DOSH expenditures – including the Standards and Appeals boards – are pegged at some $290 million for the new fiscal year, which began in July, a 2% increase over 2025-26 expenditures. There were no budget cuts from last year. The budget includes funding for several budget change proposals (BCPs), such as the ongoing Cal/OSHA data …
Three bills of interest to the occupational safety and health community are moving forward in their houses of origin. They include AB 2321 regarding Cal/OSHA’s Bureau of Investigations (BOI); SB 1046 to protect outdoor workers along the southern border from “transboundary pollution”; and AB 2499, which seeks to protect both employees and inmate workers from …
Cal/OSHA’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health revised its draft regulation on general industry workplace violence prevention. The Division is accepting comments on its latest iteration of General Industry Safety Orders §3343 until June 1st. What happens next is the question. For the time being, DOSH is enforcing workplace violence prevention requirements through the California …
Another bill is before the California Senate with requirements for Cal/OSHA. This one would require it to consider a regulation to protect outdoor workers along the California border from what the bill calls “transboundary pollution.” SB 1046 would require Cal/OSHA to propose to the Standards Board by January 1st, 2030, a standard covering park rangers, …
The debate about what should and shouldn’t be in Cal/OSHA’s general industry workplace violence prevention regulation will continue into 2026. But a recent advisory committee narrowed down many of the remaining issues. But the affected communities remain somewhat factious. And it’s not only about safety regulations, it’s also about workers’ compensation coverage. What hasn’t been …
California’s legislative season is over, marked by the Governor acting on bills of interest to the occupational safety and health community. Two of the most significant bills signed by the Governor involve protections for firefighters from the toxic effects of battery fires and from components of firefighting equipment itself. They include Assembly Bills 841 and …
The state legislature has approved three bills of interest to California’s occupational safety and health community, and they are now awaiting the governor’s action. The foremost of these bills is SB 20 (Senator Caroline Menjivar, D-Van Nuys), aimed at addressing the silicosis crisis in the engineered stone industry. SB 20 no longer would create a …
Five bills of interest to the occupational safety and health community have received approval from the state Legislature’s Appropriations committees and will now head to the full chambers. One bill that is being held under submission in Senate Appropriations is AB 694 by Assemblyman Tina McKinnor (D-Inglewood), which might have gotten a boost at the …