BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
1354 (Dodd)
As Amended June 1, 2015
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes |Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+------+----------------------+--------------------|
|Labor |5-2 |Roger Hernández, Chu, |Harper, Patterson |
| | |Low, McCarty, | |
| | |Thurmond | |
| | | | |
|----------------+------+----------------------+--------------------|
|Appropriations |12-4 |Gomez, Bonta, |Bigelow, Gallagher, |
| | |Calderon, Daly, |Jones, Wagner |
| | |Eggman, Eduardo | |
| | |Garcia, Gordon, | |
| | |Holden, Quirk, | |
| | |Rendon, Weber, Wood | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY: Enacts the Equal Pay for Equal Work Act of 2015, related
to state contracting, as specified. Specifically, this bill:
1)Provides that, prior to becoming a contractor or subcontractor
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with the state, an employer with 100 or more employees shall
submit a nondiscrimination program to the Department of Fair
Employment and Housing (DFEH) and shall submit periodic reports
of its compliance with that program.
2)Provides that an employer with fewer than 100 employees may be
required to submit a nondiscrimination program, and if so
required shall comply with the requirements for employers with
100 or more employees. DFEH may require approval and
certification of a nondiscrimination program and may audit
programs for compliance.
3)Provides that a nondiscrimination program shall include policies
and procedures designed to ensure equal employment opportunities
for all applicants and employees, an analysis of employment
selection procedures, and work force analysis.
4)Provides that the work force analysis shall include the
following:
a) An equal pay report that includes the total number of
workers with a specific job category identified by worker
race, ethnicity, and gender.
b) Total wages required to be reported on the Internal
Revenue Service Form W-2 for all workers in a specific job
category identified by worker race, ethnicity, and gender.
c) The total hours worked for all workers in a specific job
category identified by worker race, ethnicity, and gender.
5)Make related legislative findings and declarations.
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FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, ongoing General Fund administrative costs to DFEH in
the low hundreds of thousands of dollars to process thousands of
contracts annually.
COMMENTS: According to the author, this bill seeks to compile
data on gender wage inequity among state contractors and ensure
state contractors have policies for preventing unlawful
discrimination.
Supporters argue that aggregate data on the wage gap women face is
available. However, more nuanced data breaking down job category
wages by gender and race has been not widely gathered. In order
to appropriately target efforts to reduce and eliminate the wage
gap, this data need to be collected. Requiring wage transparency
ensures that employers are held accountable for maintaining pay
structures in compliance with equal pay laws.
Opponents, including the California Chamber of Commerce, state
that this bill will place an additional barrier to state
contractors and expose them to enforcement actions for alleged
discrimination that is already addressed by existing law. As a
preliminary matter, they note that the term "income equality
program" is undefined and, therefore, it is ambiguous as to what
information should or needs to be included other than data
regarding compensation and anti-discrimination policies.
Moreover, existing law already requires state contractors to
submit a "nondiscrimination program" to the DFEH that must contain
specific procedures to insure equal employment opportunity for all
protected classifications under the Fair Employment and Housing
Act, including gender and race.
Therefore, opponents contend that existing law already precludes a
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contractor from engaging in any discrimination based upon gender
or race, including inequitable compensation for performing the
same or similar job. To the extent this bill is simply
duplicating the information already required in a
nondiscrimination program, it is unnecessary and will add an
additional layer to a contractor's bid with the state. To the
extent this bill is seeking more information from contractors, it
is unclear as to what the scope of that information is or how it
will indicate income inequality based upon summary data of
compensation.
Analysis Prepared by:
Ben Ebbink / L. & E. / (916) 319-2091 FN: 0000597