BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 20 Page 1 Date of Hearing: May 13, 2015 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Jimmy Gomez, Chair AB 20 (Alejo) - As Amended April 30, 2015 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Policy |Labor and Employment |Vote:|6 - 1 | |Committee: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | |Judiciary | |9 - 0 | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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 AB 20 Page 2 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 AB 20 Page 3 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 AB 20 Page 4 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 AB 20 Page 5 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