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SCA-7 Employment: workers’ rights.(2023-2024)

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SCA7:v97#DOCUMENT

Amended  IN  Senate  June 26, 2023
Amended  IN  Senate  June 06, 2023

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Constitutional Amendment
No. 7

Introduced by Senator Umberg
(Coauthors: Senators Ashby, Atkins, Becker, Blakespear, Caballero, Cortese, Dodd, Durazo, Laird, Min, Newman, Padilla, Portantino, Skinner, Stern, and Wiener)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Aguiar-Curry, Boerner, Bonta, Bryan, Calderon, Connolly, Friedman, Grayson, Haney, Kalra, Maienschein, McCarty, McKinnor, Stephanie Nguyen, Ortega, Pellerin, Quirk-Silva, Robert Rivas, Ward, Weber, and Wood)

May 01, 2023

A resolution to propose to the people of the State of California an amendment to the Constitution of the State, by adding Section 1.5 to Article XIV thereof, relating to employment.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SCA 7, as amended, Umberg. Employment: workers’ rights.
Existing state law forbids a public employer from deterring or discouraging public employees from becoming or remaining members of an employee organization. Existing federal law forbids employers from interfering with, restraining, or coercing employees in the exercise of rights relating to organizing, forming, joining, or assisting a labor organization for collective bargaining purposes, or from working together to improve terms and conditions of employment, or refraining from any such activity.
This measure, the Right to Organize and Negotiate Act, would ensure that all Californians have the right to join a union and to negotiate with their employers, through their legally chosen representative, and the right to protect their economic well-being and safety at work. This measure would require the Legislature to provide for the enforcement of these rights. This measure would also prohibit, after January 1, 2023, the passing of any statute or ordinance that interferes with, negates, or diminishes the right of employees to organize and bargain collectively over their wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment and workplace safety.
Vote: 2/3   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: NO   Local Program: NO  
WHEREAS, The Constitution of the State of California enumerates a wide range of rights granted to its residents; and
WHEREAS, Those rights include privacy, freedom from discrimination, freedom from interference with reproductive decisions, and access to a free public education; and
WHEREAS, Court decisions have taken away or limited other longstanding rights; and
WHEREAS, Employees’ freedom to organize and negotiate with their employers should be guaranteed by the California State Constitution; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate, the Assembly concurring, That the Legislature of the State of California at its 2023–24 Regular Session commencing on the fifth day of December 2022, two-thirds of the membership of each house concurring, hereby proposes to the people of the State of California, that the Constitution of the State be amended as follows:

First—

 That Section 1.5 is added to Article XIV thereof, to read:

SEC. 1.5.
 (a) This section shall be known, and may be cited, as the Right to Organize and Negotiate Act.
(b) All Californians shall have the right to join a union and to negotiate with their employers, through their legally chosen representative, and the right to protect their economic well-being and safety at work. The Legislature shall provide for the enforcement of these rights.
(c) On or after January 1, 2023, no ordinance or statute shall be passed, enacted, or adopted that interferes with, negates, or diminishes the right of employees to organize and bargain collectively over their wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment and workplace safety.