Amended  IN  Assembly  January 25, 2024
Amended  IN  Assembly  March 23, 2023

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 1516

Introduced by Assembly Member Kalra

February 17, 2023

An act to add Section 1182.14 1182.16 to the Labor Code, relating to employment.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 1516, as amended, Kalra. Labor and Workforce Development Agency: working group: minimum wage.
Existing law establishes the Department of Industrial Relations within the Labor and Workforce Development Agency to, among other things, foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners of California, to improve their working conditions, and to advance their opportunities for profitable employment. Existing law establishes the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement under the direction of the Labor Commissioner within the Department of Industrial Relations, and requires the division to ascertain the wages paid to all employees in this state, to ascertain the hours and conditions of labor and employment in the various occupations, trades, and industries in which employees are employed in this state, and to investigate the health, safety, and welfare of those employees.
This bill would require the Labor and Workforce Development Agency to convene a working group to study and evaluate topics related to the minimum wage in California. The bill would require the working group to submit to the Legislature, on or before July 1, 2024, 2025, a report that outlines recommendations for raising the minimum wage for all workers in California.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.Section 1182.14 is added to the Labor Code, to read:
1182.14.

SECTION 1.

 Section 1182.16 is added to the Labor Code, to read:

1182.16.
 (a) The Labor and Workforce Development Agency shall convene, until July 1, 2024, 2025, a working group consisting of representatives from the Labor Commissioner’s office, the Employment Development Department, organizations representing low-wage or immigrant workers, and organizations advocating for the rights of incarcerated persons persons, and an organization representing employers to study and evaluate, at a minimum, the following topics related to the minimum wage in California:
(1) Raising the state minimum wage.
(2) Utilization rates of the state social safety net by minimum wage workers.
(3) The role of the California Strategic Enforcement Partnership in state minimum wage enforcement efforts.
(4) The socio-economic socioeconomic benefits of ending the sub-minimum subminimum wage for incarcerated workers.
(b) The working group shall submit to the Legislature, on or before July 1, 2024, 2025, in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code, a report that outlines recommendations for raising the minimum wage for all workers in California.