California 2021-2022 Regular Session Status: Passed Assembly 2 D cosponsors

AB 402 — Office of the Claimant Advocate and Stakeholder Advisory Group.

Last action — Ordered to inactive file at the request of Senator Laird.

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

This bill died with 2021-2022 Regular Session. It reached “Passed Assembly” and never advanced before the session ended, so it can no longer move — a new version would have to be reintroduced in the current session.

This bill is no longer active — its legislative session has ended, so there is no live prognosis. It would have to be reintroduced in the current session to move again.

Summary

Existing law establishes the Employment Development Department, administered by the Director of Employment Development, within the Labor and Workforce Development Agency and sets forth its powers and duties related to the administration of the state unemployment and disability compensation programs. Existing law provides that the expense of the administration of specified provisions relating to unemployment compensation shall be paid out of the Unemployment Administration Fund, which is a continuously appropriated fund, except as provided. This bill would establish the Office of the Claimant Advocate, within the Employment Development Department, and would make the office responsible for protecting Californians' rights in seeking benefits administered by the department, including unemployment insurance, disability insurance, and paid family leave. The bill would require the office to conduct several activities to provide non-claim-specific assistance to claimants, including, but not limited to, upholding the Claimant's Bill of Rights, as specified, establishing and implementing a system that allows claimants to learn about and report violations of their rights to the office, and assisting claimants in resolving those violations, as provided. The bill, commencing January 1, 2024, would require the office to issue a yearly report to specified policy committees of the Legislature and legislative leadership on various data trends from the past year, including utilization of benefit programs aggregated by income level, processing times for benefit programs for both online and paper applications, and systemic access issues identified by the office and a complete list of recommendations and actions taken by the office to resolve those issues. This bill would also establish the Stakeholder Advisory Group within the Employment Development Department, to be administered by the Claimant and Stakeholder Liaison, which informs the department with policy expertise and firsthand knowledge of claimant experiences. The bill would specify the activities of the group, including, but not limited to, engaging with the Office of the Claimant Advocate and stakeholders in identifying systemic access issues to benefits and making recommendations to solve those issues, and creating and publishing a Claimant's Bill of Rights that outlines an individual's right to benefit programs administered by the department within one year of establishment of the group. Because this bill would authorize the expenditure of funds from the Unemployment Administration Fund for a new purpose, the bill would make an appropriation.

Bill Text

Action History

  1. Ordered to inactive file at the request of Senator Laird.

  2. Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

  3. Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading.

  4. From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (August 26).

  5. In committee: Referred to suspense file.

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

  7. From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on L., P.E. & R.

  8. In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.

  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 78. Noes 0. Page 1628.)

  12. Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

  13. From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (May 20).

  14. In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file.

  15. From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 13. Noes 0.) (April 29). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

  16. Re-referred to Com. on INS.

  17. From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on INS. Read second time and amended.

  18. Referred to Com. on INS.

  19. From printer. May be heard in committee March 6.

  20. Read first time. To print.

Sponsors

Sponsorship breakdown

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1 sponsors · 4 co-sponsors · 117 not signed on

Sponsors (1)

Co-sponsors (4)

Not signed on (117)

117 members have not signed on to this bill.

Show all 117 →

"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.

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Votes

Do pass as amended

Passed 7 Yea · 0 Nay
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Democratic 2000
Unaffiliated 4000
Republican 1000
Total 7000
% of votes cast 100%0%0%0%
How each member voted (7)
Member Party Vote
Kamlager — Yea
Portantino — Yea
Bates — Yea
Bradford — Yea
Laird, John Democratic Yea
McGuire, Mike Democratic Yea
Jones, Brian W. Republican Yea

Official roll call →

Placed on suspense file

Passed 7 Yea · 0 Nay
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Republican 1000
Unaffiliated 5000
Democratic 1000
Total 7000
% of votes cast 100%0%0%0%
How each member voted (7)
Member Party Vote
Wieckowski — Yea
Portantino — Yea
Bates — Yea
Bradford — Yea
Kamlager — Yea
Laird, John Democratic Yea
Jones, Brian W. Republican Yea

Official roll call →

AB 402 Wicks Assembly Third Reading

Passed 78 Yea · 0 Nay
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 41000
Democratic 27000
Republican 10000
Total 78000
% of votes cast 100%0%0%0%
How each member voted (78)
Member Party Vote
Holden — Yea
Jones-Sawyer — Yea
Wood — Yea
Smith — Yea
Cunningham — Yea
Cooper — Yea
Voepel — Yea
Cooley — Yea
Maienschein — Yea
Rodriguez — Yea
Kiley — Yea
Nazarian — Yea
Ting — Yea
O'Donnell — Yea
Waldron — Yea
Medina — Yea
McCarty — Yea
Friedman — Yea
Bigelow — Yea
Chiu — Yea
Rendon — Yea
Villapudua — Yea
Salas — Yea
Quirk — Yea
Low — Yea
Levine — Yea
Daly — Yea
Gray — Yea
Burke — Yea
Mathis — Yea
Santiago — Yea
Mayes — Yea
Frazier — Yea
Chau — Yea
Bloom — Yea
Mullin — Yea
Cristina Garcia — Yea
Eduardo Garcia — Yea
Lorena Gonzalez — Yea
Luz Rivas — Yea
Mark Stone — Yea
Aguiar-Curry, Cecilia M. Democratic Yea
Arambula, Joaquin Democratic Yea
Bauer-Kahan, Rebecca Democratic Yea
Bennett, Steve Democratic Yea
Berman, Marc Democratic Yea
Boerner, Tasha Democratic Yea
Calderon, Lisa Democratic Yea
Carrillo, Juan Democratic Yea
Cervantes, Sabrina Democratic Yea
Fong, Mike Democratic Yea
Gabriel, Jesse Democratic Yea
Gipson, Mike A. Democratic Yea
Grayson, Timothy S. Democratic Yea
Irwin, Jacqui Democratic Yea
Kalra, Ash Democratic Yea
Lee, Alex Democratic Yea
Muratsuchi, Al Democratic Yea
Nguyen, Stephanie Democratic Yea
Petrie-Norris, Cottie Democratic Yea
Quirk-Silva, Sharon Democratic Yea
Ramos, James C. Democratic Yea
Reyes, Eloise Gómez Democratic Yea
Rivas, Robert Democratic Yea
Rubio, Blanca E. Democratic Yea
Ward, Christopher M. Democratic Yea
Weber Pierson, M.D., Akilah Democratic Yea
Wicks, Buffy Democratic Yea
Chen, Phillip Republican Yea
Choi, Steven S. Republican Yea
Dahle, Megan Republican Yea
Davies, Laurie Republican Yea
Flora, Heath Republican Yea
Gallagher, James Republican Yea
Lackey, Tom Republican Yea
Patterson, Joe Republican Yea
Seyarto, Kelly Republican Yea
Valladares, Suzette Martinez Republican Yea

Official roll call →

Do pass.

Passed 16 Yea · 0 Nay
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 8000
Democratic 6000
Republican 2000
Total 16000
% of votes cast 100%0%0%0%
How each member voted (16)
Member Party Vote
Levine — Yea
Holden — Yea
Quirk — Yea
Bigelow — Yea
Chau — Yea
Eduardo Garcia — Yea
Lorena Gonzalez — Yea
Luz Rivas — Yea
Calderon, Lisa Democratic Yea
Carrillo, Juan Democratic Yea
Fong, Mike Democratic Yea
Gabriel, Jesse Democratic Yea
Rivas, Robert Democratic Yea
Weber Pierson, M.D., Akilah Democratic Yea
Dahle, Megan Republican Yea
Davies, Laurie Republican Yea

Official roll call →

Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar

Passed 13 Yea · 0 Nay
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 9000
Democratic 3000
Republican 1000
Total 13000
% of votes cast 100%0%0%0%
How each member voted (13)
Member Party Vote
Cooley — Yea
Voepel — Yea
Bigelow — Yea
Frazier — Yea
Mayes — Yea
Daly — Yea
Wood — Yea
Rodriguez — Yea
Cooper — Yea
Berman, Marc Democratic Yea
Gipson, Mike A. Democratic Yea
Grayson, Timothy S. Democratic Yea
Chen, Phillip Republican Yea

Official roll call →

Subjects

labor
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Frequently asked questions

What does AB 402 do?
Existing law establishes the Employment Development Department, administered by the Director of Employment Development, within the Labor and Workforce Development Agency and sets forth its powers and duties related to the administration of the state unemployment and disability compensation programs. Existing law provides that the expense of the administration of specified provisions relating to unemployment compensation shall be paid out of the Unemployment Administration Fund, which is a continuously appropriated fund, except as provided. This bill would establish the Office of the Claimant Advocate, within the Employment Development Department, and would make the office responsible for protecting Californians' rights in seeking benefits administered by the department, including unemployment insurance, disability insurance, and paid family leave. The bill would require the office to conduct several activities to provide non-claim-specific assistance to claimants, including, but not limited to, upholding the Claimant's Bill of Rights, as specified, establishing and implementing a system that allows claimants to learn about and report violations of their rights to the office, and assisting claimants in resolving those violations, as provided. The bill, commencing January 1, 2024, would require the office to issue a yearly report to specified policy committees of the Legislature and legislative leadership on various data trends from the past year, including utilization of benefit programs aggregated by income level, processing times for benefit programs for both online and paper applications, and systemic access issues identified by the office and a complete list of recommendations and actions taken by the office to resolve those issues. This bill would also establish the Stakeholder Advisory Group within the Employment Development Department, to be administered by the Claimant and Stakeholder Liaison, which informs the department with policy expertise and firsthand knowledge of claimant experiences. The bill would specify the activities of the group, including, but not limited to, engaging with the Office of the Claimant Advocate and stakeholders in identifying systemic access issues to benefits and making recommendations to solve those issues, and creating and publishing a Claimant's Bill of Rights that outlines an individual's right to benefit programs administered by the department within one year of establishment of the group. Because this bill would authorize the expenditure of funds from the Unemployment Administration Fund for a new purpose, the bill would make an appropriation.
Who sponsors AB 402?
AB 402 is sponsored by Wicks, Buffy (Democratic), Petrie-Norris, Cottie (Democratic), Chiu, Mayes, and Santiago.
What is the current status of AB 402?
This bill died with 2021-2022 Regular Session. It reached “Passed Assembly” and never advanced before the session ended, so it can no longer move — a new version would have to be reintroduced in the current session.
Where can I track AB 402?
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