The California Legislature has reached the “house of origin” deadline, under which bills must progress beyond the house in which they are introduced, or they are dead for the year.  Since 2026 is an election year, bills that fail any legislative deadline must be reintroduced in 2027.

The Legislature is working on a number of bills of concern to California agricultural employers:

H-2A Minimum Wage Bill, FLC Bonding Bill Pass Assembly 

Assembly Bill (AB) 2646 (Krell), imposing a $19.75 state minimum wage on non-resident employees working in California because their employment has been approved by the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) (describing employees working in California on H-2A temporary agricultural worker visas) and California-resident employees doing the same work in the same county, passed the Assembly on May 26 by a 58-16 vote. AB 2227 (Connolly), significantly increasing the cost of surety bonds California-licensed farm labor contractors must obtain, and significantly raising the risk that FLCs cannot timely respond to judgement demands imposed by the Labor Commissioner, passed the Assembly May 27 by a vote of 51-20 .  Both bills now move to the Senate

Bill Restricting Workplace Management Tools Advances  

AB 1883 (Bryan) severely restrains the use of workplace safety and management tools like productivity monitoring technology or worksite access monitoring, giving enforcement authority to the Labor Commissioner and establishing a private right of action allowing employees to sue employers for alleged violations.  AB 1883 passed the Assembly on May 27 by a 52-12 vote.  

Bill Gutting Regulatory Impact Analysis Passes Senate 

Senate Bill (SB) 1123 (Weiner), allowing state regulatory agencies to bypass Standard Regulatory Impact Analysis (SRIA) requirements for major regulations if they first find that benefits of a proposed regulation exceed its costs, passed the Senate on May 26 by a 26-8 vote and moves now to the Assembly.  SB 1123 it effectively excuses state regulatory agencies from even cursory cost review of regulations. SB 1123 now moves to the Assembly for further consideration.

Automated Decision Making System, Tech Displacement Notification bills clear Senate 

SB  947 (Mcnerney) targets and regulates low-risk applications of automated decision-making systems and imposes compliance burdens and legal risk on employers using modern workforce management tools.  SB 951 (Reyes) expands the California WARN Act by imposing burdensome plant closing notification-like requirements for reductions in employment allegedly related to deployment of technology or automation.  Both have passed the Senate, both passed on 28-9 votes on May 20.  Both are pending in the Assembly.