The 2019 AIA CA Elections were held November 2 in Newport Beach. Results of the incoming elected officers are below:

First Vice President/President-Elect:

Debra Gerod, FAIA

Vice President of Communications/Public Affairs:

Ian Merker, AIA

Vice President of Government Relations:

Rona G. Rothenberg, FAIA

Vice President of Education and Professional Development:

Donald W. Caskey, FAIA

Vice President of CA CACE:

Carlo Caccavale, Hon. AIA LA

Young Architects Regional Director (YARD), North:

Tay Othman, AIA

Associate Director, South:

David T Phung, Assoc. AIA

Student Director, South:

Liam Hanlon, AIAS

AIA Delegates: 2019-21 Regional Representative to the AIA Strategic Council:

Brian A. Sehnert, AIA

Beginning January 1, 2018 three new laws went into effect that every employer in California needs to know. The new laws either affect questions an employer can ask a prospective employee or, for employers of more than 50 people, make important changes to the Parental Leave Act.
Below is information on those new laws.

New Salary History Law

A new law effective January 1, 2018 will prohibit California employers from asking job applicants about their salary histories. On October 12, 2017 Governor Jerry Brown signed a salary privacy bill, AB 168 as a means to eliminate pay gaps and gender pay inequity for employers of any size. Current California law prohibits pay discriminations, but it does not prohibit salary history inquiries or seeking benefits and other compensation data for most privately offered positions. Under the California Fair Pay Act, prior salary history may not be used as a gauge to offer employment or determining salary, although an applicant may voluntarily offer history information to a potential employer.
Below are suggested hiring practice considerations upon the enactment of this new development:
· Revise employment applications to remove requests for salary history
· Inform hiring agencies and train hiring managers to modify their hiring and screening practices for compliance and to eliminate questions about salary history, and to prepare them for permissible compensation questions and how to respond to requests for pay scale information
· Train hiring staff when and how to document when a candidate makes an unprompted disclosure of his/her salary
· Develop pay scale information for applicants upon their request
· Be aware of record keeping requirements
· Do not rely on salary history to set current compensation
· Consider posting salaries, or salary ranges, for open jobs
Salary questions and considerations to refrain from:
· What was your previous/current salary?
· How much money do you make?
· Tell me about your salary history
· What was your previous benefits package?
· How were you compensated for you time with your previous employer?
· Disclosing current or former employee’s salary history without specific written authorization
· Did/do you receive bonuses at your job?
California employers have a short amount of time remaining to ensure that your hiring process does not violate the new pay privacy law. Employers will need to protect against unintended pay inequities resulting from the recruiting process or face harsh penalties. Employers should use this time to review and modify your employment applications, interview questions, and salary formulas, update, or create, standard interview questions as well as a list of questions to stay away from. Once those interview questions are updated, educate and train every person who would have the opportunity to interview job applicants so that everyone in the hiring process may effectively evaluate candidates without creating liability for the company. A fact sheet with additional permissible and non permissible employment inquiries can be found on the California Department of Fair Employment & Housing website at: https://equity.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Questions-to-Avoid-dfeh-161.pdf

Asking about Criminal History Restricted

California’s AB 1008, an employment discrimination and conviction history law, known as “ban the box” will go into effect on January 1, 2018.
Employers will be required to consider a job candidate based on their merits and qualification’s first without indication of the applicant’s criminal record. Specifically, AB 1008 makes it an unlawful employment practice for all employers – public and private – to seek conviction history information until a conditional offer of employment is made, or to include any question seeking disclosure of an applicant’s conviction history on a job application. It establishes rules and procedures regarding how employers may consider conviction history, how employers must notify applicants who are being rejected because of conviction history, and how job applicants may conduct an appeal of the employment denial.
For more detailed information, click here.

The New Parental Leave Act

The New Parental Leave Act, as provided in SB 63 and in effect on January 1, 2018 ensures that more Californian’s can take a leave to care for a newborn without the fear of losing their jobs.
Current law requires private employers of at least 50 employees and all public employers in California to provide employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave in a 12-month period for the employee’s own serious health condition, the serious health condition of certain family members, or for baby bonding after the birth or placement of a child for adoption or foster care.
SB 63 expands the baby bonding component of this entitlement by requiring an employer of 20 or more employees within 75 miles of the worksite to allow an eligible employee, who has at least 1,250 hours of service with the employer during the previous 12-month period, to take up to 12 weeks of job-protected parental leave to bond with a new child within one year of the child’s birth, adoption, or foster care placement. This bill also requires these employers to maintain and pay for coverage under a group health plan during the duration of the leave and prohibits any retaliation against an employee for exercising their SB 63 rights. Finally, the bill established a mediation pilot program to provide for the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing to mediate claims arising under SB 63.
For more detailed information, click here.
Contact Mark Christian, Hon. AIACC mchristian@aiacc.org / 916-642-1708 or Melissa Barton, mbarton@aiacc.org / 916-642-1711 for more information about these new laws.

There may be no time of cultural upheaval as great as what we face today. There are many challenges facing our state that can benefit from design thinking and architects are in a unique position to take a long view and be of service to society. How can the AIACC be positioned to support members in this effort? As we head into a new era of staff leadership, there is no greater opportunity for AIACC to consider its role as a leader to the profession and the people of the Golden State. Nicki Dennis Stephens, Hon. AIACC, LEED Green Associate is ready to lead.

After 18 years of service from Resource Coordinator to Chief Operating Officer, Dennis Stephens is now stepping into the role of Executive Vice President, a position she is more than ready for, as she is taking all the experience, and all the relationships cultivated from this 18-year tenure, with her.

Dennis Stephens, is excited to take on this new role. Her predecessor, Paul W. Welch, Jr., who served as Council EVP for 38 years, has every confidence she will thrive in this position. “Nicki has prepared herself well for this new challenge. She has devoted herself to learning all she can about the architecture profession, and where there are places that the AIACC can assist in continuing the incredible work architects do.”

Dennis Stephens began her AIACC career in 1999 as Associate Director of Resource Development, and later became Director of Member and Component Resources, then Senior Director of the organization. As Chief Operating Officer since 2011, she is responsible for managing and directing AIACC programs, including professional practice, fundraising, communications, marketing, conferences, awards, and emerging professional programs. During her tenure, she led the development of groundbreaking publications, led outreach and advocacy for Integrated Project Delivery and other initiatives, created advocacy efforts such as the Capitol Forum, and envisioned new models for the regulatory process within state government. She created the AIACC’s annual corporate partnership program, raising more than $200,000 annually in sponsorships, advertising, and alliances. She also revitalized the statewide public policy program, working with members to position the organization as issue leader on a wide range of issues, including project delivery, livable communities, and sustainable design. And in 2010, she graciously accepted to serve as interim Executive Vice President while Welch served as interim EVP at national AIA, which further details she is no stranger to the nuances of the needs of the architecture profession.

With a membership of more than 10,000, Dennis Stephens will have many opportunities to continue the advance plans already in place, as well as create some new programs, while building relationships along the way. She has a passion for the profession and the architect’s role in the many social, economic and environmental issues that threaten the world as we know it. “There are complex problems facing our state and I believe in the value of architects as thought leaders and agents of social change. I want to empower members to tackle the current problems while also providing insight into what’s next on the horizon. The AIACC can be the vehicle to energize the membership and focus on initiatives that have high impact,” she said when asked about her vision for how the AIACC can assist all architects.

In 2017, an EVP Transition Task Group was created to ensure a smooth transition and find an appropriate individual to fill such a distinct position. 2018 President, Britt Lindberg, AIA, is looking forward to working closely with Dennis Stephens. “She has a vision for the future that places architects at the head of the table on issues from infrastructure development to resiliency and disaster assistance to housing. She believes in the value of the profession to help solve California’s challenges, and the entire AIACC board is confident she will move the organization to its next level of accomplishment—programmatically, financially, and in leading its professional and public effectiveness.

Dennis Stephens, Welch, the AIACC staff and Board of Directors will all be working closely to ensure a smooth transition and beyond.

For the past 18 months, Senate Bill 1132, the bill that would allow those working on their architecture license to use the interim title “Architect-in-Training,” was at the forefront and a primary objective on the AIACC list of advocacy projects to pursue.

Here’s a quick map of the progress SB 1132 made in 2016:

Passed the First Hearing

Bill Advances.

Bill passes State Assembly

And then approved by State Legislature

However, the AIACC received the veto message from Gov. Brown on Sept. 25. In two succinct yet articulate paragraphs, the Governor declined to sign it. Click here to read the actual message, the letter that sits on the desk of our Director of Regulatory Affairs and Director of Legislative Affairs. He basically stated the word architect should be reserved for those who are licensed.

We had hoped, of course, that we would be able to convince him to sign the bill.  In addition to the petition signed by 270 Assoc. AIA Members supporting SB 1132, we delivered a letter signed by some principals of firms from the Oakland area, that the Governor would recognize, and Kurt was able to secure a fantastic letter from Barry Wasserman, FAIA, who was Gov. Brown’s State Architect in the late 70s and early 80s.

But, as Director of Legislative Affairs, Mark Christian, was informed by the AIACC contract lobbyist a few weeks ago, this governor has a history of not supporting new “licensing laws” (yes, this bill was not a new licensing law, but it dealt with a licensing law).

It’s been a long haul and arduous fight. Our members called and we rose to the occasion. We will continue to do our best to protect the interests of the architects and the profession. Perhaps this will be on trial again in 2019.