BILL ANALYSIS �
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2744
Author: Assembly Labor and Employment Committee
Amended: 6/18/14 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE LABOR & INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS COMMITTEE : 5-0, 6/25/14
AYES: Hueso, Wyland, Leno, Padilla, Mitchell
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 73-0, 5/8/14 (Consent) - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Public works: apprenticeship program
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill makes conforming changes to reflect a
recent merger of duties within the Division of Labor Standards
Enforcement (DLSE) and more fully integrate enforcement of
apprenticeship standards within the enforcement mechanisms
already available to address other violations of the
requirements for contractors and subcontractors on public works
projects under existing law.
ANALYSIS : Under existing law, the Division of Apprenticeship
Standards (DAS), within the Department of Industrial Relations
(DIR), is charged with the responsibility of administering
California apprenticeship law and enforces apprenticeship
standards for wages, hours, working conditions and the specific
skills required for state certification as a journeyperson in an
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apprenticeable occupation. Also within DIR, the Division of
Occupational Safety and Health is tasked with the responsibility
of protecting workers from health and safety hazards on the job.
Existing law states that when a contractor or subcontractor
performing a public works project is found by the Labor
Commissioner (Commissioner) to be in violation of the
requirements relating to public works contracts, under specific
circumstances the contractor or subcontractor is ineligible to
bid on, be awarded, or perform work as a subcontractor on a
public works contract for between one and three years.
Existing law imposes a civil penalty on contractors or
subcontractors who are determined to have knowingly violated
specific provisions regulating the employment of apprentices on
public workers projects, provides that a contractor or
subcontractor who is determined to have knowingly committed a
serious violation of the apprentice employment provisions may
additionally be denied the right to bid on or be awarded or
perform as a subcontractor on any public works project for
specified periods of time, provides for a review of the civil
penalty or debarment by the Commissioner, and provides for a
process to collect the civil penalty.
This bill makes conforming changes to reflect a recent merger of
duties within DLSE and more fully integrate enforcement of
apprenticeship standards within the enforcement mechanisms
already available to address other violations of the
requirements for contractors and subcontractors on public works
projects under existing law.
Specifically, this bill:
1.Amends existing Labor Code (LAB) Section 1777.1 to require the
Commissioner to use the same procedures specified in LAB
Section 1777.1 to seek the penalty of debarment against public
works contractors and subcontractors found to be in violation
of the apprenticeship standards identified in LAB Section
1777.5.
2.Amends existing LAB Section 1777.1 to include criteria for how
the Commissioner shall consider in determining whether a
violation was serious and how long a party should be debarred.
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3.Repeals existing LAB Section 1777.7 to add amendments revising
LAB Section 1777.7 in order to:
A. Require the Commissioner to use the same procedures
specified in LAB Section 1741 to enforce monetary penalty
assessments against public works contractors and
subcontractors in addressing violations of the
apprenticeship standards identified in LAB Section 1777.5.
B. Make uniform the respective burdens of proof applicable
to contractors, subcontractors and the Commissioner under
LAB Section 1742 when hearings are held before the Director
of DIR to review assessments for violations of the
apprenticeship standards identified in LAB Section 1777.5.
C. Make uniform the requirement in LAB Section 1742 that
the amount of penalty assessments against contractors and
subcontractors addressing apprenticeship violations are
only reviewable for abuse of discretion.
Comments
Effective June 27, 2012, the DAS Public Works Unit and the
Electrician Certification Unit were merged with the DLSE Public
Works Unit. This merger allows DLSE to enforce all aspects of
public works law effectively and comprehensively and makes DLSE
responsible for enforcing public works laws involving the
payment of wages for journey workers and apprentices and for
apprenticeship ratio complaints. However, some code sections
were not properly amended to reflect the changes made by this
reorganization.
According to the author's office, this bill makes the necessary
clean-up changes to reflect this merger of duties within DLSE
and more fully integrate enforcement of apprenticeship standards
within the enforcement mechanisms already available to address
other violations of the requirements for contractors and
subcontractors on public works projects under existing law.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 7/31/14)
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AFSCME
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 73-0, 5/8/14
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian
Calderon, Campos, Chau, Ch�vez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley,
Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Fong, Fox,
Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon,
Grove, Hagman, Harkey, Roger Hern�ndez, Holden, Jones,
Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein,
Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande,
Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon,
Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Wagner,
Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, John A.
P�rez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Eggman, Gorell, Gray, Hall, Mansoor, V.
Manuel P�rez, Vacancy
PQ:k 7/31/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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