Bill to fight fraud in CA staffing industry passes key committee
A bill to combat abuses in the staffing industry in California passed a key committee in the state Senate on Wednesday.
Senate Bill 1032 would require staffing firms to register with the state and provide proof of insurance and financial capacity. Sen. Eloise Gómez Reyes, D-Grand Terrace, the author of the bill, said it will make it harder for bad actors to evade payroll taxes, workers’ compensation requirements and basic labor protections.
"This bill addresses this issue by establishing clear oversight, real accountability and required registration," she said, "so staffing agencies are complying with the law before harm can occur."
The bill aims to protect legitimate staffing agencies, which can be undercut on price by fraudulent competitors.
Attorney Jennifer Snyder, a former fraud prosecutor in the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office who represents the Partnership Organization for Workplace Ethics and Reform, or POWER, testified in favor of the bill, which would create a publicly accessible registry for workers and employers.
"The biggest block in any investigation is identifying the individuals who operate behind the anonymity of their company," she said, "who change entity names in order to shield them from being detected."
Lisa Lichty, CEO of Star Staffing in Petaluma and chair of the government affairs committee at an industry group calledCalifornia Staffing Professionals, said a new regulatory structure would be a burden to staffing firms, which are already required to follow all labor laws.
"Our biggest concerns about the bill as currently written," she said, "is that it creates vague, new and unnecessary requirements rather than enforcing current laws to address the problems."
The bill now heads to the state Senate Judiciary Committee.
This article was originally published by Public News Service on April 9, 2026.
Source: Public News Service | publicnewsservice.org
Original article: https://www.bignewsnetwork.com/news/278972897/bill-to-fight-fraud-in-ca-staffing-industry-passes-key-committee
