Store Research
ASSEMBLY BILL 1251 (ROBERTS – 1913)
CHAPTER 324, STATUTES OF 1913, AB 1251
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As enacted Assembly Bill 1251 was entitled, “[a]n act regulating the employment of women and minors and establishing an industrial welfare commission to investigate and deal with such employment, including a minimum wage; . . .” (See Exhibit #ld) Assembly Bill 1251 was introduced by Assembly member W. A. Roberts of Los Angeles on January 31, 1913. (See Exhibits #1a and #3) It appears that he may have carried this bill as part of a package of bills proposed by members of the political party known as the “Progressives” under the leadership of Governor Hiram W. Johnson. (See Exhibit #15, page 2 in Preface; see also, Exhibit #4, pages 13 through 15)
Assembly Bill 1251 was heard in the Assembly and Senate Committees on Labor and Capital where policy issues raised by the bill were considered. (See Exhibit #2) The Assembly Committee on Ways and Means examined the fiscal implications to the bill. (Id.) Two amendments were made to the bill, both in the Assembly, during Legislative consideration. (See Exhibits #1b, #1c, and #2) Assembly Bill 1251 was approved by the Legislature on May 12, 1913, signed by Governor Hiram W. Johnson on May 26th, and recorded on that date as Chapter 324 of the Statutes of 1913. (See Exhibits #1d and #2)
As you will see, Assembly Bill 1251 was a comprehensive bill establishing an Industrial Welfare Commission. (See Exhibit #1a, page 1) Little direct legislative material has survived pertaining to this 1913 enactment. However, we found discussion of it in other sources. (See, for example, Exhibits #6, and #11 through #17)
In news articles generated as the newly established Commission began working, there was commentary on the 1913 Act such as the following:
In the argument presented to the Legislature for the necessity of such a body, it was pointed out that women were not being paid wages sufficient to maintain motherhood and a standard of living consistent with it. The eight hour law was one of the direct results of the showing made, and the provision for the Industrial Welfare Commission was an extension of the same movement.
(See Exhibit #13)