California Workplace Outreach Program.

Senator Smallwood-Cuevas, joined by Assembly Member Kalra and several colleagues, seeks to establish a California Workplace Outreach Program within the Department of Industrial Relations that would operate as a time-bound division of the Labor Code, contingent on future funding, with the aim of promoting awareness of workplace protections and encouraging compliance, prioritizing low-wage, high-risk, and high-violation industries and winding down on January 1, 2031 unless extended by future legislation.

Key mechanisms would center on a competitive process to select qualified nonprofit organizations to provide education and outreach services and to assist workers in asserting their rights, with the department defining qualifications as nonprofits with demonstrated in-person outreach experience targeted at vulnerable workers. The outreach efforts would cover topics such as minimum wage, overtime, paid leave, retaliation, health and safety, excessive heat, discrimination protections, and the adjudication processes of the department, and would be accompanied by the development of education and training materials in languages chosen in consultation with each region’s qualified organization. Where protections under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act or related statutes are involved, materials would involve collaboration with the Civil Rights Department and may require the department’s final approval of content; the program envisions at least biannual meetings between the department and the qualified organizations to coordinate outreach and share information relevant to enforcement, while respecting privacy and confidentiality laws.

Implementation hinges on an appropriation of funds for the program, with the bill itself not specifying a funding level. The fiscal plan would cover procurement of qualified organizations, translation and regional tailoring of materials, coordination meetings, and related administrative support within the department, and it would undergo fiscal review as part of the legislative process. The measure does not create new enforcement powers; rather, it foregrounds outreach and education as a mechanism to inform workers and potentially support enforcement under existing procedures, including interagency collaboration with the Labor and Workforce Development Agency and, where applicable, the Civil Rights Department.

Together, these provisions place a structured, time-limited framework for worker education and rights assertion within DIR, designed to operate in coordination with current protections while building interagency links and regional language accessibility. The sunset date ensures a finite period for program operation and potential legislative reevaluation, with funding and authorization arising through future appropriation decisions and accompanying oversight.