Public works

The law increases financial consequences for underpaying workers, payroll-record failures, apprenticeship violations, and skilled-workforce violations on public projects. It also expands funding for enforcement staffing in the Labor Commissioner’s Office.

What the law does ​

• Raises the annual public-works contractor registration and renewal fee cap from $800 to $1,000.
• Raises maximum or minimum penalties for prevailing-wage underpayments, missing payroll records, apprenticeship violations, and skilled-and-trained-workforce violations.
• Requires civil penalties collected by the Labor Commissioner for public-works violations to go to the State Public Works Enforcement Fund.
• Allows fund money to support sufficient Labor Commissioner’s Office staffing for public-works enforcement.
• Requires certain awarding bodies that resolve labor-compliance actions without litigation to retain and enforce the applicable penalties.

Who it affects ​

• Contractors and subcontractors bidding on or performing public-works contracts.
• Workers on public-works projects covered by prevailing-wage, apprenticeship, and skilled-workforce rules.
• Public entities and other awarding bodies administering public-works contracts and labor-compliance programs.
• The Department of Industrial Relations and the Labor Commissioner’s Office.

Context ​

The contractor-registration fee change becomes operative July 1, 2026.