![\"Assemblymember](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/SAC_5840_CalOsha_HA_250827.JPG\" "\\"Assemblymember")
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Assemblymember Liz Ortega, D-San Leandro, chair of the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee, speaks during a hearing on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025, about the findings of a recent state audit that found “deficiencies in Cal-OSHA\u2019s enforcement processes and staffing levels.”<\/p>\n
HECTOR AMEZCUA<\/p>\n
hamezcua@sacbee.com<\/p>\n
Assemblymember Liz Ortega, D-San Leandro, has a novel solution for mismanagement and chronic understaffing at Cal-OSHA: Assembly Bill 2321 would \u201cdeputize\u201d district attorneys\u2019 offices across the state to perform some of Cal-OSHA\u2019s most serious investigations involving death and life-altering injuries.<\/p>\n
The legislation targets one small, chronically understaffed corner of Cal-OSHA. It follows a critical state audit and mounting frustration among lawmakers over the agency\u2019s failure to fulfill its core mission. It also reflects something larger with critics looking elsewhere to get Cal-OSHA\u2019s job done.<\/p>\n
\u201cCal-OSHA has testified to it,\u201d Ortega said. \u201cThe state auditor has verified it. Deaths and career-ending injuries are not adequately investigated. That must end.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her proposed legislation has its first hearing this week, on Wednesday, in the assembly labor committee, which Ortega chairs.<\/p>\n
Ortega has taken a particular interest in reforming Cal-OSHA in part because of an employer in her district. That is metal recycler Alco Iron & Metal, which has had three employee deaths since 2017 and been cited for dozens of safety violations.<\/p>\n
Last September, in a hearing to discuss the critical audit of Cal-OSHA<\/a>, Ortega grilled Cal-OSHA\u2019s chief Debra Lee.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen is an employer going to be held criminally accountable for the deaths of employees in the workplace?\u201d Ortega asked Lee during a tense moment during the hearing. \u201cIs it after the first death? The second death? After the third death?\u201d<\/p>\n Ortega\u2019s solution: Give the task to public prosecutors.<\/p>\n How would it work?<\/p>\n Ortega said she was motivated to introduce AB 2321 because of what the auditor reported about Cal-OSHA\u2019s Bureau of Investigation, the unit responsible for investigating death and career-ending injuries for criminal misconduct. The auditor found that the unit referred just 1.7% of serious cases to prosecutors. At Alco,<\/a> only the latest fatality of a worker \u2014 Luis Guerrero, 41, of Castro Valley, killed in 2025 \u2014 resulted in criminal charges.<\/p>\n A fact sheet provided by Ortega\u2019s staff says that AB 2321 will: \u201cDeputize public prosecutors to alleviate some of the BOI\u2019s workload to ensure criminally-liable employers are held accountable, and future criminal conduct is deterred.\u201d<\/p>\n BOI would still have a role under Ortega\u2019s proposal, but it would largely be limited to investigating cases in counties whose DAs do not accept funding made available through the legislation.<\/p>\n Ortega said the money is available for more robust investigations and prosecutions without costing taxpayers. She pointed to the state auditor\u2019s findings that how Cal-OSHA spends and tracks its budget is \u201cdifficult to track.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite chronic understaffing, according to the state audit, Cal-OSHA has more $200 million in surplus from positions it has allocated but has not filled. The excess funds in the Occupational Safety and Health Fund are largely derived from employer fees rather than taxes.<\/p>\n AB 2321 would allow tap into funds traditionally reserved for Cal-OSHA.<\/p>\n Proposal sparks opposition<\/p>\n The proposal is already facing opposition from the business community as well as raising some concerns among work safety advocates and district attorneys who believe that it needs to be amended or shelved for another solution to be effective.<\/p>\n \u201cAs written, this is misguided,\u201d said John Fentis, a former prosecutor for the city of Long Beach. Fentis also served as the environmental policy director at the California District Attorneys Association and, l<\/a>ast year, led a training session for new BOI investigators.<\/p>\n \u201cDAs and DA investigators already have so much responsibility on their plates,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen we have deaths in a workplace, it is the machines that are the reason those deaths occurred. They require a special level of expertise, and you\u2019ve got investigators now who have that kind of expertise.\u201d<\/p>\n One proposal, written in the form of draft legislation, is being circulated by several state officials. It would separate the BOI from Cal-OSHA. This would make an independent investigative unit under the Labor and Workforce and Development Agency, the same agency which oversees Cal-OSHA and the Department of Industrial Relations<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThis bill would establish the Bureau of Investigation as a separate and independent state agency,\u201d the draft proposal states.<\/p>\n The primary author of the document, who asked to remain anonymous because they are not authorized by their agency to speak about legislation. supports Ortega\u2019s goals. \u201cWe are not trying to undermine her, nor are we trashing Cal-OSHA,\u201d the proposal\u2019s author said. \u201cThis is just a proposal from real-world investigators seeking to make the BOI as effective as possible in part by removing a layer of bureaucracy.\u201d<\/p>\n The draft proposal would also strengthen the BOI by granting its investigators peace officer status \u2014 empowering them to issue subpoenas, serve search warrants and make arrests. This task currently falls on district attorneys. It would also create a funding mechanism for district attorneys, allowing them to capture restitution penalties charged to employers.<\/p>\n Fentis called reclassifying BOI Investigators \u201ca brilliant idea and something that is long overdue.\u201d<\/p>\n Fentis said he would also support of making the BOI independent of Cal-OSHA.<\/p>\n \u201cThe BOI had never really had a fair chance since their inception,\u201d he said, \u201cbecause they have been impeded, not only by industry, which is part of industry\u2019s job, but by internal factors.\u201d<\/p>\n Ortega said she was open to listening.<\/p>\n \u201cI am working on building a coalition and am open to feedback,\u201d she said. \u201cBut at the end of the day, we have to make sure that there are consequences for employers who let workers get hurt or die on their watch.\u201d<\/p>\n On Wednesday, the California Chamber of Commerce weighed in, saying AB 2321 \u201cwill waste state resources by compelling prosecutors (who are not workplace safety experts) to handle workplace safety cases where no crime has been committed.\u201d<\/p>\n Its opposition letter said the legislation would add workload for both prosecutors and Cal-OSHA without improving results.<\/p>\n Past staff shortages, other issues<\/p>\n Two years ago, a Sacramento Bee investigation found BOI had one investigator for the entire state and a backlog of roughly 350 cases.<\/p>\n![\"Cal-OSHA](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/SAC_5551_DebraLee_HA_250827.JPG\" "\\"SAC_5551_DebraLee_HA_250827.JPG\\"")
Cal-OSHA Chief Debra Lee arrives at a Joint Legislative Audit Committee hearing on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025, in the Capitol Swing Space. HECTOR AMEZCUA hamezcua@sacbee.com <\/p>\n