BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1384
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 8, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 1384 (Committee on Labor and Employment) - As Introduced:
March 4, 2013
Policy Committee: Labor and
Employment Vote: 7-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill establishes civil penalties for garment manufactures
who fail to display specified information on the front entrance
of the business, pursuant to existing law. Specifically, this
bill:
1)Establishes a $100 penalty per day for an initial citation and
establishes a $200 penalty per day for any subsequent
citation.
2)Authorizes the Labor Commission (LC) to issue a citation for
failure to comply with existing law regarding the display of
information. Further specifies that procedures for issuing,
contesting, and enforcing judgments for citations or civil
penalties are the same as under current law.
FISCAL EFFECT
Annual costs of approximately $100,000 to the Department of
Industrial Relations (DIR) to accommodate additional workload as
a result of this measure. The Bureau of Field Enforcement,
within DIR, conducted 858 inspections of garment manufacturers
in the 2010-11 fiscal year. Of these inspections, 574 citations
were issued. There are approximately 4,000 garment
manufacturers registered with DIR.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . Current law requires every person registered as a
garment manufacturer to display on the front entrance of his
AB 1384
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or her business premise (including the interior of a building)
name, address, and garment manufacturing registration number.
Statute further requires this information to be in letters not
less than three inches high and authorizes the LC to waive
this provision under specified circumstances.
According to the author, "Despite the significance of this
posting requirement for enforcement efforts (the posted
information helps both garment workers and the LC to identify
the name and address of garment companies that violate labor
laws), there is no civil penalty specified for a violation of
this section. Compliance of [existing law] is an important
mechanism to achieve transparency in the apparel industry, as
it serves to provide basic information to garment workers
about the companies for whom they perform labor. [DIR] staffs
have increasingly reported that garment workers who have filed
administrative wage claims often have difficulty naming and
providing the address of the garment manufacturing companies
for whom they worked. Obscuring this information from workers
enables sweatshops to operate in the underground economy and
prevents workers from seeking redress for labor law
violations."
2)Existing law defines garment manufacturing as "sewing,
cutting, making, processing, repairing, finishing, assembling,
or otherwise preparing any garment or any article of wearing
apparel or accessories designed or intended to be worn by any
individual, including, but not limited to, clothing, hats,
gloves, handbags, hosiery, ties, scarfs, and belts, for sale
or resale by any person or any persons contracting to have
those operations performed." Statute further requires any
person engaged in this business to register with DIR.
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)
319-2081