Assembly Standing Committee on Labor and Employment

Good afternoon. Welcome to the Labor and Employment Committee. I am now putting out a call to all Senators who should be in here presenting bills. If you can please make your way to the Labor and Employment Committee, we would appreciate that.

Welcome to the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee Hearing. In order to facilitate the goal of the hearing as much from the public within the limits of our time, we will not permit conduct that--the conduct that disrupts, disturbs, or otherwise impedes the orderly conduct of legislative proceedings. Commenters who impede the orderly conduct of this meeting will be ruled out of order and may be removed.

Announcements: reminder for our witness policy. For each bill, we will take two main witnesses in support and two main witnesses in opposition. Each primary witness will get up to two minutes each. For additional public comment, we ask that you state your name, affiliation, and position on the bill. Secretary, can you please call the roll to establish quorum?

[Roll Call]. We have a quorum.

Thank you. We were going to be going out of order. Seeing Senator Durazo. If you are ready, we can move with Item Number Eight and Nine.

Good afternoon, Madam Chair. Does it make a difference to you if I do the other one first? Okay.

Okay. So, I can do SB 513? Great. Thank you. Okay. Thank you, Madam Chair and Members. SB 513 ensures that qualified employee training records are comprehensive of all training, useful in demonstrating skills, and accessible for an employee search when they're looking for a new job. When workers are laid off, they must respond quickly and find new employment opportunities.

In some cases, training records are being withheld from employees until the end of their employment. For example, the Phillips 66 Refinery notified their employees that they would be laid off in in December of 2025. However, their training and education records are being withheld from them until August 2025. This is unfair.

Workers need to prepare, verify their training certificates, and search for their next job opportunity in advance, as much as possible, and not until the last minute. They have families to feed and communities to care for, housing. And they are experts in their specialties.

They just need to prove their training certifications to future and potential employers and prepare for their—for those careers—especially as job sectors transition to meet state climate goals. But how will they find a job if they cannot get access to their records?

It's like if somebody was withholding your bachelor's degree and then you need it for job opportunity, but you can't prove that you have the degree because it is being withheld from you. Another example happened in 2020 with the Marathon Refinery in the Bay Area, which affected about 350 workers represented by the United Steel Workers.

Workers at Marathon shared that they needed assistance with skilled verification, training programs, and job search assistance. Members, 513—SB 513—ensures employees across sectors can confidently demonstrate their certifications which describe their formal skills. Employers are in control. Employees have no other way to require their employers to provide them with their education or training certificate—certifications.

Today, we have the pleasure of hearing from our witness, Regina K. Fleming, United Steelworkers Process Safety Representative, and Catherine Houston with USW, available to answer any technical questions.

Hi, I'm Regina Fleming and I've been working for Phillips 66 LAR for 17 years. I was there when they announced the closure of our refinery. After that, shortly after that, we had to go into bargain effects. During our bargain effects, they basically held our training records over our heads, and we had to bargain for that.

Since that time, since that time, we have access to them, 90 days. 90 days—for only 90 days. That is going to expire December 1st. We're not going to have our layoff notices until September and that's when we don't even know if we're going to get laid off before December 1st.

So, the biggest problem here is that they dismantled the entire training Department. They sent all of the trainers that has access to all of our work that were supposed to be putting packages together for us back to the units. So, there's no one there right now that is going to give us our training records.

We're afraid that we're going to be just like Marathon Martinez and they're going to tell us, no, we just can't get anything. This Bill is so important for us right now because with me being there for 17 years, people have been there for three years.

They just thought they had a great career to go to—people there for 40 years. We just really need access to our training records because after that, we just start all over again. We will have to start all over again. You're welcome. Thank you.

Thank you. Do we have additional witnesses in support?

Good morning—afternoon, I should say. So, I just wanted to say, as Regina had mentioned, that this Bill is really key for us because I want you to mention that you have spent your entire career working in a highly volatile, high hazard work environment.

And when it is time that you are laid off and you ask your employer for your records to prove all of the training certification in this highly volatile high hazard arena, and you are told—flat out told—no.

And so, when you are talking about the marketability of a person, their value, so much of our value is attached to who we are and what we do as our jobs. So, if you can't effectively go to your next employer and make that case for what your job is because the employer flat out tells you no, or in this case, hangs it over your head as a bargaining chip, that is completely unacceptable.

Honestly, I have to say, to me, it's ridiculous to have to run a Bill to say can we have access to our records, that we have worked for our entire careers. So, respectfully request your support and ask for an aye vote.

Thank you.

Thank you. Are there additional witnesses in support?

Good afternoon. Mitch Steiger with CFT, a union of educators and classified professionals, also in support.

Madam Chair and Members, Sarah Flocks, California Federation of Labor Unions, in support.

Thank you, Chair and Members. Jp Hanna, with the California Nurses Association, in support.

Isabel Solis, President, Los Amigos De La Comunidad, Imperial County, in support.

Good afternoon. Connor Gusman, on behalf of California Teamsters, in support. Thank you.

Seeing no others in support. Do we have any main witnesses in opposition? Seeing none. Do we have any, any witnesses in opposition? Okay. Seeing none. I'll turn it over to the dais. Yes.

Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you, Senator, for bringing this forward and I agree with you and the witnesses that this behavior from employers is appalling.

Once the training occurs, that skills and—those skills and knowledge—belongs to the worker, that you have those skills, you have that knowledge, withholding the certificate—certification—or any documentation that you've actually gained that knowledge as a bargaining chip or any other type of retribution, retaliation, or just laziness, whatever reason they're doing it, is unacceptable.

So, I appreciate you bringing this Bill forward. It's common sense. I would like to be at it as a coauthor and like to move the Bill.

Vice Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. And just I want to say thank you for bringing this forward. I think it might have been one of my shortest meetings of the year. When we met about this Bill, I was like, this is actually a thing. We're good, so just happy to support it. And thank you for bringing it.

It's just weird that we actually, to your point, have to run a Bill to get this done. Public safety, we use certificates all the time and it follows them. So, thank you for bringing it forward.

Thank you.

Yeah. And I'm actually glad to see there was no opposition because I would really find it absurd for there to be opposition on such a basic thing as you mentioned your skills are essential.

To be able to take that education that you've received on the job for up to 20, 30 years, to not be able to take that with you just seems very, very ridiculous. So, I'm glad that we're able to help in addressing this concern today. With that, I will enter—oh, would you like to close, Senator?

Thank you all very much for your comments and I respectfully ask for your aye vote.

I would entertain a motion. Okay, it's been moved and second. Secretary, please call the roll.

[Roll Call]

That Bill is out, 5-0.

Thank you very much. Thank you.

Okay, if I can move on now?

Yes, please.

SB 809. And thank you to the committee for their work on the bill. I will be making the amendments outlined on page seven of the analysis. I'm proud to present this bill to stop the misclassification of truck-owner drivers in the construction industry.

This bill will provide amnesty to employers who have misclassified these drivers as independent contractors, provided they, one: reclassify them as employees, and two: compensate them properly. In 2019, AB 5 established clearer laws on worker classification. This law exempted construction trucking companies from classifying their drivers as employees for five years to give them time to come into compliance.

Unfortunately, despite that five-year exemption--it expired last year--many employers have continued to misclassify drivers, depriving them of basic protections like overtime pay, Workers' Compensation, and the right to unionize.

SB 809 provides a clear solution by incentivizing employers to comply with the law, providing them the legal amnesty for past violations of the law, provided they reclassify the drivers as employees. The second part of this bill is implementing the two-check system.

This system ensures that drivers are paid two checks: one for their labor and one for the use of their equipment. This guarantees they're compensated fairly for both their time and the expenses related to their trucks, such as fuel and maintenance.

This bill will provide clarity and fairness, benefiting both employers and the workers and creating a level playing field. I'm proud to have two representatives with me here today: Matt Broad with the California Teamsters and Judy Yee with the State Building and Construction Trades Council.

Madam Chair and members, Matt Broad, here on behalf of the California Teamsters, who are proud to sponsor SB 809. You know, I'll make my comments brief. I would just say that this bill is the proverbial carrot in the carrot in the stick.

The exemption has tolled at the end of 2024 for construction trucking, and we're doing our best to bring employers into compliance with the law in a way that benefits them but also benefits the employee as well, and the way we're doing that is saying, if you implement this high road jobs model, the two-check system, that in turn, you can get immunized for liability for misclassification.

This is a model that's been used across the United States and it's worked really well to transition workers, previously independent contractors and employees because it does compensate them fairly for their investment in a vehicle, a truck, and make sure that they're getting one check for their wages and benefits and another check for the fair use of their vehicle, and so we think it's about high time that we bring workers into compliance with this law in the construction industry, and we ask your aye vote. Thank you.

Madam Chair and members, Judy Yee, on behalf of the State Buildings and Construction Trades Council. We are also a proud co-sponsor of SB 809, along with the Teamsters. This bill provides construction employers with a pathway for AB 5 compliance while simultaneously alleviating their outstanding liability for misclassification. It's both a win for workers who will reap the benefits of the two-check system and a win for employers who can do right by workers while avoiding unnecessary litigation.

We know that the misclassification in construction trucking is a decades-old problem that has grown due to trucking brokers dispatching misclassified workers on job sites. It's a long overdue overhaul for the construction industry to come into compliance with AB 5, we believe that this is a useful tool, and respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Thank you. Are there additional witnesses in support?

Good afternoon, chair and members. Elmer Lizardi, here on behalf of the California Federation of Labor Unions, in support.

Isabel Solis, president of Los Amigos de la Comunidad, in support.

Aloha, members. Mitchell Bechtel, on behalf of the District Council of Ironworkers, in support.

Good afternoon. Matt Cremins, California-Nevada Conference of Operating Engineers, in support.

Catherine Viera Houston, United Steelworkers District 12, in support.

Do we have any main witnesses in opposition? Seeing none, I will turn it over to the dais. Do we have any questions? Senator, would you like to close?

No. Thank you all very much. Appreciate your time.

We have a motion and a second. Secretary, please call the roll.

On SB 809: Durazo, the motion is do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on Judiciary. [Roll Call].

That bill is out; five/zero. Thank you, Senator.

Thank you all very much. Appreciate your time.

Before we move to the next item, I would like a moment of personal privilege to congratulate our Vice Chair, Heath Flora, for becoming a new Minority Leader. Congratulations. Senator Smallwood-Cuevas, please, when you are ready. Item number three, SB 578.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Good afternoon, Assemblymembers. I am proud to be with you.

After spending some good time with your chair this this morning and afternoon, I am pleased to present SB 578, which would codify the California Workplace Outreach Program, a vital effort to ensure workers across our state are educated on their rights and empowered to assert them.

SB 578 formally establishes the CWOP in the Labor Code, building on the success of a pandemic-era model that empowered trusted community organizations to provide workers, especially those low wage and high violation industries, with accurate multilingual workplace rights information. The need for workplace rights education goes far beyond COVID.

And we know this because so many workers are in those highly unregulated, low wage industries. Every year, California workers lose nearly $2 billion to minimum wage violations. And according to the national employment law project, 38% of California workers experience experienced workplace violations from wage theft, unsafe working conditions, retaliation, and discrimination.

Too often, the workers most vulnerable to abuse are the least likely to know their rights and to have access to them, let alone to assert them. And SB 578 addresses that gap. CWOP began as a COVID response, we know, but it is a proven rule.

And in the last 14 months of alone, the program, run by 62 community organizations in partnership with the state, reached nearly 2 million workers across 38 counties, covering 96% of California's population. The state, as a result of that, remitted to the program $25 million in funding. And now it's time to give it permanent footing in law.

Other outreach programs, such as the Domestic Worker Rights Education Program, the Garment Worker Wage Claim Pilot Program, are codified in Labor Code. SB 578 ensures that CWOP has the same stability and accountability. And we want to recognize the effective way that labor laws require to inform workers, and this bill does that.

With me today to testify is Pamela with UC Berkeley Labor Center and Alexis with the Pomona Economic Opportunity Center.

Madam Chair and members of the Committee, my name is Pam Egan.

Can you move the microphone a little closer? Thank you.

There you go. Is that better? Thank you, Madam Chair and Members of the Committee. My name is Pam Egan and I'm with the UC Berkeley Labor Center. Much of our work focuses on the policies and practices that ensure safe and dignified workplaces for all workers, especially immigrant, black, and indigenous workers and workers of color.

We're fortunate that California's workplace protections are the strongest in the country. But their intended impact is undercut when workers either don't know or don't trust the standards, rights, and mechanisms that protect them. The California Workplace Outreach Program provides the infrastructure that can address that problem.

My colleagues at the UC Berkeley possibility lab studied CWOP's impact and their study confirms that workers in low wage industries want to know their rights at work. Four out of five are concerned about getting sick at work, unsafe working conditions, employer retaliation for bringing up issues and not getting time off to care for others.

But workers in low wage industries generally don't know their rights. Between 32% and 54% of workers surveyed struggled to identify violations.

On the flip side, though, workers who had been educated by a trusted messenger organization through CWOP are more likely to be aware of fair payment laws, legal protection regardless of immigration status, and their right to use paid sick leave.

Another area of concern is that 2/3 of workers in low wage industries are unfamiliar with the Labor Commissioner's Office and 80% distrust government generally. Worker's trust is much higher though, in local community organizations.

And workers who've connected with trusted messenger organizations through CWOP are more likely to take action to confront labor violations than workers who've never been educated or supported by a community organization. My colleagues and I at UC Berkeley, at UCLA, and at UC Merced Labor Centers, we work directly with DIR to administer the program, now in its fifth iteration, we see firsthand that CWOP is a scalable and cost-effective intervention. Thanks very much.

Hi, can you hear me?

Yes.

Good afternoon, Chair and members. Before I start, I just want to say that one of the biggest motivators to make California a thriving place for workers is not just the day laborers and domestic workers I work with on a daily basis, but also my autistic son who's three and a half.

Teodoro, if you can hear me, I love you, my son. My name is Alexis Teodoro, and I serve as the Worker Rights Director for the Pomona Economic Opportunity Center where we support day laborers and domestic workers and other low wage workers across LA County and across the Inland Empire.

Through the California Workplace Outreach Project, we reached hundreds of immigrant workers, many who faced wage theft, unsafe working conditions and retaliation simply for speaking up about their rights. Let me share a few stories: Elvira, one of our member domestic workers, was underpaid after being promised 25 per hour through CWOP.

She learned her rights, came to the day labor center, filed a wage claim. and is now educating other domestic workers about their workplace rights. Diego, a day laborer who was hired to remove drywall in many multiple residential homes with no protective gear.

Not only were his health and safety rights violated, but he was also a victim of wage theft. Again, through CWOP, we were able to file a wage claim. And most recently I've had the privilege to meet some of the women workers at Bargain 99, our retail store in Pomona.

I am privileged to work with Margarita, Maria, Jesse, Roxanna, four strong workers who have lost the fear of their boss and were being retaliated against simply for exercising the rights at the workplace.

Thanks to our supporting the collaboration of the CWOP program and in conjunction with BofI and Cal OSHA, the store was cited recently for serious health and safety violations and the workers voices were included in the investigation.

CWOP allows us to reach workers who are otherwise invisible on corners of the Home Depot, in homes, behind warehouse walls, and retail shops. It helps ensure that they're not alone when they speak up. CWOP is needed more than ever to support immigrant workers across the state. We're being targeted by a federal campaign of intimidation and violence.

Unfortunately, POC and other organizations have been unable to meet these needs because we're in the midst of a yearlong interruption in CWOP funding. POC is responding to rates at Home Depots and elsewhere. We were just raided this morning. They took five-day labors about an hour ago. This program, called CWOP, is a lifeline.

Writing CWOP into the Labor Code will help ensure continuous funding for this important work so we can respond immediately to crises, including racial profiling of immigrants and climate driven disasters like wildfires, as well as the ongoing needs of workers. I respectfully urge your support for SB 578 to strengthen and expand this critical infrastructure for labor justice. Thank you.

Thank you. Do we have any additional witnesses in support?

Good afternoon. Chair and members. Rachel Kennard, on behalf of the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence, in support of SB 578.

Good afternoon. Isabel Solis, President, Los Amigos De La Comunidad, in support from Imperial County.

Katie Duberg with California Work and Family Coalition, in strong support of SB 578. Also, on behalf of the following organizations in strong support, Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California, Black Women for Wellness Action Project, Building Skills Partnership, California Federation Business and Professional Women, California WIC Association, Caring Across Generations, Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice, End Child Poverty CA Powered by GRACE, and the Friends Committee on Legislation of California.

Kel O'hara with Equal Rights Advocates and strong support of SB 578. Also, on behalf of the following organizations in strong support: Health and Partnership, Mujeres Unidos y Activas, Orange County Equality Coalition, Santa Clara County Wage Theft Coalition, Tech Equity Action, Universidad Popular, Women's Employment Rights Clinic of Golden Gate University, and Women's Foundation California. Thank you.

Sarah Flocks, California Federation of Labor Unions, in support.

Rhiannon Morales with UFCW Western States Council, in support.

J.P Hanna, on behalf of the California Nurses Association, in support.

Hello. Cynthia Thornburg Ruffin with the Earthlodge Center for Transformation, in strong support.

Hello. Francisco Rodriguez with the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council, in strong support.

Hello. Rachel van Geenhoven with WorkSafe, member organization of the National Coalition of Occupational Health and Safety, in strong support.

Aliyah Javon here with the Earthlodge Center for Transformation, in fierce strong support. Thank you.

Darren Lewis with the Southern California Black Worker Hub for regional organizing, in strong support.

Christopher Hahn with the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council, in strong support.

Monét Warren with the Inland Empire Black Worker Center, in strong support.

Kiera Thomas, Inland Empire Black Worker Center, strong support.

Hi, I'm - oh, sorry. Veronica Boulos with the Ring of Democracy, in strong support.

Daniel Jefferson, Pilipino Worker Center, strong support.

Rachel Deutsch of the California Coalition for Worker Power, proud to sponsor this bill, in support.

[Foreign Language].

Blanca Morales, Calexico Wellness Center, representing Imperial County; strong support. Thank you.

[Foreign Language].

Johnny Nguyen with the Healthy California Nail Salon Collaborative, in support.

Good afternoon. George Placentia with the California Coalition for Worker Power, also in strong support. Thank you.

Thank you. Do we have any main witnesses in opposition? Any other witnesses in opposition? Seeing none. I will move it over to the dais. Members - yes, Assemblymember Kalra.

Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you to all the workers. Took the time to be here today. I'm already a proud principal co-author. Really appreciate the center for bringing this forward and like to move the bill.

Thank you so much to the author and to our witnesses as well as our community members for speaking on this bill today. I just want to like double down on the importance of doing real outreach and organizing with workers.

It's amazing to hear about how the pilot went specifically going to the workplaces of folks who truly don't understand their rights.

Until we do the work of really making the time to talk to them and having folks who really understand them and having those conversations and to expand that and to make it codified, it really means a lot for our community members, our working families.

So, thank you so much, Senator, for your vision to make sure that this happens.

Thank you, Senator, for bringing this bill forward and to our witnesses, especially in this moment. As was mentioned just an hour ago, members of our community were, you know, picked up by ICE just doing what they, what they, what we're here to do in this country, which is go to work, pay our bills, provide for our families.

Unfortunately, we're living in a time where our federal government is choosing to have this reign of terror in our community. And so, to be able to highlight and support amazing work is very important, especially in this moment.

And I'm grateful to be able to work with you and move this along so we can continue to support our communities now more than ever. With that, would you like to close?

I just want to thank you all for the work that you do every day on behalf of working people and for supporting this bill and your comments. We know we are in dangerous times, but it's always dangerous for these workers. These are the most vulnerable workers. These are the workers who have the least protection.

They're in the hardest, most unsafe jobs. And this bill ensures that we hear them and that they are able to access the rights that we are all passing for their benefit. But they don't work if workers don't have access to those laws and the ability to be able to report and get justice.

So, with that, I respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Do we have a motion?

We have a motion and a second. Secretary, please call the roll.

On SB 578 by Smallwood-Cuevas, the motion is do pass and be referred to the Committee on Appropriations. [Roll Call].

It's out 5-0. Thank you. We understand several Senators are in other committees, so we'll take a brief pause while we wait for them to make their way towards this committee. Actually, we're going to go ahead and do the consent calendar, Secretary.

So moved. Oh, you want to read it out first?

On the calendar there's four items. File item number two, SB 75 by Smallwood-Cuevas. The motion is do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on Public Safety with recommendation to consent calendar. File item number six, SB 400 by Cortese. The motion is do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on Appropriations with recommendation to consent calendar.

File item number 7, SB 597, Cortese. The motion is do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on Judiciary with a recommendation to consent calendar. File item number 10, SB 617 by Arreguín. The motion is do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on Appropriations with recommendation to consent calendar.

So moved.

With a motion and a second. Secretary, please call the roll.

[Roll Call] Consent calendar is out.

We're going to take a minute to add on to a few of the bills and open the roll.

[Roll call]

I know he's only a year younger than my son. Turns 29 today. Yeah. I could totally be your mother. I was, I was very, very, very young.

Yeah.

[Roll call]

Hey, there.

All right, Chair and Committee Members. SB 261 supports local enforcement of wage theft judgments by requiring the Labor Commissioner's Office to create a public list of employers with outstanding judgments. It also authorizes additional penalties of three times the outstanding judgment after six months of non-payment.

The existing process to file and pursue a wage theft claim is long and burdensome, often taking months or years. Even after the LCO issues a judgment, employers often don't pay. The Legislative Analyst's Office found that workers reported collecting less than a fifth of the unpaid wages they were owed.

This is an issue that disproportionately affects vulnerable communities in our state. Black and Latino workers, workers without college degrees, and non-citizens are all more likely to experience wage theft according to a Rutgers study. This bill will give enforcement some teeth and push non-compliant employers to pay what they owe.

Again, this is work already done by employees that should be paid, but their wage is being withheld. Here today in support of SB 261 is Betty Duong, Santa Clara County Supervisor and former head of the Santa Clara Office of Labor Standards Enforcement, and Sara Flocks, Legislative and Strategic Campaigns Director at the California Labor Federation.

Good afternoon, Chair Ortega and Committee Members. It is an honor and pleasure to be with you all today. First, I want to thank Senator Wahab for her leadership on reducing the prevalence of wage theft in our community and for her partnership on this bill. Yes.

Earlier in my career, I served as the County of Santa Clara's founding manager of the nation's first county based Office of Labor Standards Enforcement. The County of Santa Clara's OLSE works towards creating a healthy business economy and a safe working environment for everyone in our community.

Wage theft is the product of employers failing to pay workers the full wages or benefits to which they are legally entitled. Wage theft can happen to anyone, but disproportionately overwhelmingly impacts low wage workers in the retail, food, hospitality, construction, transportation, and health care industries. All the jobs that make our lives possible.

Most of the judgments go unpaid and there are few consequences for bad employers. In Santa Clara County, the Office of Labor Standards Enforcement uses our permitting powers, including contracts and food permits, to leverage as leverage to collect unpaid wage theft judgments. In partnership with state, local, and federal enforcement agencies, OLSE has returned more than $500,000 in unpaid wages back to workers.

While this has been a model to close judgments and get workers paid, much work remains. Between 2010 and 2024, the California Labor Commissioner's Office issued wage and hour judgments amounting to more than $35 million in Santa Clara County alone. SB 261 will help encourage businesses to satisfy their final wage theft judgments, which is critical to having a healthy economy.

Aggressively combating wage theft is good not only for workers but also for legitimate business owners who are paying their employees properly and are put at a competitive disadvantage to the bad actors committing wage theft as a business practice. This bill will also authorize the court to impose additional penalties after six months of prolonged non-payment.

But it will not come as a surprise. I want to note that businesses are contacted multiple times. They undergo investigation, they attend a hearing, they challenge the final judgment, they appeal it. After all that is done, they know what they owe, and this is going to make sure they pay it. Thank you.

Madam Chair, Members. Sara Flocks, California Federation of Labor Unions. Earlier in this hearing you heard about SB 578, about the importance of CWOP funding to make sure workers knew their rights and were able to then file claims when there were violations like wage theft.

This is the perfect corollary to that. Because what happens when a worker learns about their rights and that they're supposed to be paid minimum wage and they go and file? They have to wait. They have to go to a settlement conference where they often have to face their employer and testify when their employer has all the evidence. They have to wait again. They have to fill out forms, they have to show up so their claim's not dismissed, they have to go to a hearing.

All of this can take an average of two and a half years. During the time, they do not have the wages they were owed for the work they did, which means they may not be able to pay their cell phone bill, their Internet provider, their rent. So they're basically, if they can hold on to when they get a judgment, employers are not paying for six months.

So basically recalcitrant employers are able to starve out workers and that's how they are able to evade justice. It is not fair to put workers through this. This is a very... This is a bill just to kind of increase the penalties, measure it to the offense. So if you have stolen a bunch of wages from workers, millions of dollars, then three times what you have stolen would be the penalty. We think that's only fair, and we urge your aye vote.

Madam Chair and Members. Erin Evans on behalf of Santa Clara County. Just here to answer any questions.

Thank you. Do we have any main additional witnesses in support?

Mariko Yoshihara on behalf of the California Employment Lawyers Association in support.

Good afternoon. Elizabeth Espinosa on behalf of the Civil Prosecutors Coalition in support. Thank you.

Mitch Steiger with CFT, also in support.

Navnit Puryear on behalf of the California School Employees Association, also in support.

Whitney Francis with Western Center on Law and Poverty in support.

JP Hanna with the California Nurses Association in support.

Hi. Good afternoon. Janice O'Malley, AFSCME California, in support. Thank you.

Clifton Wilson on behalf of the City and County of San Francisco in support. Thank you.

Thank you. Seeing no other witnesses in support. Do we have any main witnesses in opposition? Seeing none. Turning it back to the dais. Assembly Member Kalra, yes.

Thank you, Madam Chair. And I want to thank Supervisor Duong for being here. I remember when you first started the Office of Labor Standards Enforcement. It definitely was a historical moment, not just for Santa Clara County, but for our nation to be the first to lead that.

And you've definitely become one of the preeminent both legal and policy minds when it comes to protecting workers in the state. And so I really appreciate you taking the time to be here. I know that this will be referred, if it gets out today, which I hope it will, to Judiciary. So I look forward to the continued movement of this piece of legislation onward. And so I'd like to move the bill.

Yes.

Yes. I would also like to thank our County Supervisor for coming all the way up from back home. But I wanted to give you a chance if you wanted, since you were very instrumental in the creating this. You want to brag about how county enforcement model is a model for the nation and how it's far better than the city enforcement. You want to brag about that?

Thank you. I fight, we win. So we are the only passive enforcement model in the country. We're the first ones. And what that means is that it's very active, even though it sounds passive. We don't have police powers as a county or entity, so we don't take a complaint and then conduct investigations, subpoenas.

And you know, we know that there's a whole, just a whole inventory of unpaid wage theft judgments amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars statewide. Right. So what we do is that we work with the state labor commissioner and our federal partners.

We get the most updated list of outstanding wage theft judgments, and these are appealed, exhausted, their final, final, final. That remains unpaid. We cross reference that with who we issue permits to. And we changed the county ordinance to say that a condition of having your permit is to abide by all local, state, and federal labor laws.

So we've been, once we send a letter saying that your permit is in danger. So food health permits, contracts with the county, the judgments are paid very quickly. But still, that only exists in the realm of existing permitting relationships. So there's still so much more to do. We get callers and workers all the time reaching out to us, saying that I'm experiencing wage theft right now.

So then we send them to our workers rights clinics, our legal advice line, and we rely on the ability of the state labor commissioner to be able to process these claims, the hearings, and then to be able to collect the final judgments. Thank you so much for allowing me the opportunity to brag.

Of course, I think we should always brag about our home county. So thank you. I'll second the motion if it's not already seconded.

I'll take a minute to also brag for you. I have a bill related to exactly your ordinance that you created that's been the first of its kind to actually establish it as a state priority to make sure that we address wage theft. And using your work and your model, you know, really being able to expand on that, make sure that it happens here in the State of California. And then I'm sure other states will follow as we address this wage theft crisis. Thank you for being here and thanks to the Senator for presenting her bill today. With that, would you like to close?

Respectfully ask for an aye vote. And I want to thank our witnesses.

Thank you. We have a motion and a second. Secretary, please call the roll.

On SB 261 by Wahab, the motion is do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on Judiciary. [Roll Call]

All right. That measure is out, 6-0. Thank you. We have two items remaining in Labor and Employment. If you're a Senator who is due to present in Labor and Employment, if you could please make your way here that would be very much appreciated.

We're going to open the roll to add on.

On item file item number 4, SB 261 by Wahab. [Roll Call]

Hello, Senator Padilla. Welcome to labor and employment. Whenever you're ready, we'll item number five SB369.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Require the use of a local skilled and trained workforce for all restoration work Salton Sea I'm happy with that, Madam Chair. I mean. Would you like me to present or they really want to get out of here?

You may continue.

Thank you. Just this is so efficient in the Assembly. I love this lack of a record, but I love it. The largest inland body of water is the Salton Sea in California and as you well know, is rapidly depleted due to decreased water inflows.

As a result, the lake is becoming increasingly saline and releasing dust particles that further worsen the air quality of the Inland Empire.

Both the state and Federal Governments have provided funds to work on restoration extensive restoration projects at the Salton Sea, which is critical to enhancing the health and well being of this region ecosystem and the Imperial Valley community as a whole.

Workers who will perform this restoration project work face exposure to toxic substances because of their proximity and their interaction with the lake bed. The Imperial Valley already has a high unemployment rate and many residents face poor working conditions and low wages given the risk to workers.

State natural resources Agency, the Department of Water Resources, Department of Fish and Wildlife are utilizing a statute for design Bill projects that contractors on Salton Sea restoration utilize a skilled and trained workforce.

These requirements ensure that certain percentage of workers on covered projects have graduated from a registered apprenticeship program, ensures local workers participating on projects are paid a living wage and provided health and welfare benefits to themselves and to their families.

These requirements also establish a pipeline, a more permanent pipeline of skilled workers for future projects that will benefit the residents of this region for years to come. While we are currently administratively ensuring these protections on worker restoration projects, there's just currently nothing in statute that guarantees this beyond.

And I will just note, Madam Chair Members, for those of you that know the state, both from a liability and from a financial investment standpoint, is significantly invested in the Salton Sea restoration. And I would argue I'm putting that mildly.

Without statutory protection, without a long term permanent requirement, this puts at risk all of that liability and all of those investments, to be Frank.

So in an effort to ensure protection of workers and a workforce pipeline and the rapid completion of the restoration, this Bill would require this use of a skilled and trained workforce for all Projects in the Salton Sea. Today, as you know, I have Matt Cremens with California Nevada Conference of Operating Engineers Testify.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair Members. Matt Cremens on behalf of the California Nevada Conference of Operating Engineers. I think I'm going to go off script and abbreviate my testimony a little bit given the late hour.

Long story short, on this bill, currently skilled and trained workforce requirements are being required for design build projects at the Salton Sea. These are extremely toxic projects and we want to ensure that all workers are highly trained when they go into work on these projects.

So long story short, we are trying to ensure that regardless of how these projects are procured, skilled and trained requirements will apply. I'm happy to answer any questions or concerns and would respectfully request your aye vote.

Thank you. Do we have any other witnesses in support?

Mitchell Bechtel on behalf of the District Council in support.

Judy Yee, Estate Building and Construction Trades Council in support.

Good afternoon Chair Members. Martin Vindiole on behalf of the California State Association of Electrical Workers, the Western States Council of Sheet Metal Workers and the California State Pipe Trades Council in support.

Elmer Lazardi on behalf of The California Federation of Labor Unions in support.

Isabel Sodis, President of Los Amigos de la Comunidad, a resident of Imperial County for over 40 years, an educator for over 30 also sitting on the Board for Imperial Valley College. In strong support.

Eric Montona Reyes, coordinator of the Lithium Valley Stakeholder Coalition of Members including IBEW Local 569, Imperial County Building Trades Council San Diego Imperial County Labor Council Los Amigos El Cumidad Members of the Calipatria foundation and The North End Alliance 111 and various small business. Hoping to be part of this great. Opportunity and strong support. Thank you.

Thank you. See no other witnesses in support. Do we have any main witnesses in opposition? Seeing none. Turn it over to Dyess for questions Comments we have we had a motion and a second Senator, would you like to close?

I would respectfully ask for an aye vote.

[Roll call]

That measures out. Thank you.

Thank you Madam Chair Members, thanks.

Welcome, Senator Menjivar. Whenever you are ready, we will move on to item one, SB20.

Last one beats for your freedom, I recognize that. I'll be fast and quick. Madam Chair, thank you so much. Colleagues, this is a bill that is near and dear to my heart because it's happening in my backyard.

I don't know if you've heard about silicosis, but it happens when an individual works on the beautiful countertops that so many of us have in our kitchens or elsewhere. But what happens is that if you cut that incorrectly, you can absorb and inhale the silica dust that is so small, invisible, you don't even know you're inhaling it.

You must know because you're in that workplace. But once you inhale it, you can get silicosis, and it's incurable.

And what we're seeing is that the young men, 98% Latino men who are working in these workshops are contracting this incurable disease, are getting an 18 month long left or diagnosis to live unless they get a double or a single lung transplant.

And what we're seeing is majority of the cases are in LA County, and from that, majority of those cases are happening in my district, Pacoima and Sun Valley. When we saw these cases increase, OSHA came up with some emergency regulations, and they recently made them permanent.

However, there needs to be more that needs to happen because even since those emergency regulations, deaths have still occurred. Since my bill has been introduced, we have now increased number of cases, and of this year, three more deaths have occurred. So this is very much preventable.

We need to make sure that there are training in place to ensure that employers are certified, that they're training their individuals. And in a time where people are afraid to hold big people accountable, if you're undocumented, if you have a work visa, if you're worried that if you make any kind of noise you could be deported.

Imagine people now, they're not going to want to report that they're working in unsafe conditions, and they're going to still go to work, but they're going to end up, it's going to end up costing their life.

So I think this is a common-sense approach to ensure that we train individuals to stay safe and prevent something that is preventable. I'm not going to go through everything the bill does. I know we members read everything, and we understand that. And now I'd like to turn over to my witness in support of this bill.

Madam Chair, members. Judy Yee, on behalf of the State Building and Construction Trades Council, I'll keep my testimony short. We appreciate the author for authoring this bill. We are a proud co-sponsor of the bill. As of July 3, there are 331 confirmed silicosis cases and 19 deaths.

And we appreciate the author for bringing this bill forward. It saves lives. Respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Thank you. Do we have additional witnesses in support?

Thank you, Chair and members. Matt Cremins, California Nevada Conference of Operating Engineers, strong support.

Mitchell Bechtel, on behalf of the District Council Line Workers, in support.

Sara Flocks, California Federation of Labor Unions, in support.

Martin Vindiola, on behalf of the California State Association of Electrical Workers, the California State Pipe Trades Council, and the Western States Council of Sheet Metal Workers, in support.

Hi. Good afternoon, Madam Chair, members. Glenn Farrell with GF Advocacy on behalf of the Silica Safety Coalition. It's an industry Association comprised of stone manufacturers, distributors, fabrication shops, industry associations. They have a support and amend position on the bill. They're very supportive of the construct and the work. And the leadership the senators' done.

If I might be able to highlight the two things that we're trying to work with the Senator and the sponsor on over the summer. An accessibility database of certified fabrication shops to help the supply chain control process, and supplemental resources to ensure that DIR has adequate and appropriate resources to actually implement the program.

Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair and members. Kurt Kimmelshue here today on behalf of ASTA Worldwide, which is the agglomerated stone manufacturers' organization. We'll align our comments with the Silica Safety Coalition. Support the bill, have a few amendments.

Thank you.

We continue to work with the author and sponsors on and just really appreciate the work of the senator and the committee on this really important issue. Urge your aye vote.

And Chair and members, Beverly Yu on behalf of Cosentino, we have a supportive amended position. Would align our comments with the Silica Safety Coalition as well. Look forward to continuing our work with the author. Thank you.

Chair and members. Baltazar Cornejo with Brownstein on behalf of Cambria. Aligning our comments with the Silica Safety Coalition. Also in support if amended.

Any witnesses in opposition? Seeing none. I'll turn it over to the dais for questions or comments. We have a motion. Senator member Kalra.

Excuse me. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'd like to second the bill and great bill. Love to be a co-author. Thank you.

Thank you, Senator. Senator, would you like to close?

Just to address some of the things of the support and amend positions. We have been working closely. New amendments came forward to my office. A meeting has been scheduled to see how we can work those out.

I just want to make sure that in providing the revenues to support DIR, we're not putting the onus on the consumer to pay for the enforcement of all, but we should be able to find some place where we can help fund DIR's enforcement and training and so forth that isn't on the backs of taxpayers.

But with that respectfully asking for an aye vote.

[Roll Call]

Thank you. Secretary, can you please call the roll?

That measure is out six zero. Thank you, Senator. And with that, labor and employment is now adjourned.