experiencia propia y testimonios de trabajadores a través de estrategias de organización de visitas caseras, reuniones individuales y foros comunitarios que muchos de ellos tendrían recursos limitados a los que recurrir si no tuvieron una organización como la nuestra en la que pudieran confiar y pido apoyo para fondos. Gracias.

Hi, I'm Jacqueline Gabriel from Ventura County, from Proyecto Mixteca Indigena MICOP. Good afternoon, President and Members of the Committee, and I am part of the community Purépecha and an organizer of the community of Del Proyecto Mixteco Indigena, where I support all the farm workers, indigenous workers in the cities of Santa Paula, Fillmore and Piru.

And I know from my own experience and for things that the other workers told me that through the strategies that our organization is doing, going to visit the people at their houses, having one on one meetings with them for community, for us, that most of them, they will have very limited resources if they didn't know what to do through our agency, that helps us. So please, I ask you if you can support the funds from CWOP. Thanks.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Chair and esteemed Members. My name is Vanessa Terán. I'm Policy Director with MICOP. I know you've had a long day, so thank you so much for listening to us. I want to take this opportunity for you to really know some of the vital work we hit on the ground. Over fiscal year 2022 to 2023, we were able to hit over 58,000 indigenous community members across the three counties of the California central coast, Ventura County, Santa Barbara County and San Luis Obispo County.

79% in Ventura, 14% in Santa Barbara County, 7% in San Luis Obispo. Our collective efforts also reach over 300,000 hits on social media and over 480,000 people via our indigenous radio station. These numbers highlight the critical importance of retaining CWOP funds for the future health, safety and well being of all California workers. So I want to respectfully ask you for your support of continual funds to CWOP. Thank you.

Hi, good afternoon. My name is Laura. I'm with the Center for Workers Rights. We're a CBO. That's located here in Sacramento. And today I come to urge the protection of CWOP, the California Worker Outreach Project. With CWOP, we have been able to help more than 10,000 workers through one on one conversation, phone banking, and know your rights presentations.

The conversations that we have been having with workers have ranged all the way from the start of the pandemic, accessing Covid-19 vaccines to health tests, and even understanding supplemental paid sick leave. We also now with CWOP, we are helping folks with wage step information, heat, illness, and health and safety at work. So we do urge the protection of CWOP.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Members of the Committee. My name is Karla Jimenez Teran, and I'm with East Los Angeles Women's Center, and we are serving industrial workers, a part of our Promotora Institute program. A lot of them are survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and even human trafficking.

And a lot of them have to experience retaliation after, let's say, during work time that they have to file a complaint for sexual harassment, and they start experiencing retaliation, such as being laid off, such as asking to start work before the time and not being paid for that time, et cetera, et cetera. And the list goes on.

And so I urge you to protect funding for CWOP and to reject the proposed transfer fund, the labor and workforce development, because we have been key to these industrial workers that are in need of this information to know that they do have rights. So thank you very much.

Good afternoon. Sela Steiger, on behalf of Legal Aid at Work, I appreciate the Committee's discussion and consideration of the EDDNext project. And we'd just like to highlight a proposal that we're hoping will be integrated in the next round of funding. Currently, workers in California are unable to apply for paid family leave and state disability insurance programs until they are already on an unpaid leave of absence from work.

And obviously, this can create some issues in terms of having certainty before beginning that leave, of whether they are eligible for benefits and what amount of money they will be able to obtain. We have a matching bill authored by Senator Durazo, SB 1090, which proposes to allow folks to apply early to both of these programs, up to 30 days. Obviously, you know that people enter these leaves when they are disabled from working or welcoming a newborn into their home or caring for an ill family member.

So we really support that integration into EDDNext, and again, appreciate the opportunity to speak on it and happy to offer any more information. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hello. My name is Jenya Cassidy. I'm the Executive Director, California Work and Family Coalition, also appreciate today's discussion around EDDNext. And like my colleague before me. Oh, and I also have permission to speak for the- Oh, one second, sorry. So we wanted to highlight the issue as well of being able to apply early for paid family leave and state disability insurance. Many workers assume that they can apply early and it really messes up their application when they try to. Not to mention that people are going on unpaid leave and then they're not certain of when they'll get their benefits. So this has been a problem.

Also, I was speaking on behalf of Friends Service Committee on Legislation as well. We would like to claimants to be able to apply early as outlined in SB 1090, the Durazo bill as well. Thank you.

Good afternoon. My name is Bryan Sanchez with the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice. Here today, on behalf of the immigrant workers of the Inland Empire, I urge you to protect funding for CWOP, the California Worker Outreach Program. In my experience, immigrant and undocumented workers are the most vulnerable to wage theft and to workplace abuse and unsafe working conditions.

Due to their background, either their immigration status or a language barrier, they oftentimes are unable to or afraid to seek out the education for their rights and are afraid to denounce their abusive employers. CWOP allows CBOs that have earned the trust of the community to continue to do the work to educate and empower workers. I'm also here in support of the Safety Net For All, which I hope you take into consideration in future budget talks. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, everyone. My name is Kay and I'm a community organizer from Chinese Progressive Association. And I'm here today to represent over 20,000 Chinese based, low income workers in our base and to advocate for more funding for California Workplace Outreach Program. And in the past year, we are able to talk with over 4000 low income Chinese workers to educate them about different labor rights.

And here today, and I'm going to interpret for her, one of our member leaders to share about her story.

and Jungle, we are sending Gong Yang so gong or Jinxi Yu Kang Length mo yo say mo ga bam fight yo ya Ting Hai ted damo dang Cha dang taiwi and Jung bo wigan xinchin Gong Yang king. Welcome. Order. Tito gong zo lady gong zo Yu kohai Fana lo go Jin yapa go Chi Yu Kao Yi Ga ya so yo yeah, yeah. Gong Yang Kiye Ho Zhong. You know.

Hello, everyone. I'm Fanny Lee and I'm a domestic worker and I'm here to advocate for more funding for the outreach program. And I used to work for seven days a week with no rest, no meal break for my employer and also with no overtime payment. And one day I was at the bus station and I met someone from, an organization from China's Progressive Association to tell me about the labor rights. So I know that what my employer did actually violates my rights.

And with her help, I actually negotiated with my boss to demand I need some rest. So now I have one day off per week, and I think outreach is so important because there are so many workers around me just face the similar situation as I do. So I also want to help more workers to know about their rights with this program. Thank you.

Hello, Madam Chair and Members of the Committee. My name is Daniela Urban, on behalf of the Center for Workers Rights. We're based here in Sacramento, and throughout the pandemic we assisted more than 24,000 claimants with their unemployment claims. So we're here today to talk about budget items 3 and 4 related to EDD. First is EDDNext.

We're in strong support of the continued financial support of the EDDNext program, but we encourage the Budget Committee to continue to dig deeper than just this one graphic that we've seen now for two years on what is going into EDDNext and how they're engaging with stakeholders. We have been working with them and want to continue to provide advice and support on their customer experience. We think that that's essential to assuring quality outcome at the end of this project.

We also want to address the budget or the general fund borrowing as it relates to the UI Fund. As was discussed, we're in a deficit with our UI Fund and there's no projection to come out of that.

We believe that it's necessary to address this with SB 1434, which is the UI budget funding proposal, which would both increase the taxable wage base to employers to get out of the insolvency issue while also updating our benefits amount to be consistent with current standards so that when people are on unemployment, they're actually able to pay their bills. We don't think that workers should continue to pay with their tax dollars from the general fund, and instead employers should be paying that through their taxable wage base.

So we believe any future borrowing from the general fund should be contingent on a plan to increase the amounts paid by employers to the UI Fund. Thank you.

Buenos tardes. Mi hombre es Francisca Santiago, isoi miembra De KIWA in Los Angeles. Protejan El presupuesto paraquig esc segir asiento La Deferencia, en la communidad, sobrelos De Richos laborales. Much as gracias.

Hello. My name is Francisca Santiago, and I am a Member of KIwA in Los Angeles. And I came here to ask you to please, if you can, support CWAP. And also because this is helping me to inform the community about their labor rights. Thanks. Good afternoon.

My name is Ninel Centeno, and I'm an organizer with KIWA in Los Angeles and the California Coalition for Workers Power. The California Workplace Outreach Program, or CWOP, is a vital statewide program, and we're asking you to protect CWOP budget. Please. Thank you.

My name is Kyong Cham Min. I'm a Member with KIWA and also residence worker in Los Angeles. We ask you to protect the CWAP budget, and we support SB 1030. Thank you, Kamsamida.

Thank you.

Hi. My name is Hyun Kang. I was a restaurant worker for nine years. Now I'm an organizer at Koreatown Immigrants Workers Alliance. KiwA in Los Angeles, part of the California Coalition for Worker Power. There are still many restaurant, retail, and glossary. Workers are experiencing wage theft, but remain unaware of their rights. The California workplace Outreach program. CWAP is a vital statewide program, and we are asking you to protect the CWAP budget so we, Kiwa, can persist in conducting CWAP outreach to workers.

Through the worker empowerment clinic in the community on a daily basis. And we support SB 1030. Thank you.

Hello. I deeply appreciate the patience, commitment and hard work of the Committee and staff. My name is Alexandra SA. I'm the Executive Director of KIWA in Los Angeles and also co President of the California Coalition for Worker Power. Can you say that again? Key Kiwa Koreatown Immigrant Workers alliance. Yes, we work with tens of thousands of workers in Orange and Los Angeles County each year. And in the 30 years that we've been in existence, we've never seen a program with the impact and scope of CWAP.

The California Workplace Outreach project. And so we came all the way from Los Angeles. Some of us took days off work to urge you to protect the CWAP budget. Thank you. Thank you.

National Paradesnoya Pediro Paral Programa De Richardes Sidokoma Cwat Perotamian per k. S programma salute and Tosa idiom and tons of importante you.

Hello. My name is Armando Celestino, and I am from the binational Center for Oaxacan Indigenous Development. And I'm from Fresno, California, and I'm here to ask for funds to be secure for CWAP, also known as SB 1030 because it's impacted me and my community.

I've been informed about benefits such as health care and worker rights, and I bring this information to my community in the language that they speak. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

So much.

Paratovo Los migrante.

Hello. My name is Conorato Velasco from Madeira County, and I'm here to support SB 227, which supports the safety net for all. Which supports the safety net for all. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Good afternoon. My name is Hector Saldiva. I'm the workforce coordinator for you United Food and Commercial Workers 1428. I basically help organize and run the workforce trainings for workers in the retail, healthcare, and food processing industries in the eastern parts of La County, as well as San Bernardino. County. I asked the Committee to oppose the proposed $125,000,000 loan from the labor and Workforce Development Fund to the General Fund.

These labor and workforce development funds help support the California Workplace Outreach project, also known as CWAP, as well as the high road training partnerships. These funds are crucial to support outreach to workers and educate workers about the rights. I'm also asking for a dedicated food chain workers funding designation within the HRTP funds. Just to give you an example, we just received the funds to do outreach this year. We are currently talking to a group of 1000 workers at a food processing plant.

There's a ton of issues like workplace safety, as well as, wait, theft, retaliation. But the most dire thing is around workplace safety. The air quality inside that food processing plant is dire. Just a month ago, they had an ammonia leak where workers were sick, ill, fainting at the work site. The employer did not call the medical attention, and when we were talking to the workers, this is something that actually happens regularly. As you may know, ammonia leaks can actually be fatal.

So we're working with these workers to actually figure out what's the best way that they can advocate for themselves. And if it wasn't for the cwap funds, we would not be able to not just understand what's going to outreach to them in a way that we can make a connection, but actually provide training and hands on expertise support for them to advocate for themselves. Thank you.

Good afternoon, Madam Chair. Alejandro Solis, on behalf of communities for new California and Comitas Civic, we support the governor's 2425 budget proposal to delay expenditure of the remaining 300 $1.0 million appropriation for the surf program jobs first by allocating 100 million annually in 2425 to 2627. We also support the program extension as proposed in budget trader Bill Language. Thank you for your time. Thank you.

Hi, my name is Megan Stanzak. I'm a workforce development development coordinator with UFCW local five in the Bay Area. I am testifying in opposition to the $125,000,000 loan from the Labor Workforce Development Fund. This loan will affect critical programs like the California Work outreach program that informs workers about their rights for a safe workplace. Additionally, this loan means cuts to high roads training partnership in our union, and Members rely on this.

We would ask you to make a specific designation in the HRTP for food chain workers to be recognized as essential work sector for workforce funding. As a frontline worker myself for the last 16 years before accepting this position, I can tell you how important this funding is for all California workers.

Thank you.

Hello. Good afternoon. My name is Mariano Carranza from Fresno, California, and I'm here to ask you to support the law that just passed regarding the 40 hours plus for the paid overtime. Because what's happened to me is that the employers don't want to pay us for the OT. So to circumvent that, they pay us in cash, or sometimes they want to pay us with another name. Thank you.

Good afternoon, Committee Members. My name is Kathy Huang and I'm with Power Switch Action, and in California, we represent seven affiliates that cover two thirds of the state. We're also here as Members of the California Coalition for Worker Power. I urge you to protect the California Workplace Outreach program funding. We're really concerned about the proposed loan from the LWDA that will put CWAP funding at risk.

CWAP is an essential program that has reached over 6 million workers in 46 languages in the past three years, and we must continue to Fund this program to ensure that California workers are educated and empowered. I'd also like you to urge you to consider safety net for all, a stationet for undocumented workers for future funding. Thank you.

Good afternoon. John Shaban, with legislative advocate with the California Nurses Association. Calocia has been unable to do their job protecting workers'health effectively for many years due to inadequate funding, understaffing and high turnover. CaloshA leads the nation in setting landmark occupational safety and health standards, and to this day, we're the only state with an aerosol transmissible diseases standard for healthcare facilities. CaloshA also has the most comprehensive workplace violence prevention and safe patient handling standards for healthcare workers in the country.

Having standards that explicitly establish employers'obligations to protect workers and establishing workers'rights to a safe workplace boosts our members'ability to hold their employers accountable. However, long term funding and retention challenges among KalOSHA staff have led to dire situation where agency is unable to effectively enforce its own landmark standards. Too often, workers have been unable to turn to KaloShA for support on holding recalcitrant employers accountable to their legal and moral obligation to provide a safe workplace.

It is essential that CalOSHA is funded, adequately enabled to hire and retain inspection staff so the agency can once again protect California's workers. Many nurses are leaving the bedside due to unsafe working conditions and employers blatant disregard for their health, particularly during the COVID pandemic. It's vital that CalOSHA have the resources to help us improve safety in our healthcare facilities.

To recruit and retain experienced nurses, we urge this Subcommitee to ask for this budget support to adequately enable calocia in their responsibility in protecting workers on a job.

Thank you.

Thank you. Hello. Good afternoon. I'm Rachel Vankenhoven, representing WorkSafe out of Oakland and here as well with the California Coalition for Worker Power. As California's leading statewide advocacy organization dedicated to promoting and protecting the basic right of all people to a safe and healthy workplace, we see too many workers who are unable to access California's strong labor laws due to language gaps, lack of institutional trust and access, and other conditions that employers in many industries leverage in order to cut corners and increase their profits.

CWAP and DWAP are vital bridges, working with trusted community organizations to reach out to workers in their own languages, and they are making the labor laws real for millions who would otherwise suffer in silence. We urge you strongly to preserve these important programs in the budget, and we also urge you to support safety net for all, for all of the workers who are left out of the benefits they have rightfully earned through their labor and their taxes. Thank you. Good afternoon.

My name is Jocelyn Lopez Hagman and I'm the California organizer with United for Respect. We advocate for retail worker rights, including Walmart and Amazon workers. I'm here with the California Coalition for Worker Power to support securing permanent funding for the COVID Worker Outreach project.

The CWAP funding we received was crucial in reaching hundreds of workers across California and providing them with the essential personal protective equipment at their workplace that their employers were not providing, and educating them on their rights, especially around the retaliation and lack of safety protections they were experiencing at their workplace.

I urge you to protect funding for the COVID worker Outreach project and reject the proposed transfer of funds so we can continue reaching as many workers across the state to educate them on their rights and empower them to speak up for themselves and their coworkers. Thank you so much for your time. Lacritura este the necessary El Media Clamos parasiwa paracasipolamos. Good afternoon, President and Members of the Committee. My name is Ophelia Flores, and I'm an organizer with Mikob on the Ventura County.

And we think that we need to trust and to support. Sorry. Because we need to support para. Because it's very important for the workers that they have a way to send their claims. Like in cases that, for example, when salaries are stolen, and it's very frequently in our community, especially in the people that works in the farm, because most or several of them, they don't know how to write or read, and they speak their maternal language.

And so it will be better if they have the resources to send their claims in a good way. Otherwise, usually these cases are not resolved. And also, it's very important if you can continue to support CWAP, because that really helps us in the fight against the ropes of salaries. Thanks.

Thank you. Francisco Rodriguez with the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council. We have over 80 affiliated unions with. Representing 36,000 union Members across Monterey County and Santa Cruz County. We are here to urge you to support CWAP and to reject any transfer of funds from the program. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hello. My name is Andres Pomad. I'm from Tubu Travalores Sunilos Workers United. It's a regional worker center in the SFB area, so it covers San Francisco and Oakland. And I'm here to kind of highlight how CWAP has been really instrumental in keeping essential workers informed about their labor rights, and from there, also working with them to overcome some of the fears of actually making those rights met. And in addition to that, I would also like to uplift safety net for all.

So the importance of having Unemployment Insurance for excluded immigrant workers, too.

I'm sorry, where did you say? Which group?

Zero, from Tubu Travahor Sunidos Workers United.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Madam Chair Members. My name is Elda Solomon. I'm the policy manager with the Southern California Black Worker hub. We are a hub within the Southern California region, connecting the five regional black worker centers in Los Angeles, Inland Empire, San Diego, high Desert and Long beach. We're also engaged with hundreds of thousands of black workers in the Southern California region, and we are here in full, enthusiastic support for the California Workplace Outreach project and protecting the very limited funds that are directed towards that project.

We know that black workers experience discrimination, wage theft, health and safety concerns in the workplace at disproportionately higher rates, and in disproportionately more dangerous sectors and industries. And we urge you to protect the work that we are doing as community based organizations to ensure that workers are informed and educated of their rights in the workplace.

Thank you. Thank you. Good afternoon. Chair Jazzy Graywell with UFCW Western States Council, speaking in opposition to the $125,000,000 loan out of the California Workforce Development Fund and speaking in support of the CWAP program, as well as making sure that we retain and maintain funding for HRTPs, the high road training partnership. UFCW does specifically have an ask for a food chain worker designation.

Within HRTPs, we are not seen as one holistic sector, but multiple different sectors, from ag to processing to retail, and so making sure we're looking at that whole sector holistically in our workforce training program. Thank you. Thank you. That was our last public speaker and we are happy to have heard all of the input. We will take it back and I have a very long list of organizations that spoke on behalf of CWAP and many other issues.

We thank you for your attendance, and that is the ending of our hearing.