California Labor Chair Ratchets Up Pressure on Workplace Safety

The new chair of the California Assembly’s Committee on Labor and Employment says she wants to bolster enforcement of the state’s employment laws—pointing to recent child labor cases in agriculture and fast food—and will find ways to do it even as the legislature faces a $68 billion budget deficit.

Assemblymember Liz Ortega (D) is taking over the influential panel at the end of a year when unions notched major victories in California’s capitol, including increases in the minimum wage for fast-food and health-care workers. But at the same time, there has been an acknowledged lack of enforcement as the ...