Senator Lola Smallwood-Cuevas, who represents a portion of the Westside including Baldwin Hills, Century City, Cheviot Hills, Culver City, Leimert Park, Mar Vista, and Playa Vista, has introduced her 2024 legislative package. Let’s take a look at her bills:

“This bill package reflects my plan to confront historic disparities to build a more equitable and sustainable California for everyone,” said Senator Smallwood-Cuevas. “Inclusivity is at the center of this legislative effort – demonstrating that California is a state where every person and community has the support, protections, and resources needed to thrive.”

Prison Apprenticeship Pilot Program

Senate Bill (SB) 828 would create a value-based apprenticeship training and hiring pilot program for women’s prisons in California.

Under existing law, The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation sets forth its powers and duties regarding the administration of correctional facilities and the care and custody of inmates. It also establishes the Pre-Release Construction Trades Certificate Program within the department to increase employment opportunities in the construction trades for inmates upon release.

The law requires the department to establish a joint advisory committee to implement the program and specifies the duties of the committee, including exploring the prerelease award of formal credit for apprenticeship hours recognized by joint apprenticeship training programs and the Division of Apprenticeship Standards, among other things.

This bill would require the department to provide a report to the Legislature, on or before January 1, 2026, on the above-described exploratory findings of the joint advisory committee. The bill would repeal this provision on January 1, 2030

California Workplace Outreach Project in Labor Code

Sponsored by the California Coalition for Worker Power, SB 1030 builds on the success of state-community partnerships that have helped millions of workers learn about and use laws protecting their workplace rights and health and safety. The education program would be the first line of defense for millions of workers against wage theft, retaliation, denial of sick days, and workplace hazards.

SB 1030 would require the state to implement, establish, and administer the California Workplace Outreach Project to promote awareness of and agreement with labor protections that affect California workers, and would require the state to implement, establish, and administer the California Workplace Outreach Project to promote awareness of and agreement with labor protections that affect California workers.

In a 2022 survey by the National Employment Law Project, 38 percent of California workers reported having experienced a workplace violation.

“Every Californian deserves to know their rights at work. Yet many of the workers at risk of violations are the least likely to speak up about abuse, due to language barriers, uncertainty about their legal rights or the complaint process, and fear of retaliation,” said Smallwood-Cuevas. “The California Workplace Outreach Project has shown that by partnering with community-based organizations, our labor agencies can reach millions of workers – in dozens of languages – that it could never reach on its own. Codifying this program reinforces our commitment to an equitable economy and the well-being of our workforce.”

Under California law, the Department of Industrial Relations in the Labor and Workforce Development Agency is supposed to foster, promote, and develop the welfare of wage earners of California, to improve their working conditions, and to advance their opportunities for profitable employment.

The bill would require the department to establish and administer the California Workplace Outreach Project to promote awareness of and compliance with labor protections that affect California workers, and would require the department to issue a competitive request for proposal to qualified organizations to provide education and outreach services to workers and assist workers who have experienced labor violations.

It would also require qualified organizations to consult with the department to create education and outreach materials informing workers of their rights on priority topics and training materials for workers and organizations. 

Grocery Stores & Pharmacies to Provide Notice Before Closures

SB 1089 would require grocery stores and pharmacies to give 90-day notice about closures to surrounding communities while providing employees with unemployment services information.

Grocery stores are currently only required to post a public notice within five days of the change in control at the location of the affected grocery establishment. The bill would require the written notice to include specified information, including the planned closure date of the establishment.

Intersectionality in Anti-Discrimination Law

SB 1137 would make California the first state in the nation to recognize discrimination based on race and gender together within anti-discrimination laws. Under the Unruh Civil Rights Act, current law says that all people are entitled to full and equal accommodations in all business establishments regardless of their sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, citizenship, primary language, or immigration status.

Existing law defines “sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, citizenship, primary language, or immigration status” for these purposes as including a perception that the person has any particular characteristic or characteristics within the listed categories or that the person is associated with a person who has, or is perceived to have, any particular characteristic or characteristics within the listed categories.

“Discrimination transcends singular dimensions. SB 1137 makes it clear that discrimination not only happens based on one protected class, such as race, gender or age, but any combination thereof,” said Smallwood-Cuevas “This bill is common-sense reform that addresses the intersectionality of discrimination cases, providing greater protections for Californians, especially those from our most marginalized communities of color.”

The bill would also revise the California Fair Employment and Housing Act to establish the Civil Rights Department to enforce civil rights laws with respect to housing and employment, and would amend the law to provide effective remedies to specify that it includes discrimination not just because of one protected trait, but also because of the intersection of two or more protected bases.

Public Safety Smash & Grab

SB 1282 would amend penal codes 1001.81 and 1001.95 and would authorize a city or county prosecuting attorney or county probation department to create a diversion or deferred entry of judgment program for persons who commit a theft offense or repeat theft offenses.

The bill would require each county to, on or before January 1, 2026, create that diversion or deferred entry of the judgment program. By increasing duties on local entities, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

Existing law authorizes a judge in the superior court in which a misdemeanor is being prosecuted to offer diversion to a defendant for a period not to exceed 24 months. The amendment would expand that authorization to include any cases being prosecuted, as specified.

Local Civil Rights Enforcement

SB 1340 would authorize California’s Civil Rights Department to strategically partner with local agencies to address discrimination complaints and would also require contractors to comply with equity hiring metrics.

Expands the Fair Chance Act for Background Checks

SB 1345 would require employers to provide transparency to potential hires about their use and purpose of background checks.

The California Fair Employment and Housing Act prohibits employment discrimination and empowers the Civil Rights Department to investigate and prosecute complaints alleging unlawful practices.

Existing law makes it unlawful for an employer with five or more employees to include on any employment application, before the employer makes a conditional offer of employment to the applicant, any question that seeks the disclosure of an applicant’s conviction history, except as provided.

This bill would make it an unlawful employment practice for an employer to take an adverse action against an applicant based solely or in part on criminal history information, unless the employer can demonstrate that the applicant’s criminal history has a direct and adverse relationship with one or more specific duties of the job and the employer’s business necessity requires the adverse action.

It would also make it an unlawful employment practice for an employer to require, as a condition of employment, that an applicant waives the applicant’s right to privacy in criminal history information or otherwise provide authorization for the employer to obtain the applicant’s criminal history information under specified law, unless the employer can demonstrate a business necessity.

Self-Checkout Ban

SB 1446 would create regulations on self-checkout stations in large grocery and drug retail stores.

The bill would prohibit a grocery establishment or a retail drug establishment from providing a self-service checkout option for customers unless specified conditions are satisfied, including having no more than two self-service checkout stations monitored by any one employee and requiring the employee to be relieved of all other duties.

The bill would require a grocery establishment or retail drug establishment that develops or implements technology that significantly affects the essential job functions or eliminates jobs or essential job functions of its employees, or that enables self-service, to complete a specified assessment before implementing the technology.

Additionally, it would require the study to include, among other things, the salaries, benefits, jobs, and work hours that would be eliminated by workplace technology. The establishments would have to provide the study to employees at least 60 days before implementation, and to post a copy of the study in a location accessible to its employees and customers before, and for at least 90 days following implementation of the workplace technology.

Photo Provided by Lola Smallwood-Cuevas.