BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  SB 1230
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   August 4, 2010

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                 SB 1230 (DeSaulnier) - As Amended:  April 21, 2010 

          Policy Committee:                             Labor and  
          Employment   Vote:                            4-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          No     Reimbursable:              

           SUMMARY  

          This bill requires employers to post information related to  
          slavery and human trafficking, including the toll-free hotline  
          of the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC). It  
          also requires the Labor Commissioner (LC) to determine which  
          languages the notice shall be printed in, and to enforce these  
          provisions.

           FISCAL EFFECT
           
          1)Unknown costs, ranging from less then $50,000 up to $600,000,  
            to the Department of Industrial Relations' Division of Labor  
            Standards Enforcement (DLSE), depending on how bill is  
            implemented. The bill is silent on whether DLSE is responsible  
            for preparing and distributing notices to employers. Low end  
            of cost range represents costs to DLSE for updating website,  
            notifying employers, and enforcement. High end of range  
            includes additional costs to DLSE of developing and  
            distributing notices to employers.

          2)Unknown, probably minor cost pressure to DLSE, to the extent  
            that hotline tips to NHTRC result in additional referrals to  
            DLSE for investigation of labor violations (special fund).

           COMMENTS
           
           1)Purpose  .  The bill is intended to raise workplace awareness of  
            human trafficking, and to supplement federal and state  
            enforcement efforts aimed at combating human trafficking.  
            Supporters of the bill assert that trafficking is a much  
            larger issue than most people realize, and that one of the  








                                                                  SB 1230
                                                                  Page  2

            best ways to combat human trafficking is to raise public  
            awareness of the problem.

           2)Background  . Human trafficking involves the recruitment,  
            harboring, and/or transportation of people for the purpose of  
            forced or coerced labor. Despite international efforts aimed  
            at enforcement and raising public awareness of human  
            trafficking, it remains a major problem. The U.S. Department  
            of State estimates that over 12 million individuals are  
            victims of trafficking worldwide, and between 14,000 to 17,000  
            individuals are trafficked into the United States each year.  
            Based on California's share of U.S. population, that would  
            translate into roughly 1,700 to 2,000 individuals trafficked  
            into this state each year.

            On their website, the U.S. Department of State directs  
            individuals to report trafficking-related information by  
            calling a toll-free hotline that is operated by the National  
            Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC), and funded  
            primarily by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  
             This bill would require that employers post this national  
            hotline in a prominent place. It is similar to legislation  
            enacted in Texas in 2007, which proponents assert has had a  
            marked impact on the volume of productive tips to the NHTRC by  
            residents of that state. 
             
            Analysis Prepared by  :    Brad Williams / APPR. / (916)  
            319-2081