Foreign labor contractor registration: agricultural workers.

Kalra, working with a broad slate of coauthors, advances a comprehensive foreign labor contractor regulatory regime that would bring tighter oversight to recruiters for California jobs, extending to nonagricultural workers on certain temporary visas immediately and, beginning July 1, 2027, to agricultural workers under a separate visa program. The core changes establish a formal registration framework administered by the Department of Industrial Relations and the Labor Commissioner, complemented by enhanced disclosure, bonding requirements, and new enforcement tools designed to accompany the expanded scope of coverage.

Under the measure, foreign labor contractors must register with the Labor Commissioner, and farm labor contractors who perform foreign labor contracting activities must also register starting in 2027. The registration process requires a sworn written application detailing the applicant’s character, competency, and proposed operations, the names and addresses of all persons financially interested in the operation, and, after 2027, a listing of each federal visa program under which the contractor will perform foreign labor contracting activities. To support the program, the bill prescribes surety bonds tied to annual gross receipts (for example, bonds in $50,000, $100,000, or $150,000 tiers) and a filing fee sufficient to cover ongoing costs. The Labor Commissioner is also required to post on its website the names and contact information for all registered foreign labor contractors as well as those denied renewal or registration.

Enforcement tools include criminal penalties for violations, civil penalties with specified ranges, and remedies such as injunctive relief, damages, and bond enforcement; the Labor Commissioner may pursue the actions or assign bond-related claims to represent aggrieved workers. The measure prohibits registration or renewal if the applicant has violated specified federal or state labor provisions and allows the commissioner to enforce the regime through established Labor Code processes. A key implementation feature is the requirement to expand the foreign labor contractor framework to farm labor contractors who engage in foreign labor contracting activities, with potential data-deduplication relief if certain license information is already on file, and public posting of registrant information to enhance transparency. The bill also requires a study by the Department of Industrial Relations, due January 1, 2028, on extending registration to other visa programs not described in the initial scope, with a sunset for that study provision in 2029. The accompanying findings attribute concerns about recruitment abuses and trafficking to prior regimes and frame the expansion as a step toward broader protections, while maintaining a neutral approach to regulation and enforcement.