AB 171 — Employment.

Summary

(1) Existing law, the State Civil Service Act, regulates employment with the state and vests in the Department of Human Resources all powers, duties, and authorities necessary to operate the state civil service system in accordance with Article VII of the California Constitution, the Government Code, the merit principle, and applicable rules duly adopted by the State Personnel Board. Former law required that, unless otherwise provided by law, the salaries of state officers be paid monthly out of the General Fund. Existing law, operative July 10, 2023, requires the salaries of state officers and employees to be paid out of the General Fund, or another recognized state fund that funds a respective employee's position, on a uniform payroll cycle established by the department. Various provisions of existing law, relating to conflicts with memorandums of understanding, pay and benefits provisions relating to military service, travel reimbursement claims, salary classification, workweek groups, sick leave, nonindustrial disability leave, and layoffs, are inconsistent with the implementation of a uniform payroll cycle that is not monthly. This bill would revise those various provisions to accommodate the implementation of a uniform payroll cycle that is not monthly. (2) Existing law governing state employment procedures authorizes an appointing power, to prevent the stoppage of public business when an emergency arises, or because work will be of limited duration not exceeding 60 working days, to make emergency appointments without utilizing persons on employment lists and, if necessary, without regard to existing classes. This bill, until December 1, 2026, would authorize the Department of Industrial Relations to make emergency appointments that exceed 60 working days, subject to specified constitutional limits. The bill would require the department to report its usage of this emergency appointment authority to the Director of the Department of Human Resources and to take other related actions with the Department of Human Resources and the State Personnel Board, in coordination with applicable collective bargaining organizations, to develop a process to streamline the hiring of positions, as prescribed. The bill would further require the Department of Industrial Relations to provide quarterly reports to specified legislative committees concerning the positions filled. The bill would repeal these provision on January 1, 2027, and would include related legislative findings. (3) Existing law generally grants public employees the right to join employee organizations and to be represented by those organizations in their employment relations. Existing law requires specified public employers to provide exclusive employee representatives access to new employee orientations, as prescribed. Existing law, until June 30, 2025, provides that if a public employer has not conducted an inperson new employee orientation within 30 days of a newly hired employee's start date, and the new employee is working in person, the exclusive representative is entitled to schedule an inperson meeting at the worksite during employment hours, during which newly hired employees have the opportunity to attend and are required to be relieved of other duties for purposes of attending. Existing law further requires the exclusive representative, during this meeting, to be permitted to communicate directly with newly hired employees in the applicable bargaining unit for up to 30 minutes on paid time, subject to various other conditions. This bill would extend the operation of the above provisions until June 30, 2027. (4) Existing law requires the Controller to operate a uniform state payroll system for all state agencies, except the California Exposition and State Fair and the University of California, in conformance with the accounting system for all state agencies supervised by the Department of Finance. This bill would require, on and after January 1, 2025, that payments to employees made through the uniform state payroll system for master payroll paid on June 30 of each year be issue dated on July 1, provided that employees, in any event, be paid promptly. The bill would require that these payments be considered payables incurred in the fiscal year in which the payment is issue dated, except as specified. (5) The Public Employees' Retirement Law (PERL) creates the Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) for the purpose of providing pension and benefits to state employees and their beneficiaries and prescribes the rights and duties of employers participating in the system. Under PERL, benefits are funded by investment income and employer and employee contributions, which are deposited into the Public Employees' Retirement Fund, a continuously appropriated trust fund administered by the system's board of administration. PERL prescribes methods for the calculation and payment of the state employer contribution for its employees who are PERS members. PERL provides for an annual adjustment of the state's contribution in the budget and quarterly appropriations to the Public Employees' Retirement Fund from the General Fund and other funds that are responsible for payment of the employer contribution. Existing law makes additional General Fund appropriations to the Public Employees' Retirement Fund for the 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23, and 2023–24 fiscal years. Supplemental payments connected with appropriations for those fiscal years are to be apportioned to the state employee member categories generally, as directed by the Department of Finance, and to specified state employee member categories, including to the state miscellaneous member category, the industrial member category, the state safety member category, and the state peace officer/firefighter member category. The California Constitution establishes the Budget Stabilization Account in the General Fund and requires the Controller, in each fiscal year, to transfer from the General Fund to the Budget Stabilization Account amounts that include a sum equal to 1.5% of the estimated amount of General Fund revenues for that fiscal year. These provisions further require, until the 2029–30 fiscal year, that the Legislature appropriate a percentage of these moneys, the amount of which is generated pursuant to specified calculations, for certain obligations and purposes, including addressing unfunded liabilities for state-level pension plans. This bill would appropriate $337,000,000 from the General Fund for the purposes identified in the constitutional provisions described above, to supplement the state's appropriation to the Public Employees' Retirement Fund. The bill would specify that this appropriation represents a portion of the amount identified in a specific provision of the Budget Act of 2024. The bill would require the Department of Finance to provide the Controller with a schedule establishing the timing of specific transfers. The bill would require the supplemental payment to the Public Employees' Retirement Fund to be apportioned to specified state employee member categories, not to exceed $180,098,000 to the state miscellaneous member category, $9,125,000 to the state industrial member category, $21,167,000 to the state safety member category, and $126,610,000 to the state peace officer/firefighter member category. The bill would require the appropriation described above to be applied to the unfunded state liabilities for the state employee member categories that are in excess of the base amounts for the 2024–25 fiscal year. (6) Existing law requires that, except as specified, not less than the general prevailing rate of per diem wages be paid to workers employed on public works and imposes misdemeanor penalties for a willful violation of this requirement. Existing law defines "public works" for the purposes of regulating public works contracts as, among other things, construction, alteration, demolition, installation, or repair work done under contract and paid for, in whole or in part, out of public funds. Existing law generally requires a contractor or subcontractor to be registered with the Department of Industrial Relations to be qualified to bid on, be listed in a bid proposal, or engage in the performance of any public work contract. Existing law requires a contractor or subcontractor to meet specific conditions to qualify for this registration, including that a contractor or subcontractor pay an initial application fee and an annual renewal fee set by the Director of Industrial Relations. Existing law authorizes the department to establish and adjust annual registration and renewal fees up to $800 by publishing the fees on the department's internet website. Existing law imposes misdemeanor penalties for a willful violation of those provisions. This bill would, among other things, specifically exempt the establishment and adjustment of those fees from the Administrative Procedure Act. (7) Existing law requires projects or developments undertaken pursuant to the Middle Class Housing Act of 2022, the Affordable Housing and High Road Job Act of 2022, the Affordable Housing on Faith and Higher Education Lands Act of 2023, and housing development approvals, as specified, to be subject to specified prevailing wage or skilled and trained workforce requirements. Existing law authorizes a development proponent to submit an application for a development subject to a streamlined, ministerial approval process when certain conditions are met. Existing law also outlines the requirements for a housing development project application when the development is on land owned on or before January 1, 2024, by an independent institution of higher education or a religious institution, including ownership through an affiliated or associated nonprofit benefit corporation, provided it meets specified conditions. Under existing law, one such condition for these applications is that a proponent of a development project requires in contracts with construction contractors, and certified to the local government, that certain standards are met, including requirements for contractors and subcontractors for portions of the development that are not a public work. This bill would require all contractors and subcontractors for portions of such developments that are not a public work to register with the Department of Industrial Relations, as specified. (8) Existing law authorizes a person aggrieved by an order, decision, or award made and filed by the appeals board or a workers' compensation judge under certain workers' compensation provisions to petition the appeals board for reconsideration. Existing law deems a petition for reconsideration to have been denied by the appeals board unless that petition is acted upon within 60 days from the date of filing. This bill, until July 1, 2026, would instead deem a petition for reconsideration to have been denied by the appeals board unless it is acted upon by the appeals board within 60 days from the date a trial judge transmits a case to the appeals board. The bill would require a trial judge, when it transmits a case to the appeals board, to provide notice to the parties of the case and the appeals board, as specified. (9) Existing law establishes within the Workforce Services Branch of the Employment Development Department the Community Economic Resilience Fund Program, to build an equitable and sustainable economic recovery from the impacts of COVID-19 on California's industries, workers, and communities, and to provide for the durability of that recovery by fostering long-term economic resilience in the overall transition to a carbon-neutral economy. Existing law requires the implementation grants under the program to be structured to provide a small initial tranche of funding for economic diversification pilots with demonstrable high road elements in those regions already engaged in economic recovery and transition planning. Existing law requires the grants to be awarded on a rolling and competitive basis, with the majority of funds to be used to provide economic development grants, through June 30, 2025. Existing law requires grant recipients to demonstrate a plan to fully spend or obligate all funds received by December 31, 2025, and to pay all obligations by December 31, 2026. This bill would, instead, require the majority of funds to be used to provide economic development grants through June 30, 2028. The bill would require grant recipients to demonstrate a plan to fully spend or obligate all funds received by June 30, 2028, and to pay all obligations by June 30, 2030. (10) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.

Bill Text

• Chaptered 07/02/24 - Chaptered Current pdf July 02, 2024
• Enrolled 06/27/24 - Enrolled pdf June 27, 2024
• Amended 06/22/24 - Amended Senate pdf June 22, 2024
• Amended 02/01/23 - Amended Assembly pdf February 01, 2023
• Introduced 01/09/23 - Introduced pdf January 09, 2023
• AB171 View text html

Action History

1. July 02, 2024

   Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 52, Statutes of 2024.

2. July 02, 2024

   Approved by the Governor.

3. June 27, 2024

   Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4:30 p.m.

4. June 26, 2024

   Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 61. Noes 11.).

5. June 26, 2024

   Assembly Rule 63 suspended.

6. June 26, 2024

   Assembly Rule 77 suspended.

7. June 26, 2024

   In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after June 28 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.

8. June 26, 2024

   Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 31. Noes 7. Page 4772.).

9. June 26, 2024

   Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

10. June 26, 2024

    From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 13. Noes 4.) (June 26).

11. June 22, 2024

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

12. June 20, 2024

    In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.

13. June 19, 2024

    In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.

14. April 12, 2023

    Referred to Com. on B. & F.R.

15. March 23, 2023

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

16. March 23, 2023

    Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 60. Noes 14. Page 864.)

17. March 21, 2023

    Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

18. March 20, 2023

    Ordered to second reading.

19. March 20, 2023

    Withdrawn from committee.

20. March 20, 2023

    Assembly Rule 96 suspended. (Ayes 61. Noes 17. Page 732.)

21. February 02, 2023

    Re-referred to Com. on BUDGET.

22. February 01, 2023

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

23. January 26, 2023

    Referred to Com. on BUDGET.

24. January 10, 2023

    From printer. May be heard in committee February 9.

25. January 09, 2023

    Read first time. To print.

Sponsors

• Committee on Budget · Primary

Votes

Subjects