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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| |Judiciary | |9 - 0 |
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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