Store Research
ASSEMBLY BILL 302 (GAFFNEY-1959)
CHAPTER 1066, STATUTES OF 1959
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Labor Code section 206.5 and Business and Professions Code section 7110.1 were added in 1959 following legislative approval of Assembly Bill 302, which affected only these two sections pertaining to payment of wages. (See Exhibit #1d) Assembly Bill 302 was introduced by Assembly member Edward M. Gaffney on January 14, 1959, at the request of the California Labor Federation, AFL CIO. (See Exhibits #1a and #3, document PE-4)
The measure was heard in the Assembly Committee on Industrial Relations and the Senate Committee on Judiciary. (See Exhibits #1a and #2) The bill was amended twice during consideration by both Houses of the Legislature. (See Exhibits #1b, #1c, and #2) Subsequent to legislative approval, Assembly Bill 302 was signed by Governor Edmund G. Brown on June 19, 1959 and enacted as Chapter 1066 of the Statutes of 1959. (See Exhibits #1d and #2)
Neither of the committees hearing this bill nor its author have left documentation surviving upon its consideration. Under these circumstances, we found that the post enrollment documents of the Governor regarding this legislation provide the most relevant legislative history. (See generally, Exhibit #3) Through the materials located in the Governor’s file, we are able to gain some insight into the intent of the legislation. The information in these materials was presumably presented to the legislature by the writers who were participants in the legislative process. (Id.)
The Legislative Counsel analysis of Assembly Bill 302 as last amended described the bill as follows:
Makes it a misdemeanor for an employer to require the execution of any release of any claim or right for wages unless payment thereof has been made and nullifies, as between the employer and employee, any such release violating this provision. Specifies that if any contractor violates such provision it shall be a cause for disciplinary action.
(See Exhibit #3, document PE-2)