BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                      AB 20


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          Date of Hearing:  May 13, 2015


                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS


                                 Jimmy Gomez, Chair


          AB  
          20 (Alejo) - As Amended April 30, 2015


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          Urgency:  No  State Mandated Local Program:  NoReimbursable:  No


          SUMMARY:


          This bill requires the Employment Development Department (EDD)  
          and the Department of Food and Agriculture (DFA), no later than  
          February 1, 2017, to convene a working group to consult with the  
          US Department of Homeland Security and the US Department of  








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          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. Specifically, this bill:


          1)Specifies the work group shall consist of representatives from  
            the EDD, the DFA, the Attorney General (AG), 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.



          2)Requires the working group to address the specific issues  
            relative to program application, documentation review, and  
            determination of a fee structure to cover the costs of the  
            program, as well as costs of receiving, processing and issuing  
            work permits. Further, requires a report with recommendations  
            to be submitted to the Legislature and the Governor by July 1,  
            2017.



          3)Requires the Governor, by August 1, 2017, 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. 



          4)Sets forth criteria related to a model program and framework  








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            for providing undocumented persons who are agricultural  
            employees with a permit to work and live in California, and  
            specifies 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.



          5)Establishes other requirements and conditions, if the program  
            is authorized and becomes operational. Requires the  
            administering entities, no later than three years after the  
            program is implemented, to prepare and transmit a report to  
            the Legislature describing the results of a review of the  
            implementation of, and compliance with, the requirements of  
            the program.
          


          FISCAL EFFECT:


          1)General Fund administrative costs of in the range of $120,000  
            to $200,000, starting July 1, 2017, for the EDD to convene a  
            working group.  These costs include staffing, travel and other  
            administrative expenses. The scope of this work is broad and  
            addresses an unfamiliar subject matter for the EDD. To the  
            extent the EDD is responsible for coordination with federal  
            agencies and production of the working group report,  
            additional workload costs could be incurred. The Department of  
            Food and Agriculture and the Attorney General's Office  
            indicate minor/absorbable costs to participate in the working  
            group.  


          2)Unknown costs, potentially in the millions, to the extent a  
            model program is established to provide undocumented persons  
            who are agricultural employees with a permit to work and live  
            in California. Costs to develop and implement a program likely  








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            include development of a new automated system to store permit  
            information (e.g., fingerprinting and background checks),  
            permit review and regional office staffing.  


          COMMENTS:


          1)Purpose. According to the author, California's agriculture  
            sector contributes significantly to the state's economic  
            success. This industry relies heavily on unauthorized workers  
            from outside of the U.S. to maintain its economic production  
            and revenues. This bill proposes to enact the California  
            Agricultural Act to 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.



            This bill is supported by The California Chamber of Commerce,  
            the Western Growers Association, and a number of other  
            farmworker advocates, who state in a joint letter:


                 "Our organizations share your frustration with the  
                 lack of action at the Federal level to address labor  
                 shortages and ensure long-term labor security. We  
                 have promoted Comprehensive Immigration Reform for  
                 the past few years to no avail. AB 20 seeks to build  
                 upon consensus language found in past versions of  
                 the Federal AgJobs legislation. We believe using  
                 this language as a model will send an important  
                 message to Congress about California's interest in  
                 making something happen in this area, even if  
                 Washington, DC is not able to act."


          2)Previous related legislation.  AB 1544 (V.M. Perez) of 2012 is  
            similar to this bill, though more expansive. This bill would  








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            have established the California Agricultural Jobs and Industry  
            Stabilization Program, authorizing the EDD to issue permits to  
            undocumented persons to work in the agricultural and service  
            industries and who meet specified criteria.  The bill was  
            moved to the Assembly Inactive file.



          Analysis Prepared by:Misty Feusahrens / APPR. / (916)  
          319-2081