BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó






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          |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE            |                       AB 1661|
          |Office of Senate Floor Analyses   |                              |
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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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