BILL NUMBER: AB 22	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MAY 12, 2011
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 8, 2011

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Mendoza
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members Allen  and Davis 
 , Davis,   and Huffman  )

                        DECEMBER 6, 2010

   An act to add Chapter 3.6 (commencing with Section 1024.5) to Part
2 of Division 2 of the Labor Code, relating to employment.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 22, as amended, Mendoza. Employment: credit reports.
   The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and the state
Consumer Credit Reporting Agencies Act define and regulate consumer
credit reports and authorize the use of consumer credit reports for
employment purposes, pursuant to specified requirements. The FCRA
provides that it does not preempt state law, except as specifically
provided or to the extent that state laws are inconsistent with its
provisions.
   Existing federal and state law specify the procedures that an
employer is required to follow before requesting a report and if
adverse action is taken based on the report. Under existing law, an
employer may request a credit report for employment purposes so long
as he or she provides written notice of the request to the person for
whom the report is sought. Existing law requires that the written
notice inform the person for whom the consumer credit report was
sought of the source of the report and contain space for the person
to request a copy of the report. Existing law further requires an
employer, whenever he or she bases an adverse employment decision on
information contained in a consumer credit report, to advise the
person for whom the report was sought that an adverse action was
taken based upon information contained in the report and provide the
person with the name and address of the consumer credit agency making
the report.
   This bill would prohibit an employer, with the exception of
certain financial institutions, from obtaining a consumer credit
report  , as defined,  for employment purposes unless the
information is (1) substantially job-related, meaning that the
position of the person for whom the report is sought has access to
money, other assets, or confidential information, and (2) the
position of the person for  which the person  
whom the report  is sought is a position in the state Department
of Justice, a managerial position,  as defined,  that of a
sworn peace officer or other law enforcement position, or a position
for which the information contained in the report is required to be
disclosed by law or to be obtained by the employer.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Chapter 3.6 (commencing with Section 1024.5) is added
to Part 2 of Division 2 of the Labor Code, to read:
      CHAPTER 3.6.  EMPLOYER USE OF CONSUMER CREDIT REPORTS


   1024.5.  (a) An employer shall not use a consumer credit report
 , as defined in subdivision (c) of Section 1785.3 of the Civil
Code,  for employment purposes unless the following criteria are
satisfied:
   (1) The information contained in the report is substantially
job-related, meaning that the position of the person for whom the
report is sought has access to money, other assets, or confidential
information.
   (2) The position of the person for whom the report is sought is
any of the following:
   (A) A managerial position.
   (B) A position in the state Department of Justice.
   (C) That of a sworn peace officer or other law enforcement
position.
   (D) A position for which the information contained in the report
is required to be disclosed by law or to be obtained by the employer.

   (b) This section does not apply to a person or business subject to
Sections 6801 to 6809, inclusive, of Title 15 of the United States
Code and state and federal statutes or regulations implementing those
sections if the person or business is subject to compliance
oversight by a state or federal regulatory agency with respect to
those laws. 
   (c) For purposes of this section, "managerial position" means a
position held by a person who has authority, in the interest of the
employer, to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote,
discharge, assign, reward, or discipline other employees, or
responsibly to direct them, or to adjust their grievances, or
effectively to recommend such action, if in connection with the
foregoing the exercise of this authority is not of a merely routine
or clerical nature, but requires the use of independent judgment.