About 100 labor and racial equity activists joined Senator Lola Smallwood-Cuevas who represents Culver City and a group of legislative colleagues at the State Capitol West Steps today for a press conference to call on Governor Newsom to sign and fund SB 1340 to help ease the state's job crisis primarily impacting Californians from underserved communities of color. Senator MarÍa Elena Gonzalez, Asm. Liz Ortega and Asm. Isaac Bryan also attended the press conference to voice their support of the bill.
SB 1340 would require equitable hiring compliance for the $180 billion in federal funding coming to California to fund the state's green infrastructure projects over the next decade. The bill would establish local "disadvantaged worker" demographics across California and require state-funded contractors on large-scale infrastructure projects to prioritize hiring workers who need these jobs the most.
"We as leaders in California should do all we can to create career pipelines for workers who have been systemically overlooked by our workforce," said Senator Smallwood-Cuevas. "While I'm proud of our great state of California and thank our Governor for his enormous leadership in enabling us to continue to lead this nation, it's now time for California to lead in equity."
Hiring compliance programs are not only moral obligations of the state, they are legal requirements. California has enacted a number of laws aimed at promoting fair employment practices and preventing discrimination. Furthermore, it was intended by the Biden-Harris Administration that their federal green infrastructure dollars be used by states to help employ workers from disadvantaged communities.
Although California is in a budget deficit year, SB 1340 will be a low-cost bill to implement. It's a small investment that will pay big dividends given it will create jobs that would take thousands of people out of poverty, ultimately saving the state money, with their tax-paying jobs reinvested back into the state. However, SB 1340 is yet to be signed and funded by the Governor – despite being passed by the State Senate and Assembly Labor Committee. The press conference's purpose was to raise greater awareness about the need for such a transformative bill that would create a better future for workers and their families from California's most disadvantaged communities.
Activists who participated in the press event represented such organizations as California Coalition for Worker Power, Inland Empire Black Worker Center, Los Angeles Black Worker Center, SEIU, Southern California Black Worker Hub, Trabajadores Unidos Workers United, and UCLA Labor Center.
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