The key to this getting off the ground is ENFORCMENT!
The CSLB has washed thier hands of the issue (they never had a hand in it), as they have had budget and staffing cuts over the last few years to deal with. And it is not thier law to enforce.
Building Officials I have talked to also have little interest in getting involved in labor laws, they have a hard enough time with code enforcement. And it is not thier law to enforce.
WC, liability insurance, and bonding companies wont do it unless there is a law saying they have to, so it is not thier law to enforce. And they will sue to get out of it...
As this is really a labor law, would it not be
these guys to enforce it? Well, where are they? I have not seen any wirey office guy in jack-boots and a badge asking me if my papers are in order - yet. As this office is only a year old, and probhably has a a dozen people covering a whole state, and seem to have broad interest in other topics I doubt anyone will ever see them.
Anyway, the day stories start to circulate about people lossing thier right to work in thier chosen trade, or being told they have to go back to school in order to do so, things will happen. Otherwise, nothing is going to happen on this. Employers have no fear, there is no real penalty for the employer. As mentioned before, they
might not be able to have trainees or apprentices on the payrole if caught, but who is enforcing that?
What has happened? An on-going joke IMO. 6 years of non-deadlines and post-ponements. Little or no attention to the major flaws in the law, and several law suits to correct some of the very heinous discrepancies in it at the very beggining. Many EC's see the law as unenforcable for a lot of reasons. And the ones who did recently try to comply with it have had several problems. Non-interest from employees who's responcability it is to get certified. The ones who did, got offered more money from other EC's attempting to comply with the law. The total lack of entry level labor available to comply with it. All said, for the companies who tried to comply it has been a burden, and slightly inflated the labor market. The companies who didn't went on as usual. For the employees who tried to comply, it has been time, and money out of thier pocket. And a lot of them, myself included, are saying, "For what!"
