California appears poised to require employers to take measures intended to prevent and respond to workplace violence after the state Legislature passed sweeping Senate Bill 553 on Tuesday.

The bill, which was opposed by small business advocates, would require most employers to, among other things, keep a log of violent incidents and investigations, train employees to report incidents without fear of retaliation and allow any employee to file a restraining order to ask. .

What the bill does not include, however, is also remarkable.

Gone from SB 553 is a requirement that employers implement active shooter training, as well as a controversial provision that would prohibit companies from enforcing policies that require employees who are not dedicated security personnel to confront active shooters or suspected shoplifters, as was written in previous versions.

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I am grateful to my colleagues in the Legislature for standing up for workers and businesses during this time of rising workplace violence, State Senator Dave Cortese (D-San Jose), the co-author of the bills, said in a statement Tuesday morning. This groundbreaking bill represents long-term negotiations and cooperation between companies and labor organizations.

The bill now goes to the governor. Gavin Newsom’s desk. Newsom has not taken a public position on the bill.

SB 553 initially passed the Senate on May 31 on a party-line 29-8 vote and was amended on several occasions, including before passing the Assembly Appropriations Committee on September 1.

On that day, Cortese announced that opposition to his bill, mainly from the California Retailers Assn. and the California Chamber of Commerce had been delisted.

Given the recent changes made, we have dropped our opposition and are now moving to a neutral stance on this bill, said Ryan Allain, director of government affairs for the California Retailers Assn. Tuesday morning.

California Retailers Assn. President Rachel Michelin previously said the bill should remove any language that would require small businesses to hire security or loss prevention

staff

.

I talked to those small businesses and they told me they will absolutely close down if they have to hire security, Michelin told The Times in June. They’re barely hanging on.

The bill’s language banning companies from requiring untrained workers to confront shoplifters, which critics say would require trained security or loss prevention, was dropped.

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Cortese has also made a concession to small businesses that employ ten or fewer employees and are generally not open to the public. They join healthcare and corrections facilities, law enforcement agencies and telecommuting workers who are all exempt from the new regulations.

All other companies are obliged to: train employees

staff

on

know

how to contact law enforcement or on-site personnel designated to respond to workplace violence,

active

maintain and annually assess injuries

And

disease prevention plans, identifying who is responsible for training and protocols,

develop plans to

address

How

concerns about violence among employees

will be addressed,

and establish procedures for responding to violent emergencies, evacuations, and shelter plans.

The bill was spurred by an apparent lack of protocols ahead of a mass shooting at a Santa Clara Valley light rail yard in 2021, Cortese said.

A disgruntled former railway worker killed nine colleagues before turning one of his three semi-automatic pistols on himself.

Cortese has also referenced rising workplace violence.

In December, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that workplace homicides rose more than 20% to 481 deaths in 2021, the last year for which data is available. That number surpassed a five-year high of 458 in 2017. Of those deaths, 387 involved shootings. Cal/OSHA noted that the number of workplace homicides in California in 2021 was 57, 42 of which involved firearms.

Figures on non-fatal workplace violence vary. The US Department of Justice released a report last year

that has been found, stating that,

between 2015 and 2019, an average of 1.3 million non-fatal violent workplace crimes occurred annually. The Bureau of Labor Statistics

reported on the list

37,060 non-fatal workplace injuries in 2020 due to intentional injury by another person.

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While Cortese’s bill awaits governors’ signatures, the Department of Occupational Safety and Health,

which governs the state administration responsible for regulation

workplace safety

in the state

is so

considerdebate

standards and guidelines covering the prevention of workplace violence.

Cal/OSHA has been working on a plan since 2017 that was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The agency held three advisory meetings

in between

2017 and 2018, but only one since.

Cortese staff has said SB 553 would accelerate the creation of this standard by making it effective July 1, 2024.