California Legislature may create new harassment unit

SACRAMENTO — The California Legislature may create a new investigative unit to focus solely on harassment and discrimination complaints and hire an outside panel of experts to recommend discipline for perpetrators.

Those are key pieces of a sweeping policy overhaul proposed Friday by two lawmakers tasked with revamping the Capitol’s sexual misconduct policies after several lawmakers and high-level staffers were accused of groping and other inappropriate conduct. The policy could be edited before an approval vote June 25, but Assembly and Senate leaders offered their support.

Critical details are still lacking, such as how much the new unit would cost, how many employees it would include and how members of the independent review panel would be selected. But Assemblywoman Laura Friedman and Sen. Holly Mitchell, who drove the new proposal, called it a major step toward improving the Capitol culture to better protect employees from harassment and discrimination.

“This is a sea change,” Friedman said, a Glendale Democrat. “I think (it’s) very, very different from what other government entities have done.”

In the wake of the (hash) metoo movement, statehouses across the country are grappling with how best to handle inappropriate workplace culture and conduct by lawmakers who can only be removed by voters.

The newly proposed “Workplace Conduct Unit” would operate within the Legislative Counsel’s office. Friedman said it would operate independently, but a policy outline shared with reports said the Legislative Counsel would oversee the unit. Investigators in the unit would have specialized training in sexual harassment and discrimination. Currently complaints are first handled by each chamber’s rules committee before an investigation conducted internally or by outside investigators.

The Legislature would also appoint five outside experts to a panel tasked with reviewing the facts discovered by investigators, determining whether the accusations have merit and recommending how the Legislature should respond. Discipline options could range from requiring an employee or lawmaker to undergo more bias training to termination.