BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2707
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Date of Hearing: May 11, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
AB
2707 (Ridley-Thomas) - As Amended April 26, 2016
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|Policy |Judiciary |Vote:|10 - 0 |
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| |Privacy and Consumer | |11 - 0 |
| |Protection | | |
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY:
This bill prohibits "consumer racial profiling," defined as the
targeting of a person that results in differential treatment of
a consumer based on race or ethnicity, and gives the Department
AB 2707
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of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) authority to receive
consumer complaints and investigate and prosecute violations.
FISCAL EFFECT:
Any costs to the DFEH should be absorbable. For 2016-17, the
department's proposed budget totals $26 million and includes 177
positions.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author's office, "Federal and state
public accommodation laws are often ill-equipped to address
consumer racial profiling. Courts often fail to understand
the subtle nature of modern discrimination and interpret civil
rights statutes narrowly requiring plaintiffs to establish
specific harms. However, no incident of consumer racial
profiling is harmless. The use of consumer racial profiling
negatively impacts the quality of life for African Americans
and other ethnic minorities. Furthermore, the victims of
consumer racial profiling feel as if they remain second-class
citizens, marginalized by the rest of society. All consumers,
regardless of race or ethnicity, should enjoy fair and equal
treatment in the marketplace."
While existing law already gives DFEH express authority to
enforce the Unruh Civil Rights Act, this bill expressly grants
DFEH authority to investigate and prosecute consumer racial
profiling. The author contends that it is important to give
DFEH this specific prosecutorial authority because of the
non-economic nature of the harm caused by consumer racial
profiling, which makes it less likely that a private attorney
would take such a case.
2)Related Legislation. AB 1684 (Stone), pending in Senate
AB 2707
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Judiciary, authorizes DFEH to investigate and prosecute
complaints of human trafficking and to bring a civil action on
behalf of a person harmed by human trafficking.
Analysis Prepared by:Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916)
319-2081