California Staffing Professionals California Legislative Update The California legislative process is approximately nine months long, marked by many hurry-up-and-wait moments that are driven by self-imposed deadlines. The Legislature reached one of those significant deadlines this week, whereby all legislation with fiscal impact must pass from the house of origin policy committee to continue its path towards becoming law. In theory, this would mean policy matters of significance would be thoroughly vetted and debated, with negotiations and compromises being reached. The policy committee would then put its stamp of expertise and approval on the bills that move forward, and flawed bills would be tabled. In practice, however, the initial policy committee process is truncated into a rushed three-to-four-week window, and controversial and complex matters are given a cursory review by the committees and then passed along as a “work in progress”.
The following summarizes the status of legislative matters important to the staffing industry so far in 2024.
By far the most consequential bill facing the staffing industry in over 20 years, this bill created an existential threat to the whole staffing industry model of operation. This bill would have banned conversion fees, required bill rate disclosure to employees, mandated clients to hire long-term temps, and would have placed numerous other requirements on clients that serve to devalue the use of staffing firms by clients.
The California Staffing Professionals responded to this threat with an aggressive grassroots and lobbying campaign aimed at educating the author and legislators of the serious harm this bill would pose to employees, clients, and staffing firms if it were passed into law. The quick and aggressive response by the industry and advocacy team was effective, as the author withdrew the bill before hearing it in its first policy committee.
Together, these bills represent an effort by public employee labor unions to force local governments to reduce the current level of contracting for services used to fill vacancies, decrease long-term employment costs, and enhance efficiencies in service delivery.
AB 2489 would necessitate local agencies to notify the affected employee labor organization at least 10 months prior to procuring a contract for services, signaling their intent to initiate a procurement process. The bill would further require that any individual performing services must meet or exceed the standards of civil service employees who perform the same job functions.
AB 2557 would require local governments contracting for services to conduct quarterly performance audits of those contracts, subject to public review by the local government governing body. CSP opposes both bills and is working with the local governments targeted by them. Both bills advanced through the Assembly Judiciary and Assembly Public Employment Committees due to the strong support and influence of the public employee unions. The bills will next be considered in the Assembly Appropriations Committee, where the fiscal impact of these bills on providing government services will be considered.
Unlike local governments, the University of California has constitutional autonomy from state government rules and regulations, allowing it to govern and manage its affairs separately from legislative involvement. This autonomy extends to how it contracts for services, including the use of staffing firms.
ACA 14 would amend the State Constitution to strip the UC of its autonomy as it pertains to contracting for services, including for temporary workers. If passed by voters, ACA 13 would introduce a myriad of state contracting rules and regulations and stymie the UC from effectively managing its workforce needs. It would be especially impactful to UC hospitals who must have the flexibility to ensure there is a daily workforce of nurses and other healthcare professionals sufficient to meet the needs of its patient population and teaching mission.
CSP is opposing this amendment to the Constitution. It passed the Assembly Labor Committee and is now pending action in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
This bill would regulate the use of ADT used to make consequential decisions, including in employment. AB 2930 would require employers to notify job candidates that ADT will be used to make employment decisions, allowing candidates to “opt-out” of such use, and require employers to conduct annual “impact assessments” to determine whether ADT is having an adverse impact.
This is a very complex and difficult bill that presents enormous compliance concerns to the staffing industry. CSP has shared these concerns with the author and the two policy committees that have aired this bill in public. As noted at the outset, however, the policy committees are not solving complex issues and thus have not forced the author to address the concerns of the staffing industry, the general employer community, nor any other affected industry.
AB 2930 is pending action in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. CSP will continue to advocate for changes to the bill to ensure the continued use of ADTs in hiring is not hampered by unreasonable rules or the risk of liability.
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