2021-2022 Legislation

 

SB 51: Surplus residential property 
This bill would additionally provide that the surplus land disposal procedures (i.e., as existed on December 31, 2019) apply to a local agency (i.e., as of September 30, 2019) if they have issued a competitive request for proposals for the development of the property that includes a residential component (i.e., at least 100 residential units and 25% of the total units developed complying with specified affordability criteria) if a disposition and development agreement was entered into no later than December 31, 2024.   

 

SB 62: Employment: garment manufacturing 
This bill would expand the definition of garment manufacturing to include dyeing, altering a garment’s design, and affixing a label to a garment. The bill would prohibit any employee engaged in the performance of garment manufacturing to be paid by the piece or unit, or by the piece rate, except as specified. The bill would impose compensatory damages of $200 per employee against a garment manufacturer or contractor, payable to the employee, for each pay period in which each employee is paid by the piece rate. 

 
SB 270: Public employment: labor relations: employee information
Starting July 1, 2022, this bill would authorize an exclusive representative to file a charge of an unfair labor practice with the board alleging a violation of certain requirements only if specified conditions (i.e., that the exclusive representative gives written notice of the alleged violation and that the public employer fails to cure the violation) are met. The bill also would limit a public employer’s opportunity to cure certain violations. 

 
SB 297: Subsurface installations: penalties 
This bill would enact the Wade Kilpatrick Gas Safety and Workforce Adequacy Act of 2021. The bill would prescribe a civil penalty (i.e., of up to $100,000) to be imposed on an operator or excavator (i.e., who knowingly and willfully violates provisions relating to excavations and subsurface installations and damages a gas or hazardous liquid pipeline subsurface installation in a way that results in the escape of any flammable, toxic, or corrosive gas or liquid). 

 
SB 321: Employment safety standards: advisory committee: household domestic services 
This bill would require the chief (or a representative of the chief) to convene an advisory committee (i.e., comprised of no fewer than 13 and no more than 18 individuals) to make recommendations, in consultation with other specified divisions and entities, to the department or Legislature to protect the health and safety of household domestic service employees, and develop voluntary industry-specific occupational health and safety guidance for the purpose of educating household domestic service employees and employers. 

 
SB 330: Los Angeles Community College District Affordable Housing Pilot Program 
This bill would require the governing board of the Los Angeles Community College District to develop and implement a pilot program to provide affordable housing to students or employees of the Los Angeles Community College District. The bill would require priority to be given to low-income students experiencing homelessness for the affordable units of the affordable housing for students or employees. 

 

SB 334: Detention facilities: contracts 
This bill would require a private detention facility responsible for the custody and control of a prisoner or civil detainee to operate in compliance with certain standards and to maintain specified insurance coverages (i.e., general, automobile, and umbrella liability, and workers’ compensation). The bill would authorize an insurer providing insurance to consider whether the private detention facility complies with prescribed standards. The bill would exempt identified detention facilities from specified provisions, and would provide that the bill does not create any additional authority or responsibility for the Board of State and Community Corrections and Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.  

 
SB 639: Minimum wages: persons with disabilities
The bill would require the State Council on Developmental Disabilities, in consultation with stakeholders and relevant state agencies, to develop a multiyear phaseout plan with stakeholder involvement, by January 1, 2023, to pay any employee with a disability, as defined, by January 1, 2025, no less than the state minimum wage otherwise required. 

 
SB 674: Public Contracts: workforce development: covered public contracts 
This bill would establish the High Road Jobs (i.e., TransportationRelated Public Contracts and Grants Pilot Program) to support the creation of equitable high-quality transportation and related manufacturing and infrastructure jobs.  The bill would require the Department of General Services, in consultation with the Labor and Workforce Development Agency and the Department of Transportation, to develop and publish policies, procedures, and requirements applicable to covered public contracts in the State Contracting Manual for the purpose of implementing these provisions.  

 
SB 731: Criminal records: relief 
This bill would prohibit the record of a conviction a) for possession of specified controlled substances that is more than 5 years old and b) for which relief was granted from being presented to the committee or from being used to deny a credential. This bill would state that conviction record relief does not affect the authority to receive, or take adverse action based on, criminal history information for purposes of teacher credentialing or employment in public education 

 
SB 951: Unemployment insurance: contribution rates: disability insurance: paid family leave: weekly benefit amount 
Would rectify existing shortcomings in the Paid Family Leave (PFL) and State Disability Insurance (SDI) programs by increasing wage replacement rates for lower income workers to 90% of income for the first 12 weeks of SDI and all 8 weeks of PFL. It would fund this improvement by having all Californians contribute to the DI fund proportionately to their income. 
 

SB 1044: Employers: emergency condition: retaliation 
Would allow workers in the event of a natural disaster or emergency condition, to have access to their mobile phones or other communication devices, as well as leave the workplace for their safety or to look after their children’s safety. 

 
SB 1058: Disability insurance: paid family leave: demographic data 
Would require the California Employment Development Department (EDD) to collect race and ethnicity data from applicants to the State Disability Insurance and Paid Family Leave programs.   

 

SB 1226: Joint powers agreements: zero-emission transportation systems or facilities 
Enable public-private-nonprofit partnerships to fund clean transit and transportation infrastructure projects ahead of California's target for 100% conversion to zero-emissions in the transportation sector 

 
SB 1260: State summary criminal history information 
This bill, contingent upon the passage of SB 731, would instead specify that the relief does not make a person eligible who is otherwise ineligible under federal law or regulation to provide, or receive payment for providing, inhome supportive services or waiver personal care services.