BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1661| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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 AB 1661 Page 2 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. AB 1661 Page 3 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 AB 1661 Page 4 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 AB 1661 Page 5 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. AB 1661 Page 6 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 AB 1661 Page 7 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 **** END ****