Bill Text: CA AB3186 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Introduced

California Assembly Bill 3186

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

Bill Title: Public works: prevailing wages: access to records.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Engrossed) 2024-06-05 - Referred to Com. on RLS. [AB3186 Detail]

Download: California-2023-AB3186-Introduced.html

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 3186

Introduced by Assembly Member Petrie-Norris

February 16, 2024

An act to add Section 1776.1 to the Labor Code, relating to public works.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 3186, as introduced, Petrie-Norris. Public works: prevailing wages: access to records.

Existing law requires that, except as specified, not less than the general prevailing rate of per diem wages be paid to workers employed on public works and imposes misdemeanor penalties for a willful violation of this requirement. Existing law defines “public works,” for the purposes of regulating public works contracts, as, among other things, construction, alteration, demolition, installation, or repair work done under contract and paid for, in whole or in part, out of public funds.

Existing law requires the Labor Commissioner to investigate allegations that a contractor or subcontractor violated the law regulating public works projects, including the payment of prevailing wages. Existing law requires each contractor and subcontractor on a public works project to keep accurate payroll records, showing the name, address, social security number, work classification, straight time and overtime hours worked each day and week, and the actual per diem wages paid to each journeyman, apprentice, worker, or other employee employed by the contractor or subcontractor in connection with the public work. Existing law requires any copy of records made available for inspection as copies and furnished upon request to the public or any public agency to be marked or obliterated to prevent disclosure of an individual’s name, address, and social security number but specifies that any copy of records made available to a Taft-Hartley trust fund for the purposes of allocating contributions to participants be marked or obliterated only to prevent disclosure of an individual’s full social security number, as specified.

This bill would require each contractor and subcontractor performing work on any public works project and any covered entity, as defined for these purposes as a corporation, limited liability company, partnership, joint venture, or other legal entity, that develops or undertakes such project, to make specified records available upon request to the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, to multiemployer Taft-Hartley trust funds, and to joint labor-management committees, as specified. The bill would also apply this requirement to contractors, subcontractors, and covered entities that are developing, undertaking, or performing work on a development project for which contractors are required to maintain and verify payroll records, as specified. The bill would subject a contractor, subcontractor, or covered entity, for failing to comply with the provisions of this act, to a penalty by the commissioner, as specified, and would deposit the penalties into a specified fund. This bill would require the Director of Industrial Relations to adopt rules to govern the release of those records, as specified.

Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NO

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

SECTION 1.

Section 1776.1 is added to the Labor Code, to read:

1776.1.

(a) Each contractor and subcontractor performing work on any public works project subject to the requirements of this chapter, and any covered entity that develops or undertakes any such project, shall make the following records available upon request to the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement of the Department of Industrial Relations, to multiemployer Taft-Hartley trust funds (29 U.S.C. Sec. 186(c)), and to joint labor-management committees established pursuant to the federal Labor Management Cooperation Act of 1978 (29 U.S.C. Sec. 175a):

(1) Bid documents.

(2) Signed contracts and subcontracts.

(3) Records of work performed and workers employed on the project, including, but not limited to, a certified copy of payroll records described in Section 1776.

(4) For any contractor or subcontractor required to provide an enforceable commitment that a skilled and trained workforce will be used to complete a contract or project, the monthly reports required under Section 2602 of the Public Contract Code.

(b) The requirements of subdivision (a) shall apply to any covered entity that develops or undertakes, and each contractor and subcontractor performing work on, a development project for which contractors are required by other statutes governing the project to maintain and verify payroll records pursuant to Section 1776, regardless of whether the project is in its entirety a public work, as defined in Article 1 (commencing with Section 1720).

(c) Any records made available under this section shall be redacted only to prevent disclosure of any individual’s social security number.

(d) Where the requesting department, trust fund, or joint labor-management committee has identified the documents or information sought with specificity, the contractor, subcontractor, or covered entity shall reasonably assist in identifying responsive records.

(e) (1) A contractor, subcontractor, or covered entity has 10 days in which to comply subsequent to receipt of a written notice requesting the records enumerated in subdivision (a).

(2) In the event that the contractor, subcontractor, or covered entity fails to comply with a request from a multiemployer Taft-Hartley trust fund or a joint labor-management committee, the fund or committee shall submit a complaint to the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement within 10 days after compliance was required. The Division of Labor Standards Enforcement shall promptly investigate any complaints.

(3) If the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement determines that the contractor, subcontractor, or covered entity has failed to provide any records subject to disclosure pursuant to subdivision (a) or (b), or failed to comply with subdivisions (c) to (e), inclusive, the contractor, subcontractor, or covered entity shall be subject to a penalty by the Labor Commissioner of one hundred dollars ($100) for each calendar day, or portion thereof, for each worker, until strict compliance is effectuated. Penalties received pursuant to this paragraph shall be deposited in the State Public Works Enforcement Fund established by Section 1771.3 and shall be used only for the purposes specified in that section.

(4) A contractor is not subject to a penalty assessment pursuant to this section due to the failure of a subcontractor to comply with this section.

(5) The director shall adopt rules consistent with the California Public Records Act (Division 10 (commencing with Section 7920.000) of Title 1 of the Government Code) and the Information Practices Act of 1977 (Title 1.8 (commencing with Section 1798) of Part 4 of Division 3 of the Civil Code) governing the release of these records, including the establishment of reasonable fees to be charged for reproducing copies of records required by this section.

(f) For purposes of this section, “covered entity” means a corporation, limited liability company, partnership, joint venture, or other legal entity.