BILL NUMBER: SB 54 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 795
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE OCTOBER 13, 2013
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR OCTOBER 13, 2013
PASSED THE SENATE SEPTEMBER 11, 2013
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 9, 2013
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 3, 2013
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 21, 2013
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 5, 2013
AMENDED IN SENATE FEBRUARY 13, 2013
AMENDED IN SENATE FEBRUARY 6, 2013
AMENDED IN SENATE JANUARY 29, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Senator Hancock
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Bonilla, Campos, Dickinson, Roger
Hernández, Pan, Skinner, and Williams)
DECEMBER 21, 2012
An act to add Section 25536.7 to the Health and Safety Code,
relating to hazardous materials.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 54, Hancock. Hazardous materials management: stationary
sources: skilled and trained workforce.
Existing law establishes an accidental release prevention program
implemented by the Office of Emergency Services and the appropriate
administering agency, as defined, in each city or county. Under
existing law, stationary sources subject to this accidental release
prevention program are required to prepare a risk management plan
(RMP) when required under certain federal regulations or if the
administering agency determines there is a significant likelihood
that the use of regulated substances by a stationary source may pose
a regulated substances accident risk. Under existing law, the RMP is
required to be submitted to the California Environmental Protection
Agency and to the administering agency. Existing law imposes criminal
penalties upon a stationary source that knowingly violates
requirements of the accidental release prevention program.
This bill would require an owner or operator of a stationary
source that is engaged in certain activities with regard to petroleum
and with one or more covered processes that is required to prepare
and submit an RMP, when contracting for the performance of
construction, alteration, demolition, installation, repair, or
maintenance work at the stationary source, to require that its
contractors and any subcontractors use a skilled and trained
workforce to perform all onsite work within an apprenticeable
occupation in the building and construction trades, including skilled
journeypersons paid at least a rate equivalent to the applicable
prevailing hourly wage rate. The bill would not apply to oil and gas
extraction operations. Because the bill would make a knowing
violation of these requirements a crime, and would otherwise impose
new duties upon local agencies administering the program, the bill
would impose a state-mandated local program.
This bill would require the Chief of the Division of
Apprenticeship Standards of the Department of Industrial Relations to
approve a curriculum of in-person classroom and laboratory
instruction for approved advanced safety training for workers at high
hazard facilities by January 1, 2016. The bill would define terms
for purposes of the bill.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for specified reasons.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) The use of unskilled and untrained workers at chemical
manufacturing and processing facilities that generate, store, treat,
handle, refine, process, and transport hazardous materials is a risk
to public health and safety, and the risk to public health and safety
is particularly high when workers are employed by outside
contractors because they generally will be less familiar with the
operations of the facility and its emergency plans and the owner or
operator of the facility will have less incentive to invest in their
training.
(b) Requiring that workers employed by outside contractors at
these facilities be paid at least at a rate equivalent to the
prevailing journeyperson wage for the occupation, or be registered in
an approved apprenticeship program, is necessary to provide an
economic incentive for employers to use only the most skilled workers
to perform work that poses a risk to public health and safety. The
wage scale is also necessary to provide an economic incentive for the
workers to obtain the mandatory advanced safety training required by
Section 2 of this act.
(c) Requiring that apprentices be registered in programs approved
by the Chief of the Division of Apprenticeship Standards is necessary
to ensure that these workers are receiving the proper training and
on-the-job supervision and that the programs are subject to proper
oversight.
(d) The requirement that at least 60 percent of the journeypersons
working for a contractor be graduates of an approved apprenticeship
program is necessary to ensure that the majority of the
journeypersons will have had appropriate classroom and laboratory
instruction for their occupations. A phase-in for this requirement
will avoid disruption of the industry.
SEC. 2. Section 25536.7 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to
read:
25536.7. (a) (1) An owner or operator of a stationary source that
is engaged in activities described in Code 324110 or 325110 of the
North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), as that code
read on January 1, 2014, and with one or more covered processes that
is required to prepare and submit an RMP pursuant to this article,
when contracting for the performance of construction, alteration,
demolition, installation, repair, or maintenance work at the
stationary source, shall require that its contractors and any
subcontractors use a skilled and trained workforce to perform all
onsite work within an apprenticeable occupation in the building and
construction trades. This section shall not apply to oil and gas
extraction operations.
(2) The Chief of the Division of Apprenticeship Standards of the
Department of Industrial Relations may approve a curriculum of
in-person classroom and laboratory instruction for approved advanced
safety training for workers at high hazard facilities. That safety
training may be provided by an apprenticeship program approved by the
chief or by instruction provided by the Chancellor of the California
Community Colleges. The chief shall approve a curriculum in
accordance with this paragraph by January 1, 2016, and shall
periodically revise the curriculum to reflect current best practices.
Upon receipt of certification from the apprenticeship program or
community college, the chief shall issue a certificate to a worker
who completes the approved curriculum.
(3) For purposes of paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section
3075 of the Labor Code, a stationary source covered by this section
shall be considered in determining whether existing apprenticeship
programs do not have the capacity, or have neglected or refused, to
dispatch sufficient apprentices to qualified employers who are
willing to abide by the applicable apprenticeship standards.
(4) This section shall not apply to contracts awarded before
January 1, 2014, unless the contract is extended or renewed after
that date.
(5) (A) This section shall not apply to the employees of the owner
or operator of the stationary source or prevent the owner or
operator of the stationary source from using its own employees to
perform any work that has not been assigned to contractors while the
employees of the contractor are present and working.
(B) An apprenticeship program approved by the chief may enroll,
with advanced standing, applicants with relevant prior work
experience at a stationary source that is subject to this section, in
accordance with the approved apprenticeship standards of the
program.
(6) The criteria of subparagraph (A) of paragraph (9) of
subdivision (b), subparagraph (C) of paragraph (9) of subdivision
(b), and subparagraph (B) of paragraph (10) of subdivision (b) shall
not apply to either of the following:
(A) To the extent that the contractor has requested qualified
workers from the local hiring halls that dispatch workers in the
apprenticeable occupation and, due to workforce shortages, the
contractor is unable to obtain sufficient qualified workers within 48
hours of the request, Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays excepted.
This section shall not prevent contractors from obtaining workers
from any source.
(B) To the extent that compliance is impracticable because an
emergency requires immediate action to prevent harm to public health
or safety or to the environment, but the criteria shall apply as soon
as the emergency is over or it becomes practicable for contractors
to obtain a qualified workforce.
(7) The requirement specified in paragraph (1) for a skilled and
trained workforce, as defined in paragraph (10) of subdivision (b),
shall apply to each individual contractor's and subcontractor's
onsite workforce.
(8) This section does not make the construction, alteration,
demolition, installation, repair, or maintenance work at a stationary
source that is subject to this section a public work, within the
meaning of Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 1720) of Part 7 of
Division 2 of the Labor Code.
(b) As used in this section:
(1) "Apprenticeable occupation" means an occupation for which the
chief has approved an apprenticeship program pursuant to Section 3075
of the Labor Code.
(2) "Approved advanced safety training for workers at high hazard
facilities" means a curriculum approved by the chief pursuant to
paragraph (2) of subdivision (a).
(3) "Building and construction trades" has the same meaning as in
Section 3075.5 of the Labor Code.
(4) "Chief" means the Chief of the Division of the Apprenticeship
Standards of the Department of Industrial Relations.
(5) "Construction," "alteration," "demolition," "installation,"
"repair," and "maintenance" have the same meanings as in Sections
1720 and 1771 of the Labor Code.
(6) "Onsite work" shall not include catalyst handling and loading,
chemical cleaning, or inspection and testing that was not within the
scope of a prevailing wage determination issued by the Director of
Industrial Relations as of January 1, 2013.
(7) "Prevailing hourly wage rate" means the general prevailing
rate of per diem wages, as determined by the Director of Industrial
Relations pursuant to Sections 1773 and 1773.9 of the Labor Code, but
does not include shift differentials, travel and subsistence, or
holiday pay. Notwithstanding subdivision (c) of Section 1773.1 of the
Labor Code, the requirement that employer payments not reduce the
obligation to pay the hourly straight time or overtime wages found to
be prevailing shall not apply if otherwise provided in a bona fide
collective bargaining agreement covering the worker.
(8) "Registered apprentice" means an apprentice registered in an
apprenticeship program approved by the chief pursuant to Section 3075
of the Labor Code who is performing work covered by the standards of
that apprenticeship program and receiving the supervision required
by the standards of that apprenticeship program.
(9) "Skilled journeyperson" means a worker who meets all of the
following criteria:
(A) The worker either graduated from an apprenticeship program for
the applicable occupation that was approved by the chief, or has at
least as many hours of on-the-job experience in the applicable
occupation that would be required to graduate from an apprenticeship
program for the applicable occupation that is approved by the chief.
(B) The worker is being paid at least a rate equivalent to the
prevailing hourly wage rate for a journeyperson in the applicable
occupation and geographic area.
(C) The worker has completed within the prior two calendar years
at least 20 hours of approved advanced safety training for workers at
high hazard facilities. This requirement applies only to work
performed on or after January 1, 2018.
(10) "Skilled and trained workforce" means a workforce that meets
both of the following criteria:
(A) All the workers are either registered apprentices or skilled
journeypersons.
(B) (i) As of January 1, 2014, at least 30 percent of the skilled
journeypersons are graduates of an apprenticeship program for the
applicable occupation that was either approved by the chief pursuant
to Section 3075 of the Labor Code or located outside California and
approved for federal purposes pursuant to the apprenticeship
regulations adopted by the federal Secretary of Labor.
(ii) As of January 1, 2015, at least 45 percent of the skilled
journeypersons are graduates of an apprenticeship program for the
applicable occupation that was either approved by the chief pursuant
to Section 3075 of the Labor Code or located outside California and
approved for federal purposes pursuant to the apprenticeship
regulations adopted by the federal Secretary of Labor.
(iii) As of January 1, 2016, at least 60 percent of the skilled
journeypersons are graduates of an apprenticeship program for the
applicable occupation that was either approved by the chief pursuant
to Section 3075 of the Labor Code or located outside California and
approved for federal purposes pursuant to the apprenticeship
regulations adopted by the federal Secretary of Labor.
SEC. 3. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because a
local agency or school district has the authority to levy service
charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to pay for the program or
level of service mandated by this act or because costs that may be
incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred
because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a
crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or
infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government
Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution.