With the future of the EEOC’s pay data collection efforts unclear, California’s effort to legislate its own race- and sex-based pay data reporting requirements likewise has stalled, for now.

Since July, California’s Senate Bill 171 (requiring private employers with at least 100 employees to submit an annual report of employee pay data broken down by race, ethnicity, and sex within specified job categories) has stalled. After the Judiciary Subcommittee passed and referred the bill to the Appropriations Committee, it was placed on the Appropriation Committee’s “Suspense File,” where bills with annual costs above $150,000 are held until the state budget has been prepared. At the hearing on August 30, the bill failed to garner sufficient votes to pass out of committee before the legislative session adjourned on September 13.

Failing to clear the necessary hurdles before the end of the legislative session, the bill must be reintroduced when the legislature reconvenes on January 6, 2020. It is unclear whether the pay data reporting bill will be reintroduced by Senate Bill 171’s sponsor Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson, another advocate in the upcoming session, or at all.

The Jackson Lewis Pay Equity Resource Group will continue to monitor and report on these developments, including whether some version of the pay data reporting bill is reintroduced when the California state legislature reconvenes. Please reach out to a Jackson Lewis attorney with any questions.