BILL NUMBER: SB 390	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Wright

                        FEBRUARY 20, 2013

   An act to amend Section 227 of the Labor Code, relating to
employment.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 390, as introduced, Wright. Employee wage withholdings: failure
to remit.
   (1) Existing law makes it a crime for an employer to fail to make
agreed-upon payments to health and welfare funds, pension funds, or
various benefit plans. Existing law provides that the crime be
punished as felony or a misdemeanor, as specified, if the amount
unpaid exceeds $500, and as a misdemeanor, if the amount is less than
$500.
   This bill would make it a crime, as described above, for an
employer to fail to remit withholdings from an employee's wages that
were made pursuant to state, local, or federal law.
   (2) 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 227 of the Labor Code is amended to read:
   227.   Whenever   If  an employer 
has made withholdings from an employee's wages pursuant to state,
local, or federal law, or  has agreed with any employee to make
payments to a health or welfare fund, pension fund  ,  or
vacation plan, or other similar plan for the benefit of the
employees, or a negotiated industrial promotion fund, or has entered
into a collective bargaining agreement providing for these payments,
it shall be unlawful for that employer willfully or with intent to
defraud to fail to  remit the withholdings to the proper agency
or to fail to  make the payments required by the terms of that
agreement. A violation of any provision of this section 
where   when  the amount the employer failed to pay
into the fund or funds exceeds five hundred dollars ($500) shall be
punishable by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section
1170 of the Penal Code, or in a county jail for a period of not more
than one year, by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars
($1,000), or by both that imprisonment and fine. All other violations
shall be punishable as a misdemeanor.
  SEC. 2.  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.