BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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Date of Hearing: April 6, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT
Roger Hernández, Chair
AB 2780
(Holden) - As Introduced February 19, 2016
SUBJECT: Fair Employment and Housing Council: membership:
length of terms
SUMMARY: Provides adjustments to the term lengths of the seven
Fair Employment and Housing Council (Council) members.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Provides that for the Council, the terms of four of the
members be four years in length and the terms of three of the
members be two years in length. The bill provides that after
the terms of these initial appointments expire, members would
be appointed to serve four-year terms.
2)Requires that the Governor, in the case of a vacancy on the
board, to immediately appoint a member to serve the remainder
of the term.
3)Provides that these changes would begin with appointments to
the Council made on or after January 1, 2017.
EXISTING LAW:
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1)Establishes the Department of Fair Employment and Housing
(DFEH), who is responsible for enforcing California's civil
rights laws.
2)Establishes the Council within the DFEH, which is an
independent body, responsible for promulgating regulations
that implement California's employment and housing
anti-discrimination laws, providing technical assistance to
advisory agencies and issuing reports to the Governor and
Legislature in order to advance civil rights in California.
3)Provides the Council consists of seven members, appointed by
the Governor and confirmed by the Senate, who each serve four
year terms, which are not staggered.
4)Provides that the Director of the DFEH shall serve as a
nonvoting ex-officio member of the Council.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS: The purpose of this bill is to stagger the terms of
the Council members in order to provide institutional
continuity. Continuity is significant for institutional memory
and for consistency across long-term institutional commitments.
Other boards and commissions, such as the California
Transportation Commission, have staggered terms.
The author argues, "Given that the DFEH Council is a state
agency responsible for enforcing California's civil rights law,
it is essential that the council has full functionality. This
bill is necessary to provide such continuity to the Council's
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work by recommending that the Department stagger the members'
terms since it would allow the member's to maintain
institutional knowledge and consistency across long-term
projects"
Background
The mission of the DFEH is to protect Californians from
employment, housing and public accommodation discrimination, and
hate violence. The DFEH is the largest state civil rights
agency in the country. It was established by the Legislature in
1959 as the Division of Fair Employment Practices and was
initially part of the Department of Industrial Relations. In
1980, the DFEH was established as an independent department
charged with enforcing California's comprehensive employment,
housing, public accommodations and public service
non-discrimination laws, as well as the State's bias-related
hate violence law.
The DFEH's statutory mandate is to protect the people of
California from employment, housing and public accommodations
discrimination and hate violence pursuant to the California Fair
Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), Unruh Civil Rights Act,
Disabled Persons Act, and Ralph Civil Rights Act. The DFEH has
jurisdiction over both private and public entities operating
within the State of California, including corporate entities,
private sector contracts granted by the State of California, and
all State departments and local governments.
The DFEH receives and investigates discrimination complaints in
its five district offices throughout the California. The
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district offices handle employment, housing, public
accommodations, and hate violence cases, along with a special
investigations unit which focuses on systemic discrimination
cases statewide. In addition, there are three legal offices
which prosecute cases. The DFEH routinely provides technical
assistance to employers, business establishments and housing
providers regarding their responsibilities under the law.
Arguments in Support
This bill is supported by the Department of Fair Employment and
Housing; they state that, "Currently, the seven members' terms
are not staggered and will expire simultaneously on January 1,
2017. This bill would stagger subsequent appointee's terms in
order to maintain institutional knowledge and consistency across
long-term projects."
There is no opposition on file.
Previous Related Legislation
SB 1038 (Cmte on Budget & Fiscal Review) Chapter 46, Statutes of
2012, eliminated the Fair Employment and Housing Commission, an
entity separate from the DFEH that both promulgated regulations
and adjudicated California Fair Employment and Housing Act
(FEHA) claims. The law transferred the regulatory functions of
the Commission to the DFEH by creating a rulemaking body called
the Fair Employment and Housing Council (Council) within the
Department. SB 1038 ended administrative adjudication of FEHA
claims and, for the first time, authorized the DFEH to file and
prosecute civil actions directly in court.
AB 2433 (Hill) Chapter 305, Statutes of 2012, staggered members'
terms on the San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency
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Transportation Authority.
AB 1822 (Berryhill) Chapter 317, Statutes of 2012, staggered
members' terms on the California Architects Board.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
California Department of Fair Employment and Housing
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by:Taylor Jackson / L. & E. / (916) 319-2091
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