Public transportation providers.

Assembly Member Wilson’s measure weaves policy substance and authorial intent into one package by extending criminal and civil protections for public transportation workers to cover the broader ecosystem around transit operations, including employees and contractors of a public transportation provider and the entities that oversee them.

The bill expands a long-standing battery offense to reach a wider set of transit-related actors. When a battery is committed against an operator, driver, or passenger on a bus, taxi, streetcar, or other motor vehicle used for hire, and the offender knows or should know that the victim is performing duties, the offense carries penalties that include a fine and potential imprisonment in a county jail, with enhanced penalties if injury occurs. The expansion would apply to an employee, public transportation provider, or contractor of a public transportation provider, extending liability beyond individual riders and front-line workers to the organizations and personnel connected to transit services. The measure also makes clear that no reimbursement is required for local agencies to implement any new costs arising from these changes, reflecting a state-mmandated local program framework.

In parallel, the bill broadens access to workplace protective orders. It allows an employer or a collective bargaining representative to seek temporary restraining orders and orders after hearing on behalf of an employee who has faced harassment, unlawful violence, or a credible threat at the workplace, with authority to cover other employees at the workplace or, if appropriate, at other workplaces of the employer. Definitions are expanded to include an employer that encompasses joint powers authorities or a public transit operator, and an employee that includes volunteers or independent contractors who work at the employer’s site. The framework specifies what constitutes harassment and a credible threat, and it prescribes that forms and instructions developed by the Judicial Council be used and remain mandatory. Provisions also address service, hearing timelines, and the potential inclusion of protective orders related to firearms, subject to existing laws and protections.

Taken together, the provisions situate transit workplace safety within both criminal and civil enforcement channels, aligning the treatment of battery against transit personnel with broader protections for workers and setting out a coordinated process for restraining order remedies. The act would operate within existing procedural structures, including court and law enforcement duties around issuance, service, and enforcement of orders, while clarifying the roles of employers, joint powers authorities, and transit operators in seeking and implementing protective measures.