BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
SB 1193 (Steinberg) - Human trafficking: public posting
requirements.
Amended: April 9, 2012 Policy Vote: Judiciary 4-1
Urgency: No Mandate: Yes
Hearing Date: May 24, 2012 Consultant: Jolie Onodera
SUSPENSE FILE. AS PROPOSED TO BE AMENDED.
Bill Summary: SB 1193 would require specified businesses and
other establishments to post a notice containing information
related to human trafficking and slavery, including the
toll-free hotline information for two nonprofit organizations
that provide support services to victims of such crimes.
Fiscal Impact:
One-time costs likely less than $50,000 (General Fund or
private funds) for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to
develop, translate, and post the notice on its website for
download.
Potential cost pressure to the Department of Industrial
Relations, Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE)
and the Department of Justice (DOJ), to the extent that
hotline tips to NHTRC result in additional referrals to the
DLSE for investigation of labor violations or to the DOJ
for investigation of potential criminal activity.
Background: Existing law defines human trafficking as "all acts
involved in the recruitment, abduction, transport, harboring,
transfer, sale or receipt of persons, within national or across
international borders, through force, coercion, fraud or
deception, to place persons in situations of slavery or
slaver-like conditions, forced labor or services, such as forced
prostitution or sexual services, domestic servitude, bonded
sweatshop labor, or other debt bondage."
According to the California Alliance to Combat Trafficking and
Slavery Task Force, "California is a top destination for human
traffickers. The state's extensive international border, its
major harbors and airports, its powerful economy and
accelerating population, its large immigrant population and its
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industries make it a prime target for traffickers." (Human
Trafficking in California: Final Report, October 2007).
Proposed Law: This bill seeks to enhance public awareness of
human trafficking and provide victims with anonymous resources
to contact for assistance.
This bill would require the following businesses and
establishments to post a notice of at least 8.5 inches by 11
inches in size containing information related to slavery and
human trafficking in a conspicuous place near the public
entrance or in another location in clear view of the public and
employees:
(1) On-sale general public premises licensees under the
Alcoholic Beverage Control Act.
(2) Adult or sexually oriented businesses.
(3) Airports.
(4) Intercity passenger rail or light rail stations.
(5) Bus stations.
(6) Highway truck stops.
(7) Emergency rooms within general acute care hospitals.
(8) Urgent care centers.
(9) Farm labor contractors.
(10) Privately operated job recruitment centers.
(11) Roadside rest areas.
(12) Massage businesses or establishments.
This bill provides for the specific language to be printed on
the notice, including the toll-free hotline information of the
National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) and the
California Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (CAST).
Additionally, the notice to be posted is required to be printed
in English, Spanish, and in any other language that is the most
widely spoken in the county where the establishment is located
and for which translation is mandated by the federal Voting
Rights Act.
Prior Legislation: SB 1230 (DeSaulnier) 2010 would have required
employers to post in a conspicuous location information
regarding human trafficking. The bill was vetoed by the Governor
with the following message:
I am returning Senate Bill 1230 without my signature. This bill
requires employers to post information related to slavery and
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human trafficking, including information related to nonprofit
organizations that provide services in support of the
elimination of slavery and human trafficking. I support efforts
to eliminate human trafficking. However, this measure will
burden legitimate businesses while having little to no impact on
human slavery. After all, businesses likely to comply with his
law are not likely to have employees that would benefit from
such postings. For these reasons, I am unable to sign this bill.
Staff Comments: The provisions of this bill do not specify an
entity tasked with preparing and distributing the notice to the
specified businesses and establishments. Should an agency be
tasked with development and distribution of the notice, costs
could vary from less than $10,000 to over $60,000, depending on
how the bill is implemented. Assuming an agency is only required
to develop the notice, update its website to notify applicable
businesses/entities, and post the notice on its website, costs
are estimated to be potentially less than $10,000. If an agency
is required to develop the notice, and distribute to the
thousands of businesses and establishments, development and
mailing costs would be incurred.
The total number of entities impacted under the provisions of
this bill is uncertain at this time. The number of "massage
businesses or establishments" is estimated at 15,000 based on
information from the California Massage Therapy Council.
However, in the absence of a specific definition of
"establishment" within the provisions of this bill, the number
of entities impacted could be much larger. Similar uncertainty
exists with the definition of "adult or sexually oriented
businesses" currently unspecified in this bill. Information from
the Department of Public Health, the Department of Industrial
Relations, and Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control was used
to determine the number of acute care hospitals (305), farm
labor contractors (1,354), and on-sale general public premises
licensees (2,844). For the purposes of this estimate, it is
assumed approximately 38,000 entities would require noticing.
Based on similar efforts to develop informational posters, the
cost for the design and layout of an 8.5 inch by 11 inch notice
is estimated at up to $2,500 one time. The cost for translation
is estimated at $500 per notice or $4,000 one time (based on
eight foreign languages aside from English determined by the
Census Bureau to qualify for minority language assistance as
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published in the Federal Register, Vol. 76, No. 298, October 13,
2011). For 114,000 notices (38,000 businesses/entities x 3
languages (most in any one county) x $0.20), the cost would be
$23,000 (General Fund). Mailing costs are estimated at $0.80 per
mailer of six posters or $30,000 for an overall total of
approximately $60,000. Costs would increase to the extent more
employers/entities request copies of the notices instead of
downloading an online version. Costs to add and maintain the
notices online are likely absorbable to the responsible agency.
To the extent individual cities and counties develop and
distribute the notice to affected establishments could result in
state-mandated local costs that would likely be reimbursable by
the state. As the provisions of the bill are not specific to the
exact size of the poster or the type of material to be printed
upon or method of distribution, costs to local agencies to
develop and distribute the posters are unknown but could exceed
$1,000 per local agency based on the development costs noted
above. To the extent multiple counties or cities submitted a
claim for reimbursement, costs could easily exceed $50,000
(General Fund). Staff notes for entities that operate both
privately and publicly, costs would be state-mandated but may
not be reimbursable pursuant to the "law of general
applicability" under which obligations on both the public and
private sector do not constitute a state-reimbursable mandate.
Recommended Amendments: The author may wish to consider an
amendment to identify an agency responsible for developing a
standard notice to be utilized statewide. Agencies such as the
Department of Industrial Relations, the DOJ, or the California
Emergency Management Agency may possibly be considered.
To ensure uniformity statewide and aid in recognition of the
notice, staff recommends an amendment to specify the precise
size of the notice (versus a minimum size of 8.5 inches by 11
inches) as well as the specific font size and type to be
utilized in the notice. Additionally, although the bill requires
the notice to be printed in various languages, it is unclear if
multiple notices are to be posted as translated or if one notice
is to be posted which would include all necessary translations
on one notice.
Currently there is no mechanism for enforcement of this
requirement. To the extent an establishment does not post the
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notice, there is no citation or penalty, which could jeopardize
the effectiveness of the intent of this bill if establishments
do not post the notice.
Staff also recommends an amendment to specify a time period in
which the notice can be made available to entities, for example,
within 90 or 120 days of enactment, to provide adequate time to
develop, post, and/or otherwise distribute the notices.
The author's amendments would do the following:
Specify that on or before April 1, 2013, the DOJ will
develop the notice and make it available on its website for
entities to download and post.
Clarify that businesses and entities shall post the
notice upon availability of the notice as specified above.