republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20212022/sb-646.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004: janitorial employees."
description: "Existing law, the Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004, authorizes an aggrieved employee to bring a civil action to recover specified civil penalties that would otherwise be assessed and collected by the Labor and Workforce Development Agency on behalf of the employee and other current or former employees for the violation of certain provisions affecting employees. The act requires the employee to follow prescribed procedures before bringing an action and establishes alternate procedures for specific categories of violations. The act requires, except as provided, that 75% of the civil penalties recovered by aggrieved employees be distributed to the Labor and Workforce Development Agency for enforcement of labor laws and for education of employers and employees about their rights and responsibilities, and 25% be distributed to the aggrieved employees."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20212022"
identifier: "SB 646"
citation: "California SB 646 (20212022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004: janitorial employees."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Hertzberg"]
version_count: 9
action_count: 38
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2021-02-19"
last_action: "2021-09-27"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/0336d678-f4ed-4249-a72e-326214015c8e"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB646"
source_hash: "5cc05a07a020296cc914dfa6abd91053b075968ed2fb24196aca6f31c3e5019d"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California SB 646 (20212022) — Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004: janitorial employees.

Existing law, the Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004, authorizes an aggrieved employee to bring a civil action to recover specified civil penalties that would otherwise be assessed and collected by the Labor and Workforce Development Agency on behalf of the employee and other current or former employees for the violation of certain provisions affecting employees. The act requires the employee to follow prescribed procedures before bringing an action and establishes alternate procedures for specific categories of violations. The act requires, except as provided, that 75% of the civil penalties recovered by aggrieved employees be distributed to the Labor and Workforce Development Agency for enforcement of labor laws and for education of employers and employees about their rights and responsibilities, and 25% be distributed to the aggrieved employees.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **02/19/21 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB646&version=20210SB64699INT)
2. **03/10/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB646&version=20210SB64698AMD)
3. **06/21/21 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB646&version=20210SB64697AMD)
4. **07/07/21 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB646&version=20210SB64696AMD)
5. **07/14/21 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB646&version=20210SB64695AMD)
6. **08/30/21 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB646&version=20210SB64694AMD)
7. **09/27/21 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB646&version=20210SB64692CHP)
8. **SB646** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB646)
9. **09/13/21 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB646&version=20210SB64693ENR)

## Votes

- That the Assembly amendments be concurred in — **4–1** (pass) · upper
- Unfinished Business SB646 Hertzberg Concurrence — **27–9** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary] — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended. — **13–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **9–1** (pass) · lower
- SB 646 Hertzberg Senate Third Reading By Reyes — **65–2** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **14–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Hertzberg — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2021-02-19** Introduced. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction`
- **2021-02-22** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 24.
- **2021-02-22** Read first time. `reading-1`
- **2021-02-22** Art. IV. Sec. 8(a) of the Constitution dispensed with.
- **2021-02-22** (Ayes 32. Noes 4.)
- **2021-02-22** Joint Rule 55 suspended. (Ayes 32. Noes 4. Page 272.)
- **2021-03-03** Referred to Com. on RLS. `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-10** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on RLS. `amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2021-03-18** Re-referred to Com. on E., U. & C. `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-26** Set for hearing April 26.
- **2021-04-27** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 14. Noes 0. Page 916.) (April 26). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2021-04-30** Set for hearing May 10.
- **2021-05-10** From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2021-05-11** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-05-13** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 38. Noes 0. Page 1092.) Ordered to the Assembly. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-05-13** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2021-05-20** Referred to Com. on U. & E. `referral-committee`
- **2021-06-08** June 16 set for first hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2021-06-21** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on U. & E. `amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2021-06-24** Re-referred to Coms. on L. & E. and JUD. pursuant to Assembly Rule 96. `referral-committee`
- **2021-07-06** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (July 6). Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2021-07-07** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2021-07-13** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 9. Noes 1.) (July 13). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-07-14** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2021-08-19** August 19 set for first hearing. Placed on suspense file.
- **2021-08-26** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 13. Noes 0.) (August 26). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-08-30** Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-08-31** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-09-02** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 65. Noes 2. Page 2751.) Ordered to the Senate. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-09-02** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2021-09-03** Re-referred to Com. on RLS pursuant to Senate Rule 29.10(d). `referral-committee`
- **2021-09-03** From committee: Be re-referred to Com. on L., P.E. & R. pursuant to Senate Rule 29.10(d). (Ayes 5. Noes 0. Page 2418.) Re-referred to Com. on L., P.E. & R. `committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2021-09-03** Set for hearing September 8.
- **2021-09-08** From committee: That the Assembly amendments be concurred in. (Ayes 4. Noes 1. Page 2538.) `committee-passage`
- **2021-09-09** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 27. Noes 9. Page 2545.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-09-17** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 1:30 p.m.
- **2021-09-27** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2021-09-27** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 337, Statutes of 2021. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/0336d678-f4ed-4249-a72e-326214015c8e`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).