AB 1158, as amended, 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 lawbegin delete assesses specified civil penalties on employers who fail to pay their employees minimum wages.end deletebegin insert generally requires that not less than the general prevailing rate of per diem wages, as specified, be paid to workers employed on a public work, as defined. Existing law requires a contractor or subcontractor to forfeit to the state or political subdivision on whose behalf a public work is being performed a penalty, as provided and determined by the Labor Commissioner, for violations of these prevailing wage provisions. end insert
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 thebegin delete civilend delete penalties for failure to paybegin delete minimumend deletebegin insert prevailingend insert wagesbegin insert on a public workend insert.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Vote: 2⁄3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 21183 of the Public Resources Code is
2amended to read:
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) (1) 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
P3 1geographic area, as determined by the Director of Industrial
2Relations pursuant to Sections 1773 and 1773.9 of the Labor Code.
3If the project is certified for streamlining, the project applicant
4shall include this requirement in all contracts for the performance
5of the work.
6(2) The condition set forth in paragraph (1) is a labor standard
7subject to enforcement pursuant to Chapter 4 (commencing with
8Section 79) of Division 1 of the Labor Code.
9(3) A project applicant who fails to pay prevailing wages or
10fails to ensure that prevailing wages are paid, as required pursuant
11to paragraph (1), is subject to thebegin delete civilend delete penalties
set forth in Section
12begin delete 1197.1end deletebegin insert 1775end insert of the Labor Code.
13(c) The project does not result in any net additional emission
14of greenhouse gases, including greenhouse gas emissions from
15employee transportation, as determined by the State Air Resources
16Board pursuant to Division 25.5 (commencing with Section 38500)
17of the Health and Safety Code.
18(d) The project applicant has entered into a binding and
19enforceable agreement that all mitigation measures required
20pursuant to this division to certify the project under this chapter
21shall be conditions of approval of the project, and those conditions
22will be fully
enforceable by the lead agency or another agency
23designated by the lead agency. In the case of environmental
24mitigation measures, the applicant agrees, as an ongoing obligation,
25that those measures will be monitored and enforced by the lead
26agency for the life of the obligation.
27(e) The project applicant agrees to pay the costs of thebegin delete Courtend delete
28begin insert courtend insert ofbegin delete Appealend deletebegin insert appealend insert in hearing and deciding any case, including
29payment of the costs for the appointment of a special master if
30deemed appropriate by the
court, in a form and manner specified
31by the Judicial Council, as provided in the Rules of Court adopted
32by the Judicial Council pursuant tobegin delete subdivision (f) ofend delete Section
3321185.
34(f) The project applicant agrees to pay the costs of preparing
35the administrative record for the project concurrent with review
36and consideration of the project pursuant to this division, in a form
37and manner specified by the lead agency for the project.
This act is an urgency statute necessary for the
39immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within
P4 1the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into
2immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
3To ensure that workers on a project certified by the Governor
4as an environmental leadership development project receive the
5prevailing wage appropriate for the type of work performed, as
6required pursuant to Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section 21178)
7of Division 13 of the Public Resources Code, it is necessary for
8this measure to take effect immediately.
O
98