June 29, 2017 – With the Legislature’s summer recess getting closer, the State Building and Construction and Trades Council of California is running strong with nearly a dozen bills that are moving towards enactment.
The legislative package includes bills that crack down on unregistered contractors on public works projects, improve disclosure requirements on the qualifications oil refinery workers who haven’t gone through state-approved apprenticeship programs, provide incentives for Project Labor Agreements at school districts and community college districts, and enhance worker safety.
“These bills address industrial, residential, and public works construction as well as worker safety,” said SBCTC President Robbie Hunter. “It is a comprehensive package on issues that affect our unions, our members, and their families. We seek to create a fair and even playing field for our contractors, while sustaining a wage that will support working families and provide a pension upon retirement for construction workers after a lifetime of labor building the infrastructure of the state of California.”
Among the key bills sponsored by the State Building Trades:
AB 112 (Budget Trailer Bill) – For the first time in state law, creates financial penalties for public agencies that hire unregistered public works contractors. The bill also strengthens compliance with the contractor registration requirements providing more funding for prevailing wage enforcement to the Department of Industrial Relations.
AB 55 (Thurmond) – Requires refinery owners/operators to disclose contracts not subject to the skilled and trained workforce requirements to the administering agency by no later than February 1, 2018. SBCTC is working with the industry to ensure strict compliance with the SB 54 requirements which are improving refinery safety and are providing thousands of jobs for the men and women of the Building Trades.
AB 618 (Low) – Expands the authority currently provided to school districts to utilize job order contracting (JOC) to all community college districts that enter into Project Labor Agreements with a local Building and Construction Trades Council.
SB 772 – Allows worker safety regulations to be exempt from a lengthy process which delays the implementation of regulations that provide safer working conditions.
SBCTC’s agenda for the year also includes support for AB 199 (requires prevailing wage for projects funded by successor agencies), AB 890 (protects CEQA by closing a loophole in the Elections Code Amends that currently allows developers to circumvent the environmental review process.), ACA 4 (55 percent threshold on infrastructure, transit and fire-related ballot measures), SB 49 (maintains current federal environmental, wage and worker safety standards in California, regardless of action to weaken them), and SB 306 (protects workers’ from employer retaliation).
For any questions regarding these bills, please contact Cesar Diaz, Legislative & Political Director at [email protected]or Jeremy Smith, Deputy Legislative Director at [email protected].