California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly BillNo. 1158


Introduced by Assembly Member Campos

February 27, 2015


An act to amend Section 21183 of the Public Resources Code, relating to environmental quality, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1158, as introduced, Campos. Jobs and Economic Improvement Through Environmental Leadership Act of 2011: prevailing wage.

Existing law establishes the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement in the Department of Industrial Relations for the enforcement of labor laws, including wage claims. Existing law assesses specified civil penalties on employers who fail to pay their employees minimum wages.

The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment.

The Jobs and Economic Improvement Through Environmental Leadership Act of 2011 authorizes the Governor, until January 1, 2016, to certify projects for certain CEQA streamlining benefits if the project meets certain conditions, including a condition that the project creates high-wage, highly skilled jobs that pay prevailing wages. Existing law requires the applicant of a project that is so certified to include this wage condition in all contracts for the performance of work for the project.

This bill would specify that the above wage condition is subject to enforcement by the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement. The bill would make a project applicant who fails to pay, or fails to ensure the payment of, prevailing wages subject to the civil penalties for failure to pay minimum wages.

This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Vote: 23. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

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SECTION 1.  

Section 21183 of the Public Resources Code is
2amended to read:

3

21183.  

The Governor may certify a leadership project for
4streamlining pursuant to this chapter if all the following conditions
5are met:

6(a) The project will result in a minimum investment of one
7hundred million dollars ($100,000,000) in California upon
8completion of construction.

9(b) begin insert(1)end insertbegin insertend insert The project creates high-wage, highly skilled jobs that
10pay prevailing wages and living wages and provide construction
11jobs and permanent jobs for Californians, and helps reduce
12unemployment. For purposes of this subdivision, “jobs that pay
13prevailing wages” means that all construction workers employed
14in the execution of the project will receive at least the general
15prevailing rate of per diem wages for the type of work and
16geographic area, as determined by the Director of Industrial
17Relations pursuant to Sections 1773 and 1773.9 of the Labor Code.
18If the project is certified for streamlining, the project applicant
19shall include this requirement in all contracts for the performance
20of the work.

begin insert

21(2) The condition set forth in paragraph (1) is a labor standard
22subject to enforcement pursuant to Chapter 4 (commencing with
23Section 79) of Division 1 of the Labor Code.

end insert
begin insert

P3    1(3) A project applicant who fails to pay prevailing wages or
2fails to ensure that prevailing wages are paid, as required pursuant
3to paragraph (1), is subject to the civil penalties set forth in Section
41197.1 of the Labor Code.

end insert

5(c) The project does not result in any net additional emission
6of greenhouse gases, including greenhouse gas emissions from
7employee transportation, as determined by the State Air Resources
8Board pursuant to Division 25.5 (commencing with Section 38500)
9of the Health and Safety Code.

10(d) The project applicant has entered into a binding and
11enforceable agreement that all mitigation measures required
12pursuant to this division to certify the project under this chapter
13shall be conditions of approval of the project, and those conditions
14will be fully enforceable by the lead agency or another agency
15designated by the lead agency. In the case of environmental
16mitigation measures, the applicant agrees, as an ongoing obligation,
17that those measures will be monitored and enforced by the lead
18agency for the life of the obligation.

19(e) The project applicant agrees to pay the costs of the Court of
20Appeal in hearing and deciding any case, including payment of
21the costs for the appointment of a special master if deemed
22appropriate by the court, in a form and manner specified by the
23Judicial Council, as provided in the Rules of Court adopted by the
24Judicial Council pursuant to subdivision (f) of Section 21185.

25(f) The project applicant agrees to pay the costs of preparing
26the administrative record for the project concurrent with review
27and consideration of the project pursuant to this division, in a form
28and manner specified by the lead agency for the project.

29

SEC. 2.  

This act is an urgency statute necessary for the
30immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within
31the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into
32immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:

33To ensure that workers on a project certified by the Governor
34as an environmental leadership development project receive the
35prevailing wage appropriate for the type of work performed, as
36required pursuant to Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section 21178)
37of Division 13 of the Public Resources Code, it is necessary for
38this measure to take effect immediately.



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