BILL ANALYSIS
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 1230
Author: DeSaulnier (D)
Amended: 8/16/10 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE LABOR & INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS COMM : 4-2, 4/19/10
AYES: DeSaulnier, Ducheny, Leno, Yee
NOES: Wyland, Hollingsworth
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 6-2, 5/10/10
AYES: Kehoe, Alquist, Leno, Price, Wolk, Yee
NOES: Cox, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Corbett, Denham, Walters
SENATE FLOOR : 23-7, 5/28/10
AYES: Alquist, Calderon, Cedillo, Corbett, Correa,
DeSaulnier, Ducheny, Florez, Hancock, Kehoe, Leno, Liu,
Lowenthal, Negrete McLeod, Padilla, Pavley, Price,
Romero, Simitian, Steinberg, Wolk, Wright, Yee
NOES: Ashburn, Dutton, Hollingsworth, Huff, Runner,
Strickland, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Aanestad, Cogdill, Cox, Denham, Harman,
Oropeza, Walters, Wiggins, Vacancy, Vacancy
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 51-23, 8/25/10 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Employment: posting requirements
SOURCE : Author
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DIGEST : This bill requires employers to post information
related to human trafficking, including the phone number to
two toll-free anti-human trafficking hotlines that provide
services in support of the elimination of human
trafficking.
Assembly Amendments make clarifying and technical changes.
ANALYSIS : Under existing law, both state and federal,
employers must meet workplace posting obligations.
Existing state law requires California employers to post a
variety of employment-related information for employees,
including information relating to the payment of wages,
hours and working conditions, workers' compensation, and
discrimination in employment. Workplace postings are
usually available at no cost from the requiring agency.
Employers are required to conspicuously display the various
posters in an area frequented by employees where it may be
easily read during the workday. Additional posting
requirements apply to some workplaces.
Existing law requires employers to provide specified
posters in various languages. Failure to comply with
workplace posting requirements is a misdemeanor and may be
punishable by a fine, imprisonment, or both. Each employer
is required to take necessary steps to insure that notices
are not altered, defaced or covered by other material.
Existing state law makes human trafficking a crime and
allows a victim of human trafficking to bring a civil
action for actual damages, compensatory damages, punitive
damages, injunctive relief, any combination of those, or
any other appropriate relief. Under the existing Victims
of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000, the
federal law acknowledges the crime of human trafficking,
and delineates various federal actions to combat
trafficking, punish perpetrators, and provides services to
victims of trafficking.
This bill requires employers to post information related to
human trafficking, including the phone number to two
toll-free anti-human trafficking hotlines that provide
services in support of the elimination of human
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trafficking.
This bill requires the posting of the National Human
Trafficking Resource Center Hotline, which is also posted
on the U.S. Department of State website, and the California
Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking hotline at
places of employment.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/25/10)
Bilateral Safety Corridor Coalition
California Catholic Conference
California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO
Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking
Los Angeles District Attorney's Office
Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force
Peace Officers Research Association of California
Polaris Project
OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/25/10)
California Chamber of Commerce
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to proponents, the
problem of human trafficking is a much larger and more
global issue than most people grasp. According to the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, after drug
trafficking, human trafficking is tied with the illegal
arms industry as the second largest criminal industry in
the world today, and it is the fastest growing. Experience
in the field has demonstrated that one of the best tools to
combat human trafficking is raising public awareness of the
problem. Proponents believe that this bill not only
provides an opportunity for many people to become aware of
the issue through employer signage, but provides a tool for
action by providing specific information about the
hotlines.
Proponents state that in this globalized economy, the race
to the bottom is visible as free trade policies have
allowed corporations to jump from country to country in
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search of the cheapest labor and least regulation.
Products are produced throughout the globe using forced
labor, child labor, indentured servitude, and other abusive
conditions. Even right here in California, they assert,
the underground economy thrives on wage theft, many
domestic workers are the victims of trafficking, and many
workplaces are sweatshops without the most basic worker
protections. While the state of California cannot always
eradicate such labor conditions, it should provide
information to workers of their rights and protections
afforded them under the law in regard to human trafficking.
According to the author's office, while federal and state
law enforcement works to investigate the criminal networks
involved in human trafficking, local and state police and
community members, including neighbors, healthcare workers,
teachers, and shop keepers, among others, are most often in
the best position to recognize and report possible
instances of human trafficking. The author believes human
trafficking hotlines currently available to assist victims
are the most centralized outlet to process and respond to
calls for help. Proponents state that high visibility and
awareness of human trafficking hotlines gives workers the
resources they need to expose violations of the law, while
at the same time increasing the chances that potential
human trafficking will be reported, and that human
traffickers will be stopped.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The California Chamber of
Commerce states, "The California business community opposes
forced labor and the abusive treatment of workers.
However, in inclusion of the name and contact information
of a non-governmental entity - whether a private business
or, in this case, a non-profit organization - is
inappropriate. Doing so codifies that private entity and
its activities into state law, without a contractual or
other type of agreement with the state government. There
is no supervision or oversight by the state because it is a
non-governmental entity. There can be a host of issues
associated with this: There could be a change in the
bylaws of the non-profit organization where its role and
mission is different; a change in its name; a change in its
phone number or other contact information; or simply cease
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to exist. All of this can happen outside of the purview of
the state government, and yet the non-profit still remains
codified in state law."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Ammiano, Arambula, Bass, Beall, Block, Blumenfield,
Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles
Calderon, Carter, Chesbro, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De
Leon, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fong, Furutani, Gatto, Hall,
Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman, Jones,
Lieu, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Monning, Nava, V.
Manuel Perez, Portantino, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana,
Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres,
Torrico, Yamada, John A. Perez
NOES: Adams, Anderson, Bill Berryhill, Tom Berryhill,
Conway, DeVore, Fuller, Gaines, Garrick, Gilmore, Hagman,
Jeffries, Knight, Logue, Miller, Nestande, Niello,
Nielsen, Norby, Silva, Audra Strickland, Tran, Villines
NO VOTE RECORDED: Cook, Fletcher, Fuentes, Galgiani,
Vacancy, Vacancy
PQ:nl 8/26/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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