Existing law, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, establishes in the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency the Civil Rights Department (department), headed by the Director of Civil Rights, to protect and safeguard the right and opportunity of all persons to seek, obtain, and hold employment without discrimination or abridgment on account of race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, reproductive health decisionmaking, or military and veteran status. Existing law requires the department, among other things, to render annually to the Governor and to the Legislature a written report of its activities and recommendations.

This bill would establish within the department the Labor Trafficking Task Force, as specified. The bill would require the task force, among other things, to take steps to prevent labor trafficking, coordinate with the Labor Enforcement Task Force, the Department of Justice, and the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement within the Department of Industrial Relations to combat labor trafficking, and receive and refer complaints alleging labor trafficking to the department or other agencies, as appropriate, for potential investigation, civil action, or criminal prosecution. The bill would authorize the task force to coordinate with other relevant agencies to combat labor trafficking, support law enforcement agencies that investigate criminal actions relating to labor trafficking in coordination with specified entities, and coordinate with state or local agencies to connect survivors with available services. The bill would require the Division of Occupational Safety and Health within the Department of Industrial Relations to notify the task force when, upon investigating businesses under their purview, there is evidence of labor trafficking. The bill would require the department to include specified information in the annual report described above, including the activities of the task force, the number of complaints referred to the department, and the status or outcome of those complaints. The bill would provide that its provisions become operative only upon appropriation by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act or another measure for the purposes of the bill’s provisions.

Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.

This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.