BILL NUMBER: AB 35 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 15, 2013
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 4, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Roger Hernández
DECEMBER 3, 2012
An act to add Section 22449 to the Business and Professions Code,
to add amend Section 1251.5 to
1264 of the Unemployment Insurance Code, and to
amend Section 12801.6 of the Vehicle Code, relating to childhood
arrivals.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 35, as amended, Roger Hernández. Deferred action for childhood
arrivals.
(1) Under existing federal law, the Secretary of the Department of
Homeland Security has issued a directive allowing certain
undocumented individuals who meet several key criteria for relief
from removal from the United States or from entering into removal
proceedings to be eligible to receive deferred action for a period of
2 years, subject to renewal, and who will be eligible to apply for
work authorization.
Existing law provides for the regulation of immigration
consultants by the Department of Consumer Affairs, the licensure and
regulation of attorneys by the State Bar of California, and the
commission of notaries public by the Secretary of State. A violation
of certain of these provisions is a crime.
This bill would provide that immigration consultants, attorneys,
and notaries public , and organizations
accredited by the United States Board of Immigration Appeals
shall be the only individuals authorized to charge clients or
prospective clients a fee for providing services associated with
filing an application under the deferred action program. The bill
also would prohibit immigration consultants, attorneys, and
notaries public , and organizations accredited by the
United States Board of Immigration Appeals from
participating in practices that amount to price gouging, as defined,
when a client or prospective client solicits these services. By
expanding the definition of a crime, this bill would impose a
state-mandated local program.
(2) Commencing January 1, 2013, state law provides that any
federal document demonstrating favorable action by the federal
government for acceptance of a person into this deferred action
program shall satisfy specified requirements for the purposes of
being authorized to receive an original driver's license from the
Department of Motor Vehicles, as described.
This bill would provide that these provisions also apply for the
purposes of being authorized to receive a California identification
cards.
(3) Existing law provides for unemployment compensation benefits
to eligible persons who are unemployed through no fault of their own.
Existing law establishes the Unemployment
Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, for the receipt of employer
contributions and the payment of employment compensation benefits.
Existing law makes it a crime for a person to commit various acts,
including making or signing a false statement or supplying false
information in connection with obtaining unemployment benefits, as
specified.
Existing law provides that unemployment compensation benefits, and
other related benefits, as specified, shall not be payable on the
basis of services performed by a person who is not a citizen of the
United States, unless that person is an individual who was lawfully
admitted for permanent residence at the time the services were
performed, was lawfully present for purposes of performing the
services, or was permanently residing in the United States under
color of law at the time the services were performed.
This bill would , to the extent permitted by federal law
and contingent on the appropriation of funds, provide that
, to the extent authorized by federal law, if a person
who has received a notice of decision from the
federal government granting deferred action under the
deferred action federal Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrivals program shall be and if that
person performed the services while he or she was in receipt of a
valid employment authorization from the federal government, he or she
is a person who was lawfully present for purposes of performing the
services and is eligible for unemployment compensation
benefits. benefits, as specified.
(4) The bill would state that the provisions of the bill are
declarative of existing law.
(4)
(5) The California Constitution requires the state to
reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs
mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for
making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 22449 is added to the Business and Professions
Code, to read:
22449. (a) Immigration consultants, attorneys, and
notaries public , and organizations accredited by the
United States Board of Immigration Appeals shall be the only
individuals authorized to charge clients or prospective clients fees
for providing consultations, legal advice, or notary public services,
respectively, associated with filing an application under the
deferred action for childhood arrivals
federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
program announced by the United States Secretary of the
Department of Homeland Security on June 15, 2012.
(b) (1) Immigration consultants, attorneys, and
notaries public , and organizations accredited by the United
States Board of Immigration Appeals shall be prohibited from
participating in practices that amount to price gouging when a client
or prospective client solicits services associated with filing an
application for deferred action for childhood arrivals as described
in subdivision (a).
(2) For the purposes of this section, "price gouging" means any
practice that has the effect of pressuring the client or prospective
client to purchase services immediately because purchasing them at a
later time will result in the client or prospective client paying a
higher price for the same services.
(c) (1) In addition to the civil and criminal penalties described
in Section 22445, a violation of this section by an attorney shall be
cause for discipline by the State Bar pursuant to Chapter 4
(commencing with Section 6000) of Division 3.
(2) In addition to the civil and criminal penalties described in
Section 22445, a violation of this section by a notary public shall
be cause for the revocation or suspension of his or her commission as
a notary public by the Secretary of State and the application of any
other applicable penalties pursuant to Chapter 3 (commencing with
Section 8200) of Division 1 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
SEC. 2. Section 1251.5 is added to the
Unemployment Insurance Code, to read:
1251.5. (a) Notwithstanding any other law, a person who has
received a notice of decision from the federal government granting
deferred action under the deferred action for childhood arrivals
program announced by the United States Secretary of the Department of
Homeland Security on June 15, 2012, shall be eligible for
unemployment compensation benefits as provided in this article.
(b) Eligibility for benefits under subdivision (a) shall be
contingent on receipt of employment authorization from the federal
government.
SEC. 2. Section 1264 of the
Unemployment Insurance Code is amended to read:
1264. (a) (1) Unemployment compensation
benefits, extended duration benefits, and federal-state extended
benefits shall not be payable on the basis of services performed by
an alien unless the alien is an individual who was lawfully admitted
for permanent residence at the time the services were performed, was
lawfully present for purposes of performing the services, or was
permanently residing in the United States under color of law at the
time the services were performed, including an alien who was lawfully
present in the United States as a result of the application of the
provisions of Section 203(a)(7) or Section 212(d)(5) of the
Immigration and Nationality Act.
(2) For purposes of paragraph (1), and only to the extent
authorized by federal law, an alien who (A) is the subject of a
notice of decision from the federal government granting deferred
action under the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
program announced by the United States Secretary of Homeland Security
on June 15, 2012, and (B) performed the services while he or she was
in receipt of a valid employment authorization from the federal
government, is a person who was lawfully present for purposes of
performing those services.
(b) Any data or information required of individuals applying for
benefits specified by subdivision (a) to determine whether these
benefits are not payable to them because of their alien status shall
be uniformly required from all applicants for these benefits.
(c) In the case of an individual whose application for benefits
specified by subdivision (a) would otherwise be approved, no
determination by the department, an administrative law judge, or the
appeals board that these benefits to the individual are not payable
because of his or her alien status shall be made except upon a
preponderance of the evidence.
(d) If an alien presents evidence that the Immigration and
Naturalization Service has granted the alien employment authorization
as a result of the alien's application for temporary residence
status under the federal Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986
(Public Law 99-603), pending a final determination on this
application the department shall not do either of the following:
(1) Commence or continue to pursue any administrative or judicial
action to collect benefits where there has been a final determination
that these benefits have been overpaid or chargeable to the alien,
because of the alien's immigration status at the time he or she
performed the services compensated by his or her base period wages.
(2) Determine that the alien was overpaid benefits in the current
benefit year or in any prior benefit year, if the basis for the
determination is the assumption that because the alien is an
applicant for temporary resident status he or she was not, while
performing the services compensated by base period wages, lawfully
admitted for permanent residence, lawfully present for purposes of
performing the services that were compensated by his or her base
period wages, or permanently residing in the United States under
color of law.
(e) If the Immigration and Naturalization Service grants the
application and adjusts the alien's status to that of lawful
temporary resident, the department shall not take any action
described in paragraph (1) of subdivision (d) or make any
determination described in paragraph (2) of subdivision (d). If an
alien is not in the status of being lawfully admitted for permanent
residence, lawfully present for the purpose of performing the
services compensated by his or her base period wages, or permanently
residing in the United States under color of law, at the time the
alien's lawful temporary permanent status terminates, then
compensation shall not be payable on the basis of services performed
by the alien after the termination.
(f) Nothing in subdivision (d) shall be construed to require the
department to do any of the following:
(1) Repay any amounts collected under any present or past action
as described in paragraph (1) of subdivision (d).
(2) Redetermine the eligibility for unemployment compensation
benefits of any alien who the department originally determined to be
ineligible because of the alien's status at the time he or she
performed the services compensated by his or her base period wages
and with respect to whom the determination has become final.
(3) Apply subdivision (d) or (e) retroactively.
(g) If the United States Secretary of Labor finds that
subdivisions (d) and (e) are not in conformity with the federal
Unemployment Tax Act, and effective as of the date that this finding
becomes final, subdivisions (d), (e), and (f) shall be inoperative
and of no legal force or effect.
(h) Unless subdivisions (d), (e), and (f) have earlier become
inoperative and of no legal force or effect pursuant to a finding by
the Secretary of Labor under subdivision (g), subdivisions (d), (e),
(f), and (g) shall remain in effect only until September 30, 1990,
and as of that date shall become inoperative, unless a later enacted
statute which is chaptered before September 30, 1990, deletes or
extends that date. Notwithstanding this subdivision, however, the
department shall not take any action to collect benefits from an
individual when the collection against that individual was suspended
pursuant to subdivision (e) prior to September 30, 1990.
SEC. 3. Section 12801.6 of the Vehicle Code is amended to read:
12801.6. (a) Any federal document demonstrating favorable action
by the federal government for acceptance of a person into the
deferred action for childhood arrivals
federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program shall
satisfy the requirements of Section 12801.5.
(b) The department may issue an original driver's license or
California identification card to the person who submits proof of
presence in the United States as authorized under federal law
pursuant to subdivision (a) and either a social security account
number or ineligibility for a social security account number.
SEC. 4. The provisions of this act are declarative
of existing law.
SEC. 4. SEC. 5. No reimbursement is
required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the
California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred
by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this
act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or
infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within
the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the
definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII
B of the California Constitution.