Chapter 21.5 - Foreign Labor Contractors

California Business and Professions Code — §§ 9998-9998.12

Sections (5)

Repealed and added by Stats. 2025, Ch. 190, Sec. 3. (AB 1362) Effective January 1, 2026.

This chapter shall apply only to the following:

(a)Nonagricultural workers under the federal H-2B visa program established pursuant to Section 101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(b) of the federal Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. Sec. 1101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(b)).

(b)On and after July 1, 2027, agricultural workers under the federal H-2A visa program established pursuant to Section 101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(a) of the federal Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. Sec. 1101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(a)).

§ 9998.1

Amended by Stats. 2025, Ch. 190, Sec. 4. (AB 1362) Effective January 1, 2026.

The following definitions are applicable to this chapter:

(a)“Person” includes any natural person, company, firm, partnership or joint venture, association, corporation, limited liability company, or sole proprietorship.

(b)“Foreign labor contracting activity” means recruiting or soliciting for compensation a foreign worker who resides outside of the United States in furtherance of that worker’s employment in California, including when that activity occurs wholly outside the United States. “Foreign labor contracting activity” does not include the services of an employer, or employee of an employer, if those services are provided directly to foreign workers solely to find workers for the employer’s own use.

(c)“Foreign worker” means any person seeking employment who is not a United States citizen or permanent resident but who is authorized by the federal government to work in the United States, including a person who engages in temporary nonagricultural labor pursuant to Section 101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(b) of the federal Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. Sec. 1101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(b)). “Foreign worker” shall also include any worker described in Section 9998.

(d)“Foreign labor contractor” means any person who performs foreign labor contracting activity, including any person who performs foreign labor contracting activity wholly outside the United States, except that the term does not include any entity of federal, state, or local government. “Foreign labor contractor” does not include a person licensed by the Labor Commissioner as a talent agency under Chapter 4 (commencing with Section

1700) of Part 6 of Division 2 of the Labor Code, or a person who obtained and maintains full written designation from the United States Department of State under Part 62 of Title 22 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

§ 9998.10

Amended by Stats. 2025, Ch. 190, Sec. 7. (AB 1362) Effective January 1, 2026.

The Labor Commissioner and the deputies and representatives authorized by the commissioner in writing may take assignments of actions on the bonds required under Section 9998.1.5 by aggrieved persons and may prosecute the actions on behalf of persons who, in the judgment of the commissioner, are financially unable to employ counsel, in the same manner that claims are prosecuted under Section 98.3 of the Labor Code.

§ 9998.11

Added by Stats. 2014, Ch. 711, Sec. 10. (SB 477) Effective January 1, 2015.

The Labor Commissioner may adopt regulations or policies and procedures to implement the provisions of this chapter.

§ 9998.12

Added by Stats. 2025, Ch. 190, Sec. 8. (AB 1362) Effective January 1, 2026. Repealed as of January 1, 2029, by its own provisions.

(a)The Department of Industrial Relations shall submit to the Legislature, by January 1, 2028, and in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code, a study on how to extend foreign labor contractor registration requirements to those foreign labor contractors recruiting or soliciting workers authorized to work in the United States under visa programs not described in either subdivision (a) or (b) of Section 9998. This study shall, at a minimum, include all of the following:

(1)An overview of the federal visa programs not covered by this chapter’s foreign labor contractor registration program.

(2)An analysis of the demographics of foreign workers in California authorized

to work through the federal visa programs described in paragraph (1).

(3)A discussion of any additional steps the Labor Commissioner would need to take to ensure all foreign labor contractors are required to register pursuant to this chapter.

(4)A discussion of operational needs, including access to data, fee increases to cover costs, and enforcement options already available pursuant to subdivisions (c) and (d) of Section 9998.8.

(5)Recommendations of options to expand this chapter’s foreign labor contractor registration program that considers the following:

(A)Risks to workers authorized to work in the United States through the visa programs described in paragraph (1).

(B)Costs and

staffing needs to expand the registration process required for foreign labor contractors under this chapter.

(C)Enforcement costs and options, including those authorized by subdivisions (c) and (d) of Section 9998.8.

(D)The operational constraints described in paragraph (4).

(b)The Department of Industrial Relations may contract with a third party to conduct the study described in subdivision (a).

(c)Pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code, this section is repealed on January 1, 2029.