BILL NUMBER: AB 20	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  JUNE 2, 2015
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 30, 2015
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 26, 2015

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Alejo

                        DECEMBER 1, 2014

   An act to add Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 11050) to Part 1
of Division 3 of the Unemployment Insurance Code, relating to
undocumented workers.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 20, as amended, Alejo. Undocumented workers: California
Agricultural Act.
   Existing provisions of federal law regulate immigration. Under
federal law, state law regulating immigration is preempted.
   This bill would require the Employment Development Department and
the Department of Food and Agriculture to convene a working group to
consult with the United States Department of Homeland Security and
the United States Department of Justice in order to determine the
legal roles and responsibilities of federal and state agencies in
implementing a program to provide undocumented persons who are
agricultural employees with a permit to work and live in California.
The bill would require the Governor, using the report, to either make
a formal request to the federal government to implement a program to
provide undocumented persons who are agricultural employees with a
permit to work and live in California, or issue an explanation as to
why a formal request was not made and make recommendations to the
Legislature for how a program to provide undocumented persons who are
agricultural employees with a permit to work and live in California
should be structured.
   The bill would also describe a framework for a program to provide
undocumented persons who are agricultural employees a permit to work
and live in California if such a program were to be authorized by
federal law.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the
California Agricultural Act.
  SEC. 2.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
   (a) Since 2007, California's agricultural industry has experienced
the highest agricultural sales recorded to date ($36,300,000,000 in
2007, $38,400,000,000 in 2008, $34,800,000,000 in 2009,
$37,500,000,000 in 2010, $43,500,000,000 in 2011, $44,300,000,000 in
2012, and $46,400,000,000 in 2013) and continues to lead the nation
in gross agricultural cash receipts.
   (b) California's agricultural industry is dependent on immigrant
labor. One recent study of 13 California counties gathered
information from 2,300 farmworkers. The profile data reported in this
study suggests that 95 percent of California agricultural workers
were born outside the United States and 91 percent in Mexico. On
average, they have been in the United States 11.1 years. Twenty-two
percent have been in the United States two years or less, 10 percent
are United States citizens, 33 percent have green cards, and 57
percent are unauthorized. Of the newcomers who have been here less
than two years, 99 percent are unauthorized.
   (c) Immigration policies that seek to deport unauthorized
farmworkers or force them to abandon their jobs in agriculture would
wreak swift and substantial damage to the agricultural industry in
California. California agriculture would lose much of its experienced
work force that has made it the most productive agricultural area in
the world. At the same time, these policies would impose a
substantial human cost on hundreds of thousands of farmworkers and
their children, most of whom are United States citizens.
   (d) The federal employment-based immigration system is broken. The
programs for admitting foreign workers for temporary and permanent
jobs are rigid, cumbersome, inefficient, do little to protect the
wages and working conditions of foreign and domestic workers, do not
respond very well to employers' needs, and give almost no attention
to adapting the number and characteristics of foreign workers to
domestic labor shortages.
   (e) Nevertheless, Congress has repeatedly failed to pass
comprehensive immigration reform including the Agricultural Job
Opportunity, Benefits, and Security Act. Instead, Congress is
considering making the E-Verify program mandatory for all employers.
Requiring agricultural employers to verify whether workers are
employment-authorized would eliminate a significant portion of the
existing agricultural workforce with no certainty that these
vacancies will be filled by legal residents.
   (f) Due to the absence of federal action on comprehensive
immigration reform, the counterproductive results of E-Verify, and
the unworkable framework of the federal H-2A guest worker program,
agricultural interests in Oklahoma and Utah have introduced
legislation creating state guest worker programs and several other
states are considering the introduction of similar state initiatives.

   (g) Recognizing the significant contributions that unauthorized
workers make to California's economy and the need to bring these
workers out of the shadows in order to improve worker conditions and
at the same time provide a legal workforce for the agricultural
industry, it is imperative that a program be created for current
unauthorized workers in these industries.
  SEC. 3.  It is the intent of the Legislature that the executive and
legislative branches of the federal government give the highest
priority to enacting comprehensive immigration reform legislation
that would confer legal status to reside in the United States to
persons who would participate in the program described in this act.
  SEC. 4.  Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 11050) is added to Part
1 of Division 3 of the Unemployment Insurance Code, to read:
      CHAPTER 8.  CALIFORNIA AGRICULTURAL WORKER PROGRAM



      Article 1.  General Provisions


   11050.  As used in this chapter:
   (a) "Employee" means an agricultural employee, as defined in
Section 1140.4 of the Labor Code.
   (b) "Employer" means an agricultural employer, as defined in
Section 1140.4 of the Labor Code or a farm labor contractor.
   (c) "Farm labor contractor" means a contractor, as defined in
Section 1682 of the Labor Code.
   (d) "Farm labor organization" means a labor organization, as
defined in Section 1117 of the Labor Code, that represents employees
rendering personal services in connection with the production of
agricultural products.
   (e) "Immediate family member" means a spouse or child under 18
years of age or 18 years or older if the child is enrolled in an
accredited program as described in paragraph (1) of subdivision (c)
of Section 11056.
   (f) "Undocumented person" means a person who is an unauthorized
alien as defined in Section 1324a(h)(3) of Title 8 of the United
States Code.
   11051.  (a) No later than February 1, 2017, the Employment
Development Department and the Department of Food and Agriculture
shall convene a working group to consult with the United States
Department of Homeland Security and the United States Department of
Justice to determine the legal roles and responsibilities of federal
and state agencies in implementing a program to provide undocumented
persons who are agricultural employees with a permit to work and live
in California.
   (b) The working group shall consist of representatives from the
Employment Development Department, the Department of Food and
Agriculture, the Attorney General, two Members of the Senate, two
Members of the Assembly, and stakeholders, including, but not limited
to, agricultural employers, farm labor contractors, and farm labor
organizations. The legislative members of the working group shall be
nonvoting ex-officio members.
   (c) Issues to be addressed by the working group shall include the
following:
   (1) Qualifying criteria for undocumented persons to apply for the
program.
   (2) Documentation requirements for applicants.
   (3) A determination of which agency will issue the permits.
   (4) Ensuring security, including through the development of
non-tamper-proof work authorization documentation or security
procedures and protocols, or all of these methods.
   (5) A determination of the process and the agency that should
conduct background and security checks and the extent background and
security checks should be required.
   (6) A determination regarding the payment that should be required
for the submission and review of applications and background and
security checks.
   (7) Protocols regarding tracking of employees under the program.
   (8) Consideration of a renewal process for the work permit.
   (9) Consideration of the extent to which employees will be allowed
to travel out of the country and the requirements for that travel.
   (10) Determination of a fee structure to cover the costs of the
program, including who will pay and how often the fee should be
assessed to cover costs of the program.
   (11) Determination of the costs involved in receiving, processing,
and issuing work permits.
   (12) Any other procedures and legal requirements associated with
implementation of the program required by the federal government to
ensure the proper role and responsibilities of the State of
California.
   (d) (1) The working group shall create a report expressing its
recommendations, which shall be based upon the model program
described in Article 2 (commencing with Section 11055). This report
shall be submitted to the Legislature and the Governor no later than
July 1, 2017.
   (2) A report to be submitted pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be
submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
   (e) By August 1, 2017, the Governor, using the report described in
subdivision (d), shall either make a formal request to the federal
government to implement a program to provide undocumented persons who
are agricultural employees with a permit to work and live in
California, or issue an explanation as to why a formal request was
not made and make recommendations to the Legislature for how a
program to provide undocumented persons who are agricultural
employees with a permit to work and live in California should be
structured.
   (f) If the federal government approves or adopts a program to
provide undocumented persons who are agricultural employees with a
permit to work and live in California, it is the intent of the
Legislature to enact necessary implementing legislation.  The
model program shall not be implemented until such implementing
legislation is enacted by the Legislature. 

      Article 2.  Model Program Requirements


   11055.  It is the intent of the Legislature that the provisions of
this article provide a model and framework for a program to provide
undocumented persons who are agricultural employees with a permit to
work and live in California.
   11056.  (a) The program shall not be implemented until a
certification is made by an entity, designated by the working group,
that not enough legal residents in California will fill all open
agricultural jobs in California.
   (b) The program shall be limited to an undocumented person who
 meet   meets  all of the following
criteria:
   (1) The undocumented person shall be 18 years of age or older.
   (2) The undocumented person shall live in California.
   (3) (A) The undocumented person has performed agricultural
employment in the United States for at least 863 hours or 150
workdays during the 24-month period ending on January 26, 2015, or
earned seven thousand five hundred dollars ($7,500) or more from
agricultural industry employment in the United States, and has
maintained agricultural employment for 431 hours or 75 workdays, or
earned three thousand seven hundred fifty dollars ($3,750) or more
from that employment, on an annual basis after receiving the permit.
   (B) An undocumented person shall be allowed to conclusively
establish employment status by submitting any of the following
records demonstrating the employment:
   (i) Records maintained by the Social Security Administration,
Internal Revenue Service, or any other federal, state, or local
government agency, an employer, a labor organization, or day labor
center.
   (ii) Itemized wage statements issued to the employee pursuant to
Section 226 of the Labor Code.
   (C) An undocumented person who is unable to submit a document
described in subparagraph (B) should be allowed to satisfy the
requirement in subparagraph (A) by submitting at least two other
types of reliable documents that provide evidence of employment,
including any of the following:
   (i) Bank records.
   (ii) Business records.
   (iii) Remittance records.
   (D) The program shall be implemented in a manner that recognizes
and takes into account the difficulties encountered by an
undocumented person in obtaining evidence of employment due to the
person's undocumented status, including the crediting of work in
cases in which an undocumented person has been employed under an
assumed name.
   (4) The undocumented person shall submit to a fingerprinted
criminal history background check.
   (5) The undocumented person has not been convicted of a felony, or
three or more misdemeanors, as confirmed by the fingerprinted
criminal history background check.
   (6) The undocumented person shall pay a fee to cover the costs of
administering the program.
   (c) The program shall extend to an undocumented person who is an
immediate family member of a person to whom a work permit has been
issued. The immediate family member shall be required to meet all of
the following:
   (1) The immediate family member shall reside with the undocumented
person to whom a permit was issued or be enrolled in an accredited
two- or four-year college or graduate program in California.
   (2) The immediate family member shall submit to a fingerprinted
criminal history background check.
   (3) The immediate family member shall never have been convicted of
a felony, or three or more misdemeanors, as confirmed by the
fingerprinted criminal history background check.
   (4) The immediate family member shall pay a fee to cover the costs
of administering the program.
   11057.  Once the program becomes authorized and operational, the
following requirements shall apply:
   (a) (1) An official or employee of the state government may not do
any of the following:
   (A) Use information furnished by an applicant for purposes of
applying for a permit under the program or any information provided
by an employer or former employer for any purpose other than to make
a determination on the application.
   (B) Make any publication in which the information furnished by any
particular individual can be identified.
   (C) Permit a person other than a sworn officer or employee of the
state to examine individual applications.
   (2) Information furnished by an applicant shall be provided to
both of the following:
   (A) A duly recognized state law enforcement entity in connection
with a criminal investigation or a prosecution, if the information is
requested in writing by the entity.
   (B) An official coroner, for purposes of affirmatively identifying
a deceased individual, whether or not the death of the individual
resulted from a crime.
   (3) Any person who files an application under the program and
knowingly and willfully falsifies, conceals, or covers up a material
fact or makes any false, fictitious, or fraudulent statements or
representations, or makes or uses any false writing or document
knowing that it contains any false, fictitious, or fraudulent
statement or entry shall be disqualified from applying under the
program.
   (b) The entities administering the program shall ensure that
employers employing workers authorized under the program make each of
the following assurances:
   (1) That the job opportunity for which an employer employs an
undocumented person authorized under the program is not vacant
because a worker is involved in a strike, lockout, or because of a
work stoppage in the course of a labor dispute involving the job
opportunity at the same place of employment.
   (2) That the wages and benefits provided to undocumented persons
working under a permit issued under the program are comparable to the
wages and benefits provided to legal residents, but in no case less
than the state minimum wage.
   (3) That an employer participating in the program shall comply
with all applicable federal, state, and local labor laws, including
laws affecting migrant and seasonal agricultural workers, with
respect to all United States workers and undocumented workers.
   (c) An employer of a person permitted to work in this state under
the program should provide a written record of employment,
demonstrating the hours worked and wages paid, to the employee issued
a permit, and provide a copy of the record to the state.
   11058.  (a) An employee permitted to work in this state under the
program shall be entitled to the same wage, hour, and working
condition protections provided to an employee who is a legal resident
of California.
   (b) A permit issued under the program may not limit an employee to
a single employer or occupation.
   11059.  No later than three years after the program is
implemented, the administering entities shall prepare and transmit to
the Assembly Committee on Labor and Employment and the Senate
Committee on Labor and Industrial Relations a report describing the
results of a review of the implementation of, and compliance with,
the requirements of the program. The report shall address and provide
information as to all the following:
   (a) Whether the program ensured an adequate and timely supply of
qualified, eligible workers at the time and place needed by
employers.
   (b) Whether the program ensured that undocumented persons
authorized to work under the program did not displace eligible,
qualified United States workers or diminished the wages and other
terms and conditions of employment of eligible United States workers.

   (c) Recommendations for improving the operation of the program for
the benefit of participating employers, eligible United States
workers, participating undocumented workers, and governmental
agencies involved in the administration of the program.
   (d) Recommendations for the continuation or termination of the
program.
   (e) A report to be submitted pursuant to subdivision (a) shall be
submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.