Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that establishes protections against human trafficking among state contractors in California.

Highlights:

• Requires every state contractor for the procurement or laundering of apparel, garments, corresponding accessories, equipment, materials, or supplies to certify that their products were not made in whole or in part by (Sec. 1):

• Sweatshop labor; 

• Forced labor; 

• Convict labor; 

• Indentured labor under penal sanction; 

• Abusive forms of child labor; or

• Exploitation of children in sweatshop labor.

• Prohibits state contractors, contractor employees, subcontractors, subcontractor employees, and their agents from doing the following in the performance of any contract (Sec. 1):

• Engaging in severe forms of trafficking;

• Using forced labour;

• Destroying or concealing the identity or immigration information of their employees;

• Misrepresenting of or fraudulently advertising wages and fringe benefits, the location of work, the living conditions, any significant costs, or the hazardous nature of the work to prospective employees during the recruitment process;

• Using recruiters that don’t follow state labor laws and the laws of the country in which they are recruiting;

• Charging recruitment fees;

• Failing to pay the cost of an employee’s return transportation when their contract has expired;

• Providing housing that does not meet the host country’s safety standards; and

• Providing a contract in a language that the employee does not understand.

• Specifies that employees seeking victim services or legal redress for trafficking must have their return transportation paid for by their employer, but not in a way that obstructs victim services or their possible testimony (Sec. 1).

• Requires state contractors to provide their employees with contracts within five days of their employee’s relocation (Sec. 1).

• Requires state contractors to provide their employees with contracts that specify wages, the prohibition on charging recruitment fees, the work location, the living accommodations and associated costs, the amount of time off, the round-trip transportation arrangements, a grievance process, and the content of applicable laws and regulations that prohibit human trafficking (Sec. 1).

• Requires contracting officers to consider the risk of trafficking when deciding whether to require work documents in their contracts (Sec. 1).

• Requires contractors and subcontractors to report violations of the previous provisions (Sec. 1).

• Requires contractors to ensure that their subcontractors don’t violate the previous provisions (Sec. 1).

• Requires contractors to notify their employees of the prohibited activities described in this Act (Sec. 1).

• Requires a proposed contractor to provide certification that they have (Sec. 1):

• Implemented a compliance plan with procedures to prevent this Act’s prohibited activities and procedures to monitor, detect, and terminate subcontractors that violate these prohibitions;

• Conducted due diligence in ensuring that they and their subcontractors haven’t engaged in the prohibited activities;

• Taken remedial action if they are aware of the prohibited activities taking place; and

• Obtained certification from their subcontractors that they are following this subsection’s provisions.

• Requires all compliance plans to contain awareness plans about the prohibited activities, a process for employees to safely report violations, a recruitment and wage plan that pays legal wages without recruitment fees, an up-to-standards housing arrangement, and procedures meant to prevent human trafficking by subcontractors and agents (Sec. 1).

• Requires contractors and subcontractors to fully cooperate with authorities if they’re being investigated or audited, in addition to allowing their employees to safely cooperate (Sec. 1).

• Authorizes the termination of a state contract if the contractor or subcontractors are found to be in violation of this Act (Sec. 1).

• Establishes a penalty of the greater of $1,000 or 20% of the value of their product for contractors that entered a contract knowing they were in violation of this Act (Sec. 1).

• Specifies other possible punishments including (Sec. 1):

• Removal from the bidder’s list for a period not exceeding 360 days;

• Being required to remove a contractor employee from performance of the contract;

• Being required to terminate a subcontractor;

• Suspension of contract payments until the appropriate remedial action is taken;

• Loss of award fee;

• State decline to exercise available options under the contract; or

• Suspension or disbarment.

• Specifies that contractors found in violation of human trafficking laws will be subject to removal, reduction of benefits, or termination, and must cooperate fully with state agencies in the resulting investigative actions (Sec. 1).

• Requires state protection of employees suspected of being victims or witnesses of human trafficking by contractors before they return to their home countries (Sec. 1).

• Authorizes contractors to request a hearing within 15 days of being sanctioned by the state (Sec. 1).

• Authorizes the administrative judges presiding over the hearings to take mitigating factors such as the contractor’s compliance plans and possible remedial action into account (Sec. 1).

• Authorizes the administrative judges presiding over the hearings to take aggravating factors including failure to abate or prevent violations into account (Sec. 1).

• Requires the state agency to pay for the hearing unless they win the case in which case the contractor shall pay (Sec. 1).

• Specifies that the amendments made by this Act shall apply only to contracts entered into or renewed on or after January 1, 2027 and have an estimated value that exceeds $550,000 (Sec. 1).

• Specifies that no reimbursement for local agencies or school districts is required by this Act (Sec. 2).

Full Bill Text