Store Research
Assembly Bill 821 (Elliott – 1963)
Chapter 559, Statutes of 1963 - AB 821
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Labor Code section 432.5 was added in 1963 following legislative passage of Assembly Bill 821. (See Exhibit #1e) Assembly member Edward Elliott, as lead author, introduced Assembly Bill 821 on February 4, 1963 at the request of the Chief of the Division of Labor Law Enforcement and Labor Commissioner of the State Department of Industrial Relations. (See Exhibits #1a and #5, document PE-3) At this time, Assembly member Elliott served as chair of the Assembly Committee on Industrial Relations. (See Exhibit #7, page 317) Assembly Bill 821 was a single-section bill that proposed only to add section 432.5 to the Labor Code. (See Exhibits #1a through #1e)
While before the Legislature, Assembly Bill 821 was assigned to the Assembly Committee on Industrial Relations and the Senate Committee on Governmental Efficiency where policy issues raised by the bill were considered. (See Exhibit #2) Three amendments were made to Assembly Bill 821, one by the Assembly on March 22, 1963 and two in the Senate, on April 1 and May 2, 1963. (See Exhibits #1b, #1c, #1d, and #2) Subsequent to legislative approval, Assembly Bill 821 was signed by Governor Edmund G. Brown on May 24, 1963 and enacted on that day as Chapter 559 of the Statutes of 1963. (See Exhibits #1e and #2)
Neither of the committees hearing this bill nor its author have left documentation surviving upon its consideration. Given these circumstances, we found that the post-enrollment legislative bill file for the Governor regarding this legislation provided the most useful documents. (See generally, Exhibit #5) 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.
A Memorandum dated May 10, 1963 to the Governor's Legislative Secretary from the Department of Employment described Assembly Bill 821 as follows:
AB 821 is a Department of Industrial Relations bill initiated by the Division of Labor Law Enforcement.
The bill adds section 432.5 to the Labor Code, making it a misdemeanor for an employer to require an employee or applicant
for employment to agree in writing to a term or provision which he knows to be prohibited by law.
(See Exhibit #5, document PE-2)