BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  AB 2575
                                                                  Page  1


          ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
          AB 2575 (Campos)
          As Introduced  February 21, 2014
          Majority vote 

           LABOR & EMPLOYMENT       6-0                                    
           
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          |Ayes:|Roger Hern�ndez, Grove,   |     |                          |
          |     |Alejo, Chau, Holden,      |     |                          |
          |     |Ridley-Thomas             |     |                          |
          |-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
          |     |                          |     |                          |
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           SUMMARY  :  Requires the annual report from the Agricultural Labor  
          Relations Board (ALRB) to be made within 45 days after the close  
          of the fiscal year, as specified.  

           EXISTING LAW  enacts the Alatorre-Zenovich-Dunlap-Berman  
          Agricultural Labor Relations Act (Act) of 1975, grants  
          agricultural employees the right to form and join labor  
          organizations and engage in collective bargaining with respect  
          to wages, terms of employment, and other employment conditions.   
          The Act creates the ALRB and requires it, at the close of the  
          fiscal year, to make a written report to the Legislature and the  
          Governor describing the cases it has heard and the decisions  
          rendered, the names, salaries, and duties of all employees and  
          officers in its employ or under its supervision, and accounting  
          for moneys it has disbursed.

           FISCAL EFFECT :  None

           COMMENTS  :  According to the author's office, this bill seeks to  
          improve oversight of the ALRB by the Governor and the  
          Legislature and help ensure farm worker rights are protected  
          with a more timely receipt of the information in the report.    
          The reports have consistently been filed late well beyond the  
          current due date at the close of the fiscal year.  California's  
          fiscal year runs from July 1st through June 30th.

          California's Agricultural Labor Relations Act - Agricultural  
          Labor Relations Board:  The Act was created in 1975 to ensure  
          peace in the fields of California by guaranteeing justice for  
          all agricultural workers and stability in agricultural labor  








                                                                  AB 2575
                                                                  Page  2


          relations.  The Act creates the ALRB, which consists of five  
          members who are appointed by the Governor to administer and  
          oversee the Act.  The ALRB seeks to achieve these ends by  
          providing orderly processes for protecting, implementing, and  
          enforcing the respective rights and responsibilities of  
          employees, employers and labor organizations in their relations  
          with each other to ensure fair labor practices.  
           
          Each year the ALRB must file a report with the Governor and the  
          Legislature at the close of the fiscal year.  This report  
          details cases it has heard, decisions it has rendered and an  
          accounting of funds it has disbursed, among other things, and  
          helps determine funding levels and priorities for the upcoming  
          fiscal year.   

          Arguments in support:  The United Farm Workers state in support  
          of this bill, "that the ALRB has had a consistent backlog of  
          cases that are decades' old as well as individual cases that  
          have been pending over a decade without resolution."  They also  
          believe that with this new deadline requirement it will force  
          the ALRB to furnish the mandated report sooner ensuring the  
          Governor, the Legislature and the public are kept apprised of  
          extreme time lapses in case resolutions in a more timely manner.
           
           No opposition on file.
           

          Analysis Prepared by  :    Lorie Alvarez / L. & E. / (916)  
          319-2091 


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