BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1661|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1661
Author: McCarty (D) and Gonzalez (D), et al.
Amended: 8/15/16 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE GOVERNANCE & FIN. COMMITTEE: 6-0, 6/22/16
AYES: Hertzberg, Nguyen, Beall, Hernandez, Moorlach, Pavley
NO VOTE RECORDED: Lara
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 8/11/16
AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, McGuire, Mendoza, Nielsen
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 5/31/16 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Local government: sexual harassment prevention
training and education
SOURCE: Equal Rights Advocates
DIGEST: This bill requires local agency officials to undergo
sexual harassment prevention training and education.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1) Requires local agency officials who receive compensation
to undergo two hours of ethics training within 6 months of
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commencing service and every two years thereafter.
2) Allows the ethics training program to be offered in
person, at home, or online.
3) Requires local agencies to track attendees of the program
for at least five years.
4) Defines "local agency official" to include members of
legislative bodies and other elected officials that serve
cities, charter cities, counties, charter counties, and
special districts.
5) Prohibit discrimination in employment, housing, public
accommodation and services provided by business
establishments on the basis of specified personal
characteristics such as sex, race, color, national origin,
religion, and disability, pursuant to the Fair Employment
and Housing Act (FEHA) and other statutes.
6) 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 (AB 1825, Reyes, 2004).
7) Defines, under FEHA regulations:
a) "Employer" to include the state of California,
cities, counties, special districts, boards, commissions,
and any other political or civil subdivision of the
state, and
b) "Supervisors" to be individuals that have the
ability to hire, fire, address grievances, or take other
discretionary actions related to other employees.
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This bill:
1) Requires, if a local agency provides any kind of
compensation to its officials, every local agency official
to receive at least two hours of sexual harassment
prevention training and education within the first six
months of taking office or commencing employment and every
two years thereafter.
2) Defines "local agency" to include cities, counties,
charter cities, charter counties, and special districts.
3) Defines "local agency official" to include any member of a
local agency legislative body and any elected local agency
official.
4) Authorizes a local agency to require other employees to
receive sexual harassment prevention training and education.
5) Provides that an official who serves multiple local
agencies is only required to receive the training and
education once every two years.
6) Requires the training and education to include information
and practical guidance on federal and state sexual
harassment policies, to provide proof of completion, and to
be developed in consultation with the city attorney or
county counsel.
7) Allows the training to include local sexual harassment
prevention training and education policies.
8) Allows local agencies or associations of local agencies to
offer training courses or self-study materials, provided at
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home, in person, or online.
9) Requires a local agency to provide its officials with a
recommendation on available trainings in written form within
six months of the official assuming office and at least
every two years thereafter.
10) Requires a local agency to retain records, for five
years, of the dates that its officials and employees took
the training and the entity that provided the training.
11) Provides that these requirements are in addition to
any other laws requiring similar training and that they
shall not supersede the existing requirements for
supervisory employees to receive sexual harassment
prevention training or the prohibitions on discrimination in
the workplace.
Background
During the past few years, California has witnessed a number of
high-profile cases in which elected local government officials
were accused 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.
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. Some
organizations want to clarify that local agency officials are
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required to complete training and education regarding sexual
harassment.
Comments
1)Purpose of the bill. Local officials find themselves in
positions of authority, which some officials abuse. State law
says that supervisors have to undergo training on recognizing
and preventing sexual harassment. But some local governments
have interpreted this requirement loosely, with costly
consequences. Allegations of sexual harassment have sprung up
across the state, from San Diego to Sacramento. The cost to
cities to litigate or settle these claims is in the hundreds
of thousands of dollars, diverting much needed revenue from
essential constituent services. AB 1661 aims to stem this
tide by making clear that all local officials need to receive
training and education on sexual harassment. It pulls from
existing requirements for ethics training and offers officials
flexibility in how they met the requirements. By closing a
loophole in existing law, AB 1661 helps protect public
employees from sexual harassment and ensures that public
servants meet the same standards as supervisors in private
businesses.
2)Who's in? Local agencies are subject to a wide variety of
laws to ensure that local officials execute their duties
without conflict or unseemly behavior: the Public Records Act,
which ensures the public's access to local government
communications and documents; the Brown Act, which is the
state's open meetings law; and the Political Reform Act, which
prohibits conflicts of interest. School districts and their
officials are subject to each of these. But AB 1661 borrows
from a definition of local agency that excludes school
districts, as well as some other political subdivisions of the
state such as municipal corporations. These agencies may also
face some of the same questions about whether their officials
are required to receive sexual harassment training under
existing laws.
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FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Likely minor reimbursable mandated costs for local
agencies to consult with a city attorney or county counsel
when developing training curricula, to recommend training
available to local officials every two years, and to
maintain records on local officials' completion of
training. (General Fund)
SUPPORT: (Verified8/12/16)
Equal Rights Advocates (source)
AFSCME
Association of California Water Agencies
California Association of Parks and Recreation Districts
California Fire Chiefs Association
California Women's Law Center
City of West Hollywood
CSAC Excess Insurance Authority
Fire Districts Association of California
Los Angeles County Professional Peace Officers Association
Organization of SMUD Employees
Sacramento Collective for Women's Rights
San Diego County Court Employees Association
San Luis Obispo County Employees Association
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/12/16)
None received
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ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 5/31/16
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker,
Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke,
Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley,
Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier,
Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson,
Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger
Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey,
Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes,
McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, O'Donnell, Olsen,
Patterson, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago,
Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber,
Wilk, Williams, Wood, Rendon
NO VOTE RECORDED: Beth Gaines, Obernolte
Prepared by:Anton Favorini-Csorba / GOV. & F. / (916) 651-4119
8/15/16 19:47:22
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