The bill introduction period for the 2025 session of the California State legislature concluded on February 16th. Since that time, we have sifted through all the newly introduced legislative proposals for this year to ensure we are actively involved with those that may affect WPCCA member contractors.
We have selected the legislation listed below that we suggest the WPCCA take a position on. Other bills of interest that may affect the industry but are currently either spot bills or bills that are in a subject area that we track to watch for amendments will be monitored in a “watch” file. You will be made aware of these bills if it becomes necessary to establish a position and action.
A preliminary recommended position has been assigned to the enclosed bills (“Support,” “Oppose,” “Active,” and “Neutral”). Measures that we are requesting additional committee input on are labeled “Pending.” A legislative key is below.
Legislative Key:
“Support” Position: Recommend WPCCA actively support the legislation.
“Oppose” Position: Recommend WPCCA actively oppose the legislation.
“Active” Position: Recommend WPCCA actively work on the legislation to produce amendments that would garner our support or neutrality on the legislation or protect against hostile amendments that would result in our opposition to the legislation.
“Neutral” Position: No action on the legislation.
“Pending” Position: Need additional input from WPCCA.
AB 296
AUTHOR: Davies R
TITLE: Apprenticeship fairs.
SUMMARY: Current law provides for the establishment of apprenticeship programs in various trades, to be approved by the Chief of the Division of Apprenticeship Standards within the Department of Industrial Relations in any trade in the state or in a city or trade area whenever the apprentice training needs justify the establishment. Current law requires a school district or school to notify each apprenticeship program in the same county as the school district or school of a career or college fair it is planning to hold, as specified. Current law provides that the Legislature encourages school districts and schools to host apprenticeship fair events, as provided. This bill would delete the above-specified provision regarding the Legislature’s encouragement to school districts and schools and would, instead, require school districts and schools to host at least one apprenticeship fair event during each school year, as specified.
POSITION: Support
AB 361
AUTHOR: Schultz D
TITLE: Best value procurement: school districts and county offices of education.
SUMMARY: Current law establishes a pilot program authorizing the Los Angeles Unified School District to use, before December 31, 2025, a best value procurement method for bid evaluation and selection for public projects that exceed $1,000,000. The pilot program establishes various requirements applicable to the use of the best value procurement method under the authorization. Current law requires the school district to submit a report to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature on the use of the best value procurement method as provided and in accordance with a specified schedule. These provisions are repealed on January 1, 2026. This bill would delete the reporting requirement and repeal date, thereby extending these provisions concerning the Los Angeles Unified School District indefinitely, and make related conforming changes. This bill would additionally authorize the governing board of any school district, except for the Los Angeles Unified School District, and the county board of education, as defined, to use, before December 31, 2030, a best value procurement method for bid evaluation and selection for public projects that exceed $1,000,000.
POSITION: Active -> Support
AB 521
AUTHOR: Carrillo D
TITLE: Contractors State License Board: bond deposits: liability for legal fees and costs.
SUMMARY: Current law requires the Contractors State License Board, with the approval of the Director of Consumer Affairs, to appoint a registrar of contractors to serve as the executive officer and secretary of the board. Current law requires a licensee who is subject to a bonding provision under the law to maintain a bond as executed by an admitted surety insurer or as deposited with the registrar, as specified. Prior existing law authorized certain deposits to be given instead of the bond, as specified. Current law requires all alternatives in lieu of a bond that had been filed with the registrar to be replaced for a surety bond or the deposit of lawful money or a cashier’s check, as specified, by January 1, 2020. Current law prohibits the board from charging legal fees against those deposits, as specified. This bill would exempt the board from liability for legal fees or costs in an action against any deposit described above, regardless of when it was filed with the registrar.
POSITION: Support
AB 773
AUTHOR: Dixon R
TITLE: Marine resources: copper-based antifouling paint.
SUMMARY: The California Ocean Resources Stewardship Act of 2000 finds that it is the policy of the state to, among other things, ensure adequate coordination of ocean resources management science among state, regional, and federal agencies and marine science institutions, as provided. This bill would require the State Water Resources Control Board, regional water quality control boards, and the Department of Pesticide Regulation to suspend enforcement of their regulations relating to copper-based antifouling paint, as specified, until certain requirements are satisfied, including that the board and the department collaborate to determine the best methods to regulate the use of copper-based antifouling paint within the state, and the board, the department, and regional water quality control boards agree on and release guidelines that provide for the uniform enforcement of the copper-based antifouling paint regulations throughout the state.
POSITION: Pending -> Active
AB 778
AUTHOR: Chen R
TITLE: Local Agency Public Construction Act: internet website posting.
SUMMARY: The Local Agency Public Construction Act sets forth the requirements for the payment of construction projects by local agencies. The State Contract Act imposes specified requirements on state agencies regarding payment of construction contracts, including requiring, within 10 days of making a construction contract payment, a state agency that maintains an internet website to post on its internet website the project for which the payment was made, the name of the construction contractor or company paid, the date the payment was made or the date the state agency transmitted instructions to the Controller or other payer to make the payment, the payment application number or other identifying information, and the amount of the payment. Current law exempts from these provisions, among other things, construction contracts valued below $25,000. This bill would require a local agency that maintains an internet website to post on its internet website the information described above. The bill would exempt from these provisions construction contracts valued below $25,000.
POSITION: Support
AB 889
AUTHOR: Hadwick R
TITLE: Prevailing wage: per diem wages.
SUMMARY: Current law requires workers employed on public works to be paid not less than the general prevailing rate of per diem wages for work of a similar character in the locality that the public work is performed, as prescribed, unless an exception applies. Current law requires the Director of the Department of Industrial Relations to determine the general prevailing rate of per diem wages for work of a similar character in the locality in which the public work is to be performed. Under current law, per diem wages include certain employer payments made pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement or for a program or committee established under the federal Labor Management Cooperation Act of 1978, as specified. Current law provides that these payments are a credit against the obligation to pay the general prevailing rate of per diem wages. Current law requires the credit for employer payments to be computed on an annualized basis where the employer seeks credit for employer payments that are higher for public works projects than for private construction performed by the same employer, except under certain circumstances, including a determination by the director that annualization would not serve the purposes of the provisions relating to public works projects. This bill would remove that exception and revoke annualization exemptions authorized by the director prior to January 1, 2026. The bill would authorize an employer to take full credit for the hourly amounts contributed to defined contribution pension plans that provide for both immediate participation and immediate vesting even if the employer contributes at a lower rate or does not make contributions to private construction. The bill would require the employer to prove that the credit for employer payments was calculated properly.
POSITION: Support
AB 948
AUTHOR: Flora R
TITLE: School facilities: task-order procurement contracting.
SUMMARY: Current law establishes, until January 1, 2034, a pilot project authorizing the governing board of the Los Angeles Unified School District to award multiple annual task-order procurement contracts, as prescribed, for purposes that include services, repairs, and construction funded by the school district’s general fund, local school construction bonds, or federal or state funds. This bill would, in addition, authorize a school district or a county superintendent of schools, with an average daily attendance of 10,000 or less, to award multiple task-order procurement contracts for repair and renovation of buildings and grounds, for projects not exceeding $3,000,000, through a single request for bids. The bill would require these contracts to be paid for with money from the county or school district’s general fund, a local construction bond, or federal or state funds and to be awarded to the lowest responsible and responsive bidder.
POSITION: Active
AB 963
AUTHOR: Petrie-Norris D
TITLE: Public works: prevailing wages: access to records.
SUMMARY: Current law requires the Labor Commissioner to investigate allegations that a contractor or subcontractor violated the law regulating public works projects, including the payment of prevailing wages. Current law requires each contractor and subcontractor on a public works project to keep accurate payroll records, showing the name, address, social security number, work classification, straight time and overtime hours worked each day and week, and the actual per diem wages paid to each journeyman, apprentice, worker, or other employee employed by the contractor or subcontractor in connection with the public work. Current law requires any copy of records made available for inspection as copies and furnished upon request to the public or any public agency to be marked or obliterated to prevent disclosure of an individual’s name, address, and social security number but specifies that any copy of records made available to a Taft-Hartley trust fund for the purposes of allocating contributions to participants be marked or obliterated only to prevent disclosure of an individual’s full social security number, as specified. This bill would require an owner or developer, as defined, undertaking any public works project to make specified records available upon request to the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, to multiemployer Taft-Hartley trust funds, and to joint labor-management committees, as specified. The bill would also apply this requirement to an owner or developer that undertakes a development project that includes work subject to the requirements of public works.
POSITION: Support
AB 1198
AUTHOR: Haney D
TITLE: Public works: prevailing wages.
SUMMARY: Current law requires that, except as specified, not less than the general prevailing rate of per diem wages, determined by the Director of Industrial Relations, be paid to workers employed on public works projects. Current law requires the body awarding a contract for a public work to obtain from the director the general prevailing rate of per diem wages for work of a similar character in the locality in which the public work is to be performed, and the general prevailing rate of per diem wages for holiday and overtime work, for each craft, classification, or type of worker needed to execute the contract. Under current law, if the director determines during any quarterly period that there has been a change in any prevailing rate of per diem wages in a locality, the director is required to make that change available to the awarding body and their determination is final. Under current law, that determination does not apply to public works contracts for which the notice to bidders has been published. This bill would instead state, commencing July 1, 2026, that if the director determines, within a semiannual period, that there is a change in any prevailing rate of per diem wages in a locality, that determination applies to any public works contract that is awarded or for which notice to bidders is published after July 1, 2026. The bill would authorize any contractor, awarding body, or specified representative affected by a change in rates on a particular contract to, within 20 days, file with the director a verified petition to review the determination of that rate, as specified.
POSITION: Support
AB 1304
AUTHOR: Schultz D
TITLE: Paint product recovery program: paint recovery: definition.
SUMMARY: Current law establishes a paint product recovery program for the purpose of requiring paint manufacturers to develop and implement a program to collect, transport, and process postconsumer paint to reduce the costs and environmental impacts of the disposal of postconsumer paint in this state. This bill would state that the purpose of the program is also to require paint manufacturers to develop and implement a program to recover, reuse, and recycle postconsumer paint. The bill would define “paint recovery” to mean the process of collecting and transporting leftover paint for the purpose of reuse, processing, or recycling to reduce its environmental impact and disposal costs.
POSITION: Pending
AB 1331
AUTHOR: Elhawary D
TITLE: Workplace surveillance.
SUMMARY: Would limit the use of workplace surveillance tools, as defined, by employers, including by prohibiting an employer from monitoring or surveilling workers in private, off-duty areas, as specified, and requiring workplace surveillance tools to be disabled during off-duty hours, as specified.
POSITION: Active
AB 1371
AUTHOR: Sharp-Collins D
TITLE: Occupational safety and health: employee refusal to perform hazardous tasks.
SUMMARY: The California Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1973 requires employers to comply with certain safety and health standards, as specified, and charges the Division of Occupational Safety and Health in the Department of Industrial Relations with enforcement of the act. Current law prohibits an employer from laying off or discharging an employee for refusing to perform work that would violate prescribed safety standards where the violation would create a real and apparent hazard to the employee or other employees. Current law defines “employee” for purposes of those provisions to include a domestic work employee, except as specified. This bill would revise and recast those provisions to, among other things, allow an employee, acting in good faith, to refuse to perform a tasked assigned by an employer if it would violate those prescribed safety standards or if the employee has a reasonable apprehension that the performance of the assigned task would result in injury or illness to the employee or other employees. The bill would make the employee’s refusal contingent on the employee or another employee, if reasonably practical, having communicated or attempted to notify the employer of the safety or health risk and the employer having failed to provide a response that is reasonably calculated to allay the employee’s concerns.
POSITION: Oppose
SB 61
AUTHOR: Cortese D
TITLE: Private works of improvement: retention payments.
SUMMARY: Current law generally governs retention payments withheld with respect to a contract for a private work of improvement, including by requiring an owner that withholds a retention from a direct contractor to, within 45 days after completion of the work of improvement, pay the retention to the contractor. This bill would limit the amount of a retention payment with respect to a contract for a private work of improvement by, among other things, prohibiting a retention payment withheld from a payment by an owner from the direct contractor, by the direct contractor from any subcontractor, and by a subcontractor from any subcontractor thereunder, for a private work of improvement, from exceeding 5% of the payment.
POSITION: Support
SB 291
AUTHOR: Grayson D
TITLE: Contractors: workers’ compensation insurance.
SUMMARY: Current law generally requires, as a condition precedent to the issuance, reinstatement, reactivation, renewal, or continued maintenance of a contractor license, a licensed contractor or applicant for licensure to have on file at all times with the Contractors State License Board a current and valid Certificate of Workers’ Compensation Insurance or Certification of Self-Insurance in the applicant’s or licensee’s business name, as specified. Current law generally makes a violation of these provisions a misdemeanor. Current law exempts from this requirement an applicant or licensee who has no employees, provided that they file a statement with the board before the issuance, reinstatement, reactivation, or continued maintenance of a license certifying that they do not employ any person, as specified, and who does not hold a specified license issued by the board, including a C-8 license, as defined. Existing law repeals these provisions on January 1, 2028. This bill would instead repeal the above-described provisions on January 1, 2027.
POSITION: Neutral
SB 310
AUTHOR: Wiener D
TITLE: Failure to pay wages: penalties.
SUMMARY: Current law makes every person who fails to pay the wages of each employee subject to a specified penalty. Current law requires the penalty to either be recovered by an employee as a statutory penalty or by the Labor Commissioner as a civil penalty, as prescribed. This bill also would permit the penalty to be recovered through an independent civil action, as specified.
POSITION: Oppose
SB 440
AUTHOR: Ochoa Bogh R
TITLE: Private Works Construction Fair Payment and Dispute Resolution Act.
SUMMARY: Current law contains various provisions relating to contracts for the performance of private works of improvement, including provisions applicable to a retention withholding by an owner from a direct contractor or by a direct contractor from a subcontractor. This bill would establish, until January 1, 2030, for contracts entered into on or after January 1, 2026, a claim resolution process, as specified, applicable to any claim by a contractor in connection to a public work of improvement or site improvement. The bill would define a claim for these purposes as a separate demand by the contractor sent by registered mail or certified mail with return receipt requested, for, among other things, a time extension for relief from damages or penalties for delay assessed by an owner of property under contract for a work of improvement or site of improvement.
POSITION: Support
SB 456
AUTHOR: Ashby D
TITLE: Contractors: exemptions: muralists.
SUMMARY: Current law makes it a misdemeanor for a person to engage in the business, or act in the capacity, of a contractor without a license, unless exempted. Current law exempts from the Contractors State License Law, among other things, a nonprofit corporation providing assistance to an owner, as specified. This bill would exempt from that law a muralist, as defined, who produces a mural, as defined, pursuant to an agreement with a person who could legally authorize the work.
POSITION: Pending -> Active
SB 464
AUTHOR: Smallwood-Cuevas D
TITLE: Employer pay data.
SUMMARY: Current law establishes the Civil Rights Department within the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency to enforce civil rights laws with respect to housing and employment and to protect and safeguard the right of all persons to obtain and hold employment without discrimination based on specified characteristics or status. Current law requires a private employer that has 100 or more employees to submit an annual pay data report to the Civil Rights Department that includes the number of employees by race, ethnicity, and sex in specified job categories, whose pay falls within federal pay bands, and within each job category the median and mean hourly rate for each combination of those characteristics as specified. This bill would also require public employers with 100 or more employees to submit the annual pay data report beginning in 2027. The bill would require an employer to collect and store any demographic information it gathers for the purpose of submitting the pay data report separately from employees’ personnel records. This bill would also expand the demographics for the reporting requirements to also include sexual orientation and require the report to include information by sexual orientation about the number of employees in specified job categories, whose pay falls within federal pay bands, and within each job category the median and mean hourly rate for each combination of the specified characteristics.
POSITION: Oppose
SB 517
AUTHOR: Niello R
TITLE: Home improvement contract requirements: subcontractors.
SUMMARY: Current law, the Contractors State License Law, defines and regulates the activities of contractors and provides for their licensure, regulation, and discipline by the Contractors State License Board within the Department of Consumer Affairs. Existing law requires specific provisions and requirements for home improvement contracts, as defined. This bill would require a home improvement contract with a subcontractor performing more than 50% of the total estimated project cost to contain the name and contact information of the subcontractor.
POSITION: Support
SB 755
AUTHOR: Blakespear D
TITLE: California Procurement Climate Information Act.
SUMMARY: The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. Existing law, the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act, requires, on or before July 1, 2025, the State Air Resources Board to develop and adopt regulations to require a reporting entity to, among other things, annually disclose all of the reporting entity’s scope 1 emissions, scope 2 emissions, and scope 3 emissions, as defined. Existing law also states the intent of the Legislature for all state agencies, as defined, to aim to achieve net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases resulting from their operations, including scope 1 and scope 2 emissions, no later than January 1, 2035, or as soon as feasible thereafter. Existing law requires the Department of General Services, in consultation with the State Air Resources Board, in making progress toward the above-described goal, to, among other things, publish on its internet website or other publicly available location an inventory of the greenhouse gas emissions of state agencies for the prior calendar year, as specified. This bill, the California Procurement Climate Information Act, would require the department, beginning January 1, 2027, to require a large contractor and significant contractor, as defined, to report their greenhouse gas emissions and climate-related financial risk, as specified. The bill would require the report to include, for large contractors, an annual disclosure of scope 1 emissions, scope 2 emissions, scope 3 emissions, and climate-related financial risk, as specified, and for significant contractors, an annual disclosure of scope 1 emissions and scope 2 emissions, as specified. This bill contains other existing laws.
POSITION: Oppose
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This content was provided by WPCCA professional counsel and is for general informational purposes only. Readers should contact their own professional counsel for company specific matters in the relevant jurisdiction.