BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2744| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- THIRD READING Bill No: AB 2744 Author: Assembly Labor and Employment Committee Amended: 6/18/14 in Senate Vote: 21 SENATE LABOR & INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS COMMITTEE : 5-0, 6/25/14 AYES: Hueso, Wyland, Leno, Padilla, Mitchell SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8 ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 73-0, 5/8/14 (Consent) - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Public works: apprenticeship program SOURCE : Author DIGEST : This bill makes conforming changes to reflect a recent merger of duties within the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) and more fully integrate enforcement of apprenticeship standards within the enforcement mechanisms already available to address other violations of the requirements for contractors and subcontractors on public works projects under existing law. ANALYSIS : Under existing law, the Division of Apprenticeship Standards (DAS), within the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR), is charged with the responsibility of administering California apprenticeship law and enforces apprenticeship standards for wages, hours, working conditions and the specific skills required for state certification as a journeyperson in an CONTINUED AB 2744 Page 2 apprenticeable occupation. Also within DIR, the Division of Occupational Safety and Health is tasked with the responsibility of protecting workers from health and safety hazards on the job. Existing law states that when a contractor or subcontractor performing a public works project is found by the Labor Commissioner (Commissioner) to be in violation of the requirements relating to public works contracts, under specific circumstances the contractor or subcontractor is ineligible to bid on, be awarded, or perform work as a subcontractor on a public works contract for between one and three years. Existing law imposes a civil penalty on contractors or subcontractors who are determined to have knowingly violated specific provisions regulating the employment of apprentices on public workers projects, provides that a contractor or subcontractor who is determined to have knowingly committed a serious violation of the apprentice employment provisions may additionally be denied the right to bid on or be awarded or perform as a subcontractor on any public works project for specified periods of time, provides for a review of the civil penalty or debarment by the Commissioner, and provides for a process to collect the civil penalty. This bill makes conforming changes to reflect a recent merger of duties within DLSE and more fully integrate enforcement of apprenticeship standards within the enforcement mechanisms already available to address other violations of the requirements for contractors and subcontractors on public works projects under existing law. Specifically, this bill: 1.Amends existing Labor Code (LAB) Section 1777.1 to require the Commissioner to use the same procedures specified in LAB Section 1777.1 to seek the penalty of debarment against public works contractors and subcontractors found to be in violation of the apprenticeship standards identified in LAB Section 1777.5. 2.Amends existing LAB Section 1777.1 to include criteria for how the Commissioner shall consider in determining whether a violation was serious and how long a party should be debarred. CONTINUED AB 2744 Page 3 3.Repeals existing LAB Section 1777.7 to add amendments revising LAB Section 1777.7 in order to: A. Require the Commissioner to use the same procedures specified in LAB Section 1741 to enforce monetary penalty assessments against public works contractors and subcontractors in addressing violations of the apprenticeship standards identified in LAB Section 1777.5. B. Make uniform the respective burdens of proof applicable to contractors, subcontractors and the Commissioner under LAB Section 1742 when hearings are held before the Director of DIR to review assessments for violations of the apprenticeship standards identified in LAB Section 1777.5. C. Make uniform the requirement in LAB Section 1742 that the amount of penalty assessments against contractors and subcontractors addressing apprenticeship violations are only reviewable for abuse of discretion. Comments Effective June 27, 2012, the DAS Public Works Unit and the Electrician Certification Unit were merged with the DLSE Public Works Unit. This merger allows DLSE to enforce all aspects of public works law effectively and comprehensively and makes DLSE responsible for enforcing public works laws involving the payment of wages for journey workers and apprentices and for apprenticeship ratio complaints. However, some code sections were not properly amended to reflect the changes made by this reorganization. According to the author's office, this bill makes the necessary clean-up changes to reflect this merger of duties within DLSE and more fully integrate enforcement of apprenticeship standards within the enforcement mechanisms already available to address other violations of the requirements for contractors and subcontractors on public works projects under existing law. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No SUPPORT : (Verified 7/31/14) CONTINUED AB 2744 Page 4 AFSCME ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 73-0, 5/8/14 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Grove, Hagman, Harkey, Roger Hernández, Holden, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez NO VOTE RECORDED: Eggman, Gorell, Gray, Hall, Mansoor, V. Manuel Pérez, Vacancy PQ:k 7/31/14 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED