BILL NUMBER: SB 912 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 28, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Senator Lieu
FEBRUARY 18, 2011
An act to add Section 2270 to the Labor Code
Section 1099 to the Unemployment Insurance Code ,
relating to employment.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 912, as amended, Lieu. Hotel housekeeping: labor and
sanitary standards. Employment Development Department:
wage reports: electronic access.
Existing law requires that information obtained by the Employment
Development Department in the administration of unemployment
insurance laws be kept confidential and for the exclusive use of the
director in the discharge of his or her duties, and this information
is not open to the public, except as specifically provided.
This bill would authorize the department to contract with a credit
reporting agency to provide a creditor, employer, or permissible
purpose entity, as defined, with secured electronic access to
employer-provided quarterly wage reports if certain requirements are
met. This bill would require that the department and any credit
reporting agency, creditor, employer, or permissible purpose entity
use this information only for specified purposes, and would require
the safeguarding of any information received. This bill would also
require termination of the contract, as provided, for any violation
of these requirements, and would authorize the contract to provide
for reimbursement to the department for any reasonable administrative
costs incurred.
Existing law requires that all employers comply with specified
standards relating to working conditions and sanitary facilities.
Existing law further provides that local governmental bodies may
adopt labor standards that are more stringent than those adopted by
the state.
This bill would provide that a hotel housekeeping worker shall not
be required to clean a hotel room in less than 40 minutes on
average, and would establish other sanitary standards for the
cleaning of hotel rooms. In addition, the bill would permit a city,
county, or city and county to adopt specified ordinances establishing
labor and sanitary standards for hotel housekeeping, including
standards that are more protective of public health and hotel worker
safety than the state standards established by this bill.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 1099 is added to the
Unemployment Insurance Code , to read:
1099. (a) Notwithstanding any other law, the department may
contract with one or more consumer reporting agencies to provide a
creditor, employer, or permissible purpose entity with secured
electronic access to employer-provided information relating to the
quarterly wages report submitted in accordance with this part. This
access shall be limited to wage reports and shall include at least
the preceding 16 calendar quarters, or more if available.
(b) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:
(1) "Consumer reporting agency" has the same meaning as that set
forth in the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681a(f)).
(2) "Creditor" has the same meaning as that set forth in the
federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 1691a(e)).
(3) "Permissible purpose entity" means an entity with specified
purposes as authorized by the department.
(4) "Wage reports" means the amount of wages reported by employers
as earned by the individual during the base period, as defined in
Section 1275, or any additional periods as agreed to by the director,
and the name or names and address or addresses of record of the
employers who paid those wages.
(c) A creditor, employer, or permissible purpose entity shall
obtain written consent or an electronic signature equivalent from the
credit, employment, or other permitted purposes applicant prior to
electronically accessing any quarterly wage report of the applicant.
Any written or electronic signature equivalent consent from the
credit, employment, or other permitted purpose applicant shall be
signed and shall include each of the following:
(1) Specific notice that information concerning the individual's
wage and employment history shall be released to a consumer reporting
agency.
(2) Notice that the release is made for the sole purpose of
reviewing a specific application for credit, employment, or other
permitted purpose made by the individual.
(3) Notice that the files of the department containing information
concerning wage and employment history that is submitted by the
individual or his or her employers may be accessed.
(4) A listing of the parties authorized to receive the released
information.
(d) A consumer reporting agency, creditor, employer, or other
permissible purpose entity accessing information under this section
shall safeguard the confidentiality of any information received. A
consumer reporting agency, creditor, employer, or permitted purpose
entity shall use the information only to support a single transaction
for the user to satisfy its standard underwriting or eligibility
requirements or for those requirements imposed upon the user, and to
satisfy the user's obligations under applicable state or federal
laws, rules, or regulations.
(e) If a consumer reporting agency, creditor, employer, or
permitted purpose entity violates this section, the department shall,
upon 30 days written notice to the consumer reporting agency,
creditor, employer, or permitted purpose entity terminate the
contract established between the department and the consumer
reporting agency, or require the consumer reporting agency to
terminate the contract established between the consumer reporting
agency and the creditor, employer, or permitted purpose entity.
(f) The department shall establish minimum audit, security,
net-worth, and liability insurance standards, technical requirements,
and any other terms and conditions considered necessary in the
department's discretion to safeguard the confidentiality of the
information released and to otherwise serve the public interest. The
department shall also include, in coordination with any necessary
state agencies, necessary audit procedures to ensure that these rules
are followed.
(g) A contract with one or more consumer reporting agencies under
this section may provide for reimbursement to the department for any
reasonable administrative costs incurred.
(h) The department shall not provide wage and employment history
information to any consumer reporting agency until after the consumer
reporting agency or agencies under contract with the department pay
all development and other startup costs incurred by the state in
connection with the design, installation, and administration of
technological systems and procedures for the electronic-access
program.
(i) The release of any information under this section shall be for
a purpose authorized, and in the manner permitted, by the United
States Department of Labor and any subsequent rules or regulations
adopted by that department.
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares
all of the following:
(a) In recent years, many hotel chains have increased the
workloads of their housekeeping staff, including one chain in
particular that now requires a single housekeeper to clean up to 30
rooms per day.
(b) Studies have shown that hotel rooms are often not cleaned
sufficiently to eliminate contagious germs left by prior occupants.
(c) Studies have shown that hotel housekeepers frequently suffer
painful and disabling injuries due to the amount and nature of their
work. While the injury rate for construction and manufacturing
workers is 4.3 recorded injuries per 100 full-time equivalent
workers, the average injury rate for hotel housekeepers is 7.6
recorded injuries per 100 full-time equivalent workers, with one
hotel chain in particular having a rate of 10.8 recorded injuries per
100 full-time equivalent workers.
(d) The Legislature hereby confirms existing law allowing local
government agencies to adopt regulations to address hotel cleanliness
and hotel housekeeping worker safety.
SEC. 2. Section 2270 is added to the Labor
Code, to read:
2270. (a) A hotel housekeeping worker shall not be required to
clean a hotel room in less than 40 minutes on average. The cleaning
of a hotel room, after use by a hotel guest, shall include changing
the bed linens and washing or wiping with disinfectant all doorknobs,
bathroom handles, and remote control devices.
(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a city, county, or
city and county may adopt ordinances establishing labor and sanitary
standards for hotel housekeeping, including standards that are more
protective of public health and hotel worker safety than the
standards established in subdivision (a). Ordinances adopted pursuant
to this subdivision may do all of the following:
(1) Require hotels to allow housekeeping workers a specified
minimum amount of time to clean each type of room or set a maximum
square footage or number of rooms assigned to a worker to clean.
(2) Require a premium rate of pay and additional rest periods if a
housekeeping worker is required to clean more than a specified
amount.
(3) Allow for waiver of labor standards through a collective
bargaining agreement.
(4) Provide for regulatory fees to cover the costs of enforcement
of those ordinances.
(5) Contain any other provision deemed appropriate and necessary
by the city, county, or city and county to serve the purposes of this
section.
(c) Ordinances adopted by a county pursuant to subdivision (b) may
apply to hotels in an incorporated city within the county if that
city has not adopted ordinances that are more protective of public
health and hotel worker safety than the ordinances adopted by the
county.
SEC. 3. The provisions of this act are
severable. If any provision of this act or its application is held
invalid, that invalidity shall not affect other provisions or
applications that can be given effect without the invalid provision
or application.