Amended IN Senate June 27, 2025
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Amended IN Senate June 24, 2025
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CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill
No. 129
Introduced by Committee on Budget (Assembly Members Gabriel (Chair), Addis, Ahrens, Alvarez, Bennett, Bonta, Connolly, Fong, Haney, Hart, Jackson, Lee, Muratsuchi, Ortega, Patel, Petrie-Norris, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Rogers, Schiavo, Schultz, Sharp-Collins, Solache, Ward, and Wilson)
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January 08, 2025 |
An act to amend Section 19878 of, and to add Sections 19816.22 and Section 20825.18 to, the Government Code, to amend Section 1872.83 of the Insurance Code, and to amend Section 62.5 of, to add Section 6717.2 to, and to repeal Section 62.6 of, the Labor Code, relating to labor, and making an appropriation therefor, to take effect immediately, bill related to the budget.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 129, as amended, Committee on Budget. Labor.
(1)Existing law creates the Department of Human Resources in an effort to better serve the human resources and personnel needs of the state. Existing law establishes the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program, which is administered by the State Department of Social Services, counties, and other entities, under which qualified aged, blind, or disabled persons are provided with supportive services in order to permit them to remain in their own homes.
This bill would require the Department of Human Resources, in collaboration with the State Department of Social Services, to appoint a statewide bargaining advisory committee to review the full cost of care for IHSS provided through the IHSS program under a statewide collective bargaining model. The bill would require the advisory committee to submit reports, between January 1, 2027, and January 1, 2029, to the Legislature containing completed analyses covering key issues associated with any transition of IHSS to statewide bargaining, as specified. To inform the advisory committee’s work, the bill would require the State Department of Social Services to provide a report to the advisory committee on approaches for cost containment associated with a statewide collective bargaining model in the In-Home Supportive Services program, no later than July 1, 2027. The bill would authorize the Department of Human Resources to enter into any contracts necessary for the performance of its duties under these provisions. The bill would state the intent of the Legislature that, upon submission of the completed analyses, the process of transitioning IHSS to a statewide collective bargaining model may commence and this may occur no earlier than January 1, 2030.
(2)
(1)
Existing law, the State Civil Service Act, regulates employment with the state and vests in the Department of Human Resources all powers, duties, and authority necessary to operate the state civil service system. Existing law requires the department to designate positions of a high administrative and policy-influencing character for inclusion in or removal from the category of civil service appointment called “career executive assignments,” subject to review by the State Personnel Board, as provided.Under existing law, when an employee is disabled, whether temporarily or permanently, the employee is entitled, subject to certain conditions, to receive specified nonindustrial disability benefits, unless a memorandum of understanding conflicts with this requirement. Existing law defines “employee” for purposes of those provisions as a permanent or probationary full-time, part-time, or intermittent state officer or employee, as specified.
This bill would, effective October 1, 2025, for a disability benefit period commencing on or after July 1, 2025, additionally include a state officer or employee appointed to a career executive assignment in that definition of “employee.” The bill would require these employees claiming benefits for a certain disability benefit period to file a completed claim no later than 41 days following the effective date of this provision.
(3)
(2)
The Public Employees’ Retirement Law (PERL) creates the Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS) for the purpose of providing pensions and benefits to state employees and their beneficiaries and prescribes the rights and duties of employers participating in the system. Under PERL, benefits are funded by investment income and employer and employee contributions, which are deposited into the Public Employees’ Retirement Fund, a continuously appropriated trust fund administered by the system’s board of administration.
PERL prescribes methods for the calculation and payment of the state employer contribution for its employees who are PERS members. PERL provides for an annual adjustment of the state’s contribution in the budget and quarterly appropriations to the Public Employees’ Retirement Fund from the General Fund and other funds that are responsible for payment of the employer contribution.
Existing law makes additional General Fund appropriations to the Public Employees’ Retirement Fund for the 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24, and 2024–25 fiscal years. Supplemental payments connected with appropriations for those fiscal years are to be apportioned to the state employee member categories generally, as directed by the Department of Finance, and to specified state employee member categories, including to the state miscellaneous member category, the industrial member category, the state safety member category, and the state peace officer/firefighter member category.
The California Constitution establishes the Budget Stabilization Account in the General Fund and requires the Controller, in each fiscal year, to transfer from the General Fund to the Budget Stabilization Account amounts that include a sum equal to 1.5% of the estimated amount of General Fund revenues for that fiscal year. These provisions further require, until the 2029–30 fiscal year, that the Legislature appropriate a percentage of these moneys, the amount of which is generated pursuant to specified calculations, for certain obligations and purposes, including addressing unfunded liabilities for state-level pension plans.
This bill would appropriate $584,000,000 from the General Fund for the purposes identified in the constitutional provisions described above, to supplement the state’s appropriation to the Public Employees’ Retirement Fund. The bill would specify that this appropriation represents a portion of the amount identified in a specific provision of the Budget Act of 2025. The bill would require the Department of Finance to provide the Controller with a schedule establishing the timing of specific transfers. The bill would require the supplemental payment to the Public Employees’ Retirement Fund to be apportioned to specified state employee member categories, not to exceed $273,983,000 to the state miscellaneous member category, $16,164,000 to the state industrial member category, $32,150,000 to the state safety member category, and $261,703,000 to the state peace officer/firefighter member category. The bill would require the appropriation described above to be applied to the unfunded state liabilities for the state employee member categories that are in excess of the base amounts for the 2025–26 fiscal year.
(4)
(3)
Existing law establishes the Department of Industrial Relations in the Labor and Workforce Development Agency to perform specified functions, including fostering, promoting, and developing the welfare of the wage earners of California, to improve their working conditions and to advance their opportunities for profitable employment.
