BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
AB 1661 (McCarty) - Local government: sexual harassment
prevention training and education
-----------------------------------------------------------------
| |
| |
| |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|--------------------------------+--------------------------------|
| | |
|Version: June 13, 2016 |Policy Vote: GOV. & F. 6 - 0 |
| | |
|--------------------------------+--------------------------------|
| | |
|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
| | |
|--------------------------------+--------------------------------|
| | |
|Hearing Date: August 1, 2016 |Consultant: Mark McKenzie |
| | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: AB 1661 would require specified local agency officials
to receive sexual harassment prevention training and education
if the local agency provides any type of compensation, salary,
or stipend to those officials. In addition, the bill would
authorize a local agency to require that training for any of its
employees.
Fiscal
Impact:
The Attorney General (AG) estimates costs could be as high as
$435,000 annually for 3 PY of staff to consult with local
agencies and review proposed training materials. Actual costs
and staffing needs would depend upon the number of local
agencies that choose to consult with the AG regarding the
sufficiency and accuracy of content, rather than having their
own legal staff review the training materials. (General Fund)
AB 1661 (McCarty) Page 1 of
?
Likely minor reimbursable local costs for local agencies to
recommend training available to local officials at least once
annually, and to maintain records on local officials'
completion of training. (General Fund) -----see staff
comments-----
Background: Existing law, as enacted by AB 1234 (Salinas), Chap. 700/2005,
requires local agency officials to receive training in ethics
within six months of commencing service and every two years
thereafter, if the local agency provides any type of
compensation, salary, or stipend to those officials. The
training mandate applies to members of legislative bodies and
other elected officials that serve cities, charter cities,
counties, charter counties, and special districts. The ethics
training programs can be offered in person, at home, or online
and course content must be cleared with the AG and Fair
Political Practices Commission. Local governments must provide
information on available training to officials each year, and
must keep track of who completes an ethics course for at least
five years.
Existing law, the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA)
requires an employer having 50 or more employees to provide at
least two hours of training and education regarding sexual
harassment to all "supervisory employees" within six months of
becoming a supervisor, and once every two years thereafter.
Existing FEHA regulations define employer to include the state
of California, cities, counties, special districts, boards,
commissions, and any other political or civil subdivision of the
state. Under FEHA, supervisors are individuals that have the
ability to hire, fire, address grievances, or take other
discretionary actions related to other employees.
Existing law does not explicitly require local elected officials
to take a sexual harassment prevention training course, and the
law has been applied inconsistently. Some agencies have
interpreted existing law to include elected officials under the
definition of supervisory employees, while others have not.
AB 1661 (McCarty) Page 2 of
?
Proposed Law:
AB 1661 would require local agency officials to receive at
least two hours of sexual harassment prevention training and
education within the first six months of taking office, and
every two years thereafter, if a local agency provides any type
of compensation, salary, or stipend to its officials. The
requirement only applies to members of city, county, or special
district governing body or elected officials, but a local agency
may also require other employees to receive the training. An
official who serves multiple agencies is only required to
receive the training once every two years.
To meet the requirements of the bill, local agencies or
associations of local agencies can offer training courses or
self-study materials, and the training and education courses may
be taken at home, in person, or online. Any course must provide
participants with proof of participation. An entity that
develops a program to meet the bill's requirements must consult
with the AG, city attorney, or county counsel about the
sufficiency and accuracy of the proposed content.
A local agency in which officials are required to receive this
training and education must provide its officials with a
recommendation on available trainings at least annually in
written form, and it must retain records of the dates that its
officials and employees took the training and the entity that
provided the training for five years, as specified.
Staff
Comments: By requiring sexual harassment prevention training
for local officials if an agency provides compensation to those
officials, this bill is structured and modeled after provisions
in existing law that require ethics training for local
officials, as enacted by SB 1234 (Salinas, 2005). While
Legislative Counsel did not key either of these bills as state
mandated local programs, local agencies that were subject to AB
1234's requirements filed a successful reimbursement claim with
the Commission on State Mandates (Local Agency Ethics, Case No.
07-TC-04). The Commission partially approved the mandate claim,
and found that provisions requiring a local agency to provide
information on available ethics training courses to its
officials at least once annually, and requiring the local agency
AB 1661 (McCarty) Page 3 of
?
to maintain training records for five years, constitute a
reimbursable state-mandated program. Staff notes that the test
claim decision specifically found that providing the ethics
training was not a
reimbursable activity, since the duty to receive the training is
imposed on the local official, not the local agency. The
Commission's adopted Statewide Cost Estimate for the Local
Ethics Training mandate, which included other reimbursable items
specified in AB 1234, was approximately $19,352 - $38,194 for
initial and first year annual costs, and prospective costs of $0
- $11,130 annually. Based upon the existing mandate for local
agency ethics training, staff estimates that this bill could
result in minor state-reimbursable mandate costs, to the extent
a local agency files a reimbursement claim with the Commission.
-- END --