BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2532|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2532
Author: Chiu (D), et al.
Introduced:2/19/16
Vote: 21
SENATE LABOR & IND. REL. COMMITTEE: 3-1, 6/8/16
AYES: Mendoza, Leno, Mitchell
NOES: Stone
NO VOTE RECORDED: Jackson
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 54-20, 5/19/16 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Employment services: verification
SOURCE: Mexican American Legal Defense Education Fund
DIGEST: This bill repeals the requirement to verify an
individual's legal status or authorization to work prior to them
receiving employment services from state or local government
agencies or any private contracting agencies. This bill also
repeals the associated workplace posting requirement regarding
the need for such verification.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
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1)Requires each state or local government agency or community
action agency, or any private organization contracting with
them, that provides employment services such as job training,
retraining, or placement, to verify an individual's legal
status or authorization to work prior to providing those
services to that individual (Unemployment Insurance (UI) Code
§9601.5).
2)Specifies that proof of legal status or authorization to work
includes a social security card, immigration visa, birth
certificate or passport, among others (UI Code §9601.5).
3)Requires the agencies or organizations described above that
provide specified employment services to post a notice in the
workplace stating that only citizens or those persons legally
authorized to work in the United States will be permitted to
use the agency's or organization's employment services that
are funded by the federal or state government (UI Code
§9601.7).
This bill:
1)Repeals the requirement to verify an individual's legal status
or authorization to work prior to them receiving employment
services from state or local government agencies or any
private contracting agencies.
2)Repeals the associated workplace posting requirement that
informs workers that only citizens or those legally authorized
to work in the U.S. can use employment services being provided
by these agencies.
Comments
Brief background on the Immigration Reform and Control Act of
1986 (IRCA). IRCA was enacted into U.S. law as an attempt to
control and deter unlawful immigration to the United States.
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Its major provisions called for the legalization of undocumented
persons who had been continuously present in the U.S. since
1982, the legalization of certain agricultural workers,
sanctions for employers who knowingly hire undocumented workers,
and increased enforcement at U.S. borders.
IRCA required employers to attest to their employees'
immigration status, through the establishment of the I-9 Form,
and made it illegal to hire or recruit undocumented workers
knowingly, among other things. IRCA also states that in terms
of employment in the United States, it is unlawful for a person
or other entity knowingly to recruit or refer for a fee an
unauthorized person, or to ignore the verification requirements
for providing these services.
Need for this bill? SB 733 (Russell, Chapter 819, Statutes of
1993) added Sections 9601.5 and 9601.7 to the UI Code (see
"Existing law" section above). The author argues that the law
was always of questionable constitutionality because federal law
already regulates those employment agents who "recruit or refer
for a fee" or in other words, provide employment services, under
IRCA. This law expressly preempts "any State or local law
imposing civil or criminal sanctions (other than through
licensing and similar laws) upon those who employ, or recruit or
refer for a fee for employment, unauthorized aliens." (8 U.S.C.
§ 1324a (h)(2).)
In short, the author argues that the sections of the UI Code in
question are not necessary and burdensome because they already
fall under the purview of federal law. In this case, the IRCA
prohibits state preemptions or interference with federal law on
this issue. The author states that AB 2532 repeals these
sections and eliminates a problematic and discriminatory
redundancy with federal law.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
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SUPPORT: (Verified6/27/16)
Mexican American Legal Defense Education Fund (source)
American Civil Liberties Union of California
California Immigrant Policy Center
Worksafe
OPPOSITION: (Verified6/27/16)
None received
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: Proponents state that this bill
removes two provisions of California law sponsored by the
nativist organization Federation for American Immigration Reform
(FAIR). California UI Code §9601.5 and 9601.7 were enacted two
decades ago in an era of heightened anti-immigrant lawmaking in
the state. Proponents assert that these two UI Code sections are
preempted by federal law and that their continued enforcement
would subject California to potential legal action. Proponents
add that the United States Supreme Court recently held that
federal law, since the 1986 enactment of IRCA, provides a
"comprehensive framework" to address the employment of
unauthorized immigrants and does not permit state legislation
within the area addressed by the framework. Because UI Code
Sections 9601.5 and 9601.7 could result in civil sanctions for a
violation, the two provisions are expressly preempted under IRCA
so far as they apply to employment services agencies that charge
to recruit or refer. Moreover, to the extent the provisions
apply to agencies that provide services for free, they are
impliedly preempted because Congress, in enacting IRCA, decided
not to regulate such free services as part of its comprehensive
framework. Also proponents believe that the notice-posting
obligation in UI Code Section 9601.7 exacerbates these legal
concerns and imposes unnecessary added costs on businesses.
Finally, proponents contend that AB 2532 would do nothing to
change immigrant eligibility for any government services, which
is regulated by other provisions of federal and state law. Nor
would this bill change the federal obligation that employers
face with respect to employment of authorized workers and the
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duty to check the work authorization of new hires.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 54-20, 5/19/16
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Arambula, Atkins, Baker, Bloom,
Bonilla, Bonta, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chiu,
Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier,
Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez,
Gonzalez, Gordon, Hadley, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin,
Jones-Sawyer, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Medina,
Mullin, Nazarian, O'Donnell, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez,
Salas, Santiago, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Weber, Wood,
Rendon
NOES: Travis Allen, Bigelow, Brough, Chávez, Beth Gaines,
Gallagher, Gray, Grove, Harper, Jones, Maienschein, Mayes,
Melendez, Obernolte, Olsen, Patterson, Steinorth, Wagner,
Waldron, Wilk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Chang, Dahle, Kim, Mathis, McCarty, Williams
Prepared by:Brandon Seto / L. & I.R. / (916) 651-1556
6/29/16 15:46:02
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