California 2023-2024 Regular Session Status: Enacted 1 D cosponsors

AB 636 — Employers: agricultural employees: required disclosures.

Last action — Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 451, Statutes of 2023.

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  1. ✓
    Introduced
  2. ✓
    In Committee
  3. ✓
    Passed Assembly
  4. ✓
    Passed Senate
  5. ✓
    To Executive
  6. 6
    Enacted

This bill has been enacted into law. Introduced February 09, 2023. Enacted.

Signed by Governor Gavin Newsom (Democratic) on October 08, 2023.

Prognosis

Advancing 52% · moderate confidence

Where this bill stands today.

Odds of enactment

High

How often bills like it became law.

  • Enacted

    Current position in the legislative process.

  • 1 sponsor

    1 primary, 0 co-sponsors signed on.

  • Single-party support

    Sponsorship is currently within one party (1 D).

Prognosis reads this bill's own signals — stage, sponsorship breadth, committee status, recorded votes and cross-state momentum. Odds come from a model trained on which bills have become law.

Summary

Existing law requires an employer to provide an employee, at the time of hiring, a written notice including specified information in the language that the employer normally uses to communicate employment-related information to the employee. Existing law requires the Labor Commissioner to prepare a template that includes the information and to make the template available to employers in a manner as determined by the commissioner. This bill would require an employer to include in the written notice information regarding the existence of a federal or state disaster declaration applicable to the county or counties in which the employee will be employed, as specified. This bill would require an employer, beginning on March 15, 2024, to give an employee admitted pursuant to the federal H-2A agricultural visa, on the day that the H-2A employee begins work for the employer in the state or on the first day that the employee begins work for another H-2A employer, additional information in a separate and distinct section of the notice described above, in Spanish, and, if requested by the employee, in English, describing an agricultural employee's additional rights and protection under California law, as specified. The bill would provide employers who employ both H-2A and non-H-2A employees with the option to provide the notice to non-H-2A employees in English or Spanish, at the employee's request, or in the language that the employer normally uses to communicate employment-related information to non-H-2A employees. The bill would require the Labor Commissioner to create a template for the notice that complies with this requirement and to post the template on its internet website commencing March 1, 2024. Existing law specifies that for purposes of these provisions, the term "employee" does not include, among other persons, an employee who is covered by a valid collective bargaining agreement if the agreement expressly provides for the wages, hours of work, and working conditions of the employee, and if the agreement provides premium wage rates for all overtime hours worked and a regular hourly rate wage. This bill would, in addition, exclude an H-2A employee from the definition of "employee" if they are covered by an agreement that provides for wage rates of not less than the federal H-2A program wage required to be paid during the contract period.

Bill Text

Action History

  1. Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 451, Statutes of 2023.

  2. Approved by the Governor.

  3. Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 2 p.m.

  4. In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling.

  5. Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 31. Noes 7. Page 2358.).

  6. Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

  7. From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8.

  8. From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 0.) (July 12). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

  9. Referred to Com. on L., P.E. & R.

  10. In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment.

  11. Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 59. Noes 5. Page 1589.)

  12. Read third time and amended. Ordered to third reading. (Page 1521.)

  13. Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

  14. From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 12. Noes 2.) (April 26).

  15. From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (April 12). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

  16. Referred to Com. on L. & E.

  17. From printer. May be heard in committee March 12.

  18. Read first time. To print.

Sponsors

Sponsorship breakdown

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1 sponsors · 0 co-sponsors · 121 not signed on

Sponsors (1)

Co-sponsors (0)

None.

Not signed on (121)

121 members have not signed on to this bill.

Show all 121 →

"Not signed on" means a member has not sponsored or co-sponsored this bill — it does not imply opposition. Members flagged Voted No have a recorded No vote on this bill.

Whip count is in markup. Polling the chamber and every recorded vote this session. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Calling the roll · Tallying · Engrossing

Subjects

labor agriculture
Cross-referencing the record. Reading this bill against every other bill in the corpus by meaning, not keywords. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Matching · Ranking · Engrossing

Frequently asked questions

What does AB 636 do?
Existing law requires an employer to provide an employee, at the time of hiring, a written notice including specified information in the language that the employer normally uses to communicate employment-related information to the employee. Existing law requires the Labor Commissioner to prepare a template that includes the information and to make the template available to employers in a manner as determined by the commissioner. This bill would require an employer to include in the written notice information regarding the existence of a federal or state disaster declaration applicable to the county or counties in which the employee will be employed, as specified. This bill would require an employer, beginning on March 15, 2024, to give an employee admitted pursuant to the federal H-2A agricultural visa, on the day that the H-2A employee begins work for the employer in the state or on the first day that the employee begins work for another H-2A employer, additional information in a separate and distinct section of the notice described above, in Spanish, and, if requested by the employee, in English, describing an agricultural employee's additional rights and protection under California law, as specified. The bill would provide employers who employ both H-2A and non-H-2A employees with the option to provide the notice to non-H-2A employees in English or Spanish, at the employee's request, or in the language that the employer normally uses to communicate employment-related information to non-H-2A employees. The bill would require the Labor Commissioner to create a template for the notice that complies with this requirement and to post the template on its internet website commencing March 1, 2024. Existing law specifies that for purposes of these provisions, the term "employee" does not include, among other persons, an employee who is covered by a valid collective bargaining agreement if the agreement expressly provides for the wages, hours of work, and working conditions of the employee, and if the agreement provides premium wage rates for all overtime hours worked and a regular hourly rate wage. This bill would, in addition, exclude an H-2A employee from the definition of "employee" if they are covered by an agreement that provides for wage rates of not less than the federal H-2A program wage required to be paid during the contract period.
Who sponsors AB 636?
AB 636 is sponsored by Kalra, Ash (Democratic).
What is the current status of AB 636?
This bill has been enacted into law. Introduced February 09, 2023. Enacted.
Where can I track AB 636?
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