BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1661
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
1661 (McCarty and Gonzalez)
As Amended April 11, 2016
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Local |9-0 |Eggman, Waldron, | |
|Government | |Mullin, Bonilla, | |
| | |Chiu, Cooley, Beth | |
| | |Gaines, Gordon, | |
| | |Linder | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Appropriations |20-0 |Gonzalez, Bigelow, | |
| | |Bloom, Bonilla, | |
| | |Bonta, Calderon, | |
| | |Chang, Daly, Eggman, | |
| | |Gallagher, Eduardo | |
| | |Garcia, Roger | |
| | |Hernández, Holden, | |
| | |Jones, Obernolte, | |
| | |Quirk, Santiago, | |
| | |Wagner, Weber, Wood | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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AB 1661
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SUMMARY: Requires local agency officials to receive sexual
harassment training and education. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires, if a local agency provides any type of compensation,
salary, or stipend to a local agency official of that agency,
all local agency officials of that agency to receive sexual
harassment training and education pursuant to this bill.
2)Allows a local agency to also require any of its employees to
receive sexual harassment training and education pursuant to
this bill.
3)Requires each local agency official, or employee who is so
required, to receive at least two hours of sexual harassment
training and education within the first six months of taking
office or commencing employment, and every two years
thereafter.
4)Requires an entity that develops curricula to satisfy the
requirements of this bill to consult with the Attorney General
(AG) regarding the sufficiency and accuracy of that proposed
content, and allows an entity to include local sexual
harassment training and education policies in the curricula.
5)Requires the training and education required by this bill to
include information and practical guidance regarding the
federal and state statutory provisions concerning the
prohibition against, and the prevention and correction of,
sexual harassment and the remedies available to victims of
sexual harassment in employment.
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6)Requires the training and education to also include practical
examples aimed at instructing the local agency official in the
prevention of sexual harassment, discrimination, and
retaliation, and to be presented by trainers or educators with
knowledge and expertise in the prevention of sexual
harassment, discrimination, and retaliation.
7)Allows a local agency or an association of local agencies to
offer one or more training courses, or sets of self-study
materials with tests, to meet the requirements of this bill.
These courses may be taken at home, in person, or online.
8)Requires all providers of training courses to provide
participants with proof of participation to meet the
requirements of this bill.
9)Requires a local agency to provide information on training
available to meet the requirements of this bill to its local
agency officials and its employees at least once annually.
10)Requires a local agency official who serves more than one
local agency to satisfy the requirements of this bill once
every two years without regard to the number of local agencies
he or she serves.
11)Requires a local agency that requires its local agency
officials or employees to complete the sexual harassment
training and education prescribed by this bill to maintain
records indicating both of the following:
a) The dates that local agency officials or employees
satisfied the requirements of this article; and,
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b) The entity that provided the training.
12)Requires, notwithstanding any other law, a local agency to
maintain the records required by this bill for at least five
years after local agency officials or employees receive the
training. These records are public records subject to
disclosure under the California Public Records Act, as
specified.
13)Specifies that the requirements of this bill are in addition
to any other law requiring similar or related training, and
nothing in this bill shall be construed to supersede the
requirements of current law governing sexual harassment or
sexual harassment training, as specified.
14)Provides the following definitions:
a) "Local agency" means a city, county, city and county,
charter city, charter county, charter city and county, or
special district; and,
b) "Local agency official" means any member of a local
agency legislative body and any elected local agency
official.
15)Finds and declares that all employees should have the same
opportunity to work in a safe and harassment-free environment
and therefore, sexual harassment training and education for
all local agency officials is a matter of statewide concern,
and not merely a municipal affair, as that term is used in
California Constitution Article XI, Section 5. Therefore,
this bill shall apply to charter cities, charter counties, and
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charter cities and counties.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Requires all local agency officials to receive training in
ethics, at specified intervals, if the local agency provides
any type of compensation, salary, or stipend to those
officials.
2)Requires an employer having 50 or more employees to provide at
least two hours of classroom or other effective interactive
training and education regarding sexual harassment to all
supervisory employees in California within six months of their
assumption of a supervisory position, and once every two years
thereafter.
3)Defines, for purposes of 2), above, "employer" to mean any
person regularly employing 50 or more persons or regularly
receiving the services of 50 or more persons providing
services pursuant to a contract, or any person acting as an
agent of an employer, directly or indirectly, the state, or
any political or civil subdivision of the state, and cities.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee:
1)Significant costs to the Department of Justice of up to $1
million (General Fund) to consult and review all proposed
training materials regarding sexual harassment training for
local agencies across the state, and to provide any resulting
training, or statutory and regulatory provision updates.
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2)Potentially significant reimbursable costs to local agencies
to develop materials and provide sexual harassment training to
local agency officials.
COMMENTS:
1)Bill Summary. This bill requires local agency officials to
receive two hours of sexual harassment training and education
within the first six months of taking office or commencing
employment, and every two years thereafter. The requirements
of the bill apply only if a local agency provides any type of
compensation, salary, or stipend to its local agency
officials. Pursuant to the definitions provided in the bill,
its requirements would apply to any member of a legislative
body and any elected official of cities and counties
(including charter cities and charter counties), and special
districts.
This bill requires an entity that develops curricula to
satisfy the bill's requirements to consult with the AG
regarding the sufficiency and accuracy of the curricula, and
allows an entity to include local sexual harassment training
and education policies in the curricula. A local agency
official who serves more than one local agency shall satisfy
the bill's requirements once every two years, regardless of
the number of local agencies he or she serves.
This bill provides that its requirements are in addition to
any other law requiring similar or related training, and
provides that nothing in the bill shall be construed to
supersede the requirements of current law governing sexual
harassment or sexual harassment training, as specified.
This bill allows a local agency to also require any of its
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employees to receive sexual harassment training and education
as outlined in the bill. This bill is sponsored by Equal
Rights Advocates.
2)Authors' Statement. According to the authors,
In 2004, AB 1825 (Reyes), [Chapter 933, Statutes of 2004]
established requirements for sexual harassment prevention
training in the workplace. Specifically, it required
that employers of 50 or more employees must provide
training of a (minimum) of two hours on sexual harassment
prevention training to all supervisors and once every two
years. Also, it stated that these trainings should be
conducted with existing state resources. In addition, AB
1825 mandated that training needed to be renewed every
two years in order to keep employers/employees updated
and refreshed on how to report, prevent, and recognize
sexual harassment.
However, existing law does not explicitly require city or
county elected officials to take (a) sexual harassment
prevention training course. Some cities have interpreted
AB 1825 to not apply to city council members, while some
cities have found that it does apply. This loophole has
caused significant confusion. The cost to cities to
litigate and/or settle claims for sexual harassment suits
is in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, which result
in a significant loss of revenue (and) diverts funds from
essential constituent services.
This bill aims to eliminate confusion by requiring that
all city, county, charter city, charter county, charter
city and county, special district employees, and city
elected officials receive sexual harassment prevention
training and education within a six month period after
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assuming a new position.
3)Background. During the past few years, California has
witnessed a number of high-profile cases in which elected
local government officials were accused and/or found guilty of
sexually harassing their staff or other employees. Most
visible among them was the City of San Diego's scandal with
its former mayor. A major issue in that case involved a
dispute between the City and the former mayor over who was
responsible for the mayor's sexual harassment training, which
he didn't complete until after sexual harassment allegations
were made public and after the required 6-month timeframe for
training had elapsed.
The mayor's attorney argued that the City was responsible for
defending the mayor in his legal battles, because the City
failed to provide training to the mayor within the required
6-month timeline. The City contended that the mayor
repeatedly refused to complete the on-line training course.
The City of San Diego eventually settled several lawsuits
against its former mayor, reporting in February that it
expected total payouts when all suits were settled to reach $1
million.
There have been additional news reports and op-eds on this
issue in other parts of the state, including West Hollywood
and Sacramento. At issue is whether elected officials are
considered "supervisory employees" and, as such, subject to
current law that requires employers to provide sexual
harassment training to employees who are supervisors. Some
jurisdictions have interpreted the law to include elected
officials among supervisory employees, while others have not.
This bill is modeled after current law governing ethics
training for local agency officials, in an attempt to clarify
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that local agency officials are, indeed, required to complete
training and education in sexual harassment.
4)Previous Legislation. AB 2053 (Gonzalez), Chapter 306,
Statutes of 2014, expanded on existing law related to sexual
harassment training for supervisory employees to also include
training on the prevention of abusive conduct.
SB 1087 (Monning), Chapter 750, Statutes of 2014, prohibited a
farm labor contractor (FLC) who engages in sexual harassment
from being issued an FLC's license or renewing the license, as
specified.
AB 1234 (Salinas), Chapter 700, Statutes of 2005, established
provisions for ethics training for local government officials
and designated employees.
AB 1825 (Reyes), Chapter 933, Statutes of 2004, required
employers who have 50 or more employees to provide sexual
harassment training and education to all supervisory
employees.
5)Arguments in Support. The Sacramento Collective for Women's
Rights, in support, writes, "Sexual harassment in the
workplace continues to be a prevalent issue in the United
States. Men and women alike can experience sexual harassment
in the workplace; therefore, they should be able to recognize,
resist and report it when it happens? AB 1661? aims to create
a universal mandate for all city and county elected officials
to complete such training. It is time for a universal law
that specifically requires city and county elected officials
to take this training so that it eliminates any confusion as
to what trainings and courses they must take."
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The CSAC Excess Insurance Authority, also in support, adds,
"As public entity members, we are often drawn into lengthy and
costly employment-related lawsuits where claims of sexual
harassment are brought forth. Oftentimes, we see that the
lawsuits are directed at supervisory staff either for their
direct actions or their inaction in addressing the alleged
harassment? however, we also see that other employees who are
aware of? potential harassment fail to bring the issue to
light. We believe that expanding the existing law? will
provide for greater education and awareness across all levels
of employment in local government."
6)Arguments in Opposition. None on file.
Analysis Prepared by:
Angela Mapp / L. GOV. / (916) 319-3958 FN:
0003114