The Honorable Senator Toni Atkins, Senate President pro Tempore
The Honorable Assemblymember Anthony Rendon, Assembly Speaker
California State Capitol
10th and L Streets
Sacramento, CA 95814

RE: The California Legislature's Failure to Address Sexual Harassment and Discrimination in the Workplace

Dear Pro Tem Atkins and Speaker Rendon,

On April 14, the San Francisco Chronicle published two articles on the California Legislature’s failure to protect sexual harassment victims in their own reporting and investigative processes. In her editorial piece, Ruth Ferguson bravely tells her story of sexual harassment perpetrated by her supervisor and the abuse she suffered after she reported the harassment to the California Legislature’s Workplace Conduct Unit (WCU). The Chronicle also published their own investigation into the practices of the WCU.

Ruth’s experience is not an isolated event. Harassment, discrimination and retaliation have continued to go unchecked within the California Legislature well past Sacramento’s 2017 #MeToo reckoning due to its failure to institute meaningful practices of oversight, transparency and accountability, to address inappropriate behavior and protect survivors and vulnerable staffers. Undue delays in the form of months and years, denigrating and retaliatory treatment of reporting employees, and failure to discipline or terminate abusers are all methods the California Legislature uses to undermine and dismiss serious allegations of harassment, retaliation, and discrimination. The California Legislature’s reaction to these complaints is disheartening and appalling in light of recent legislation to protect those of who have been subject to a hostile work environment. It seems the California Legislature only protects those who do not work for them.

We support the employees of the California Legislature who have reported harassment, discrimination and retaliation and/or who have been subject to abusive practices of the WCU. We agree with the solutions Ruth outlined in her editorial piece: oversight and transparency are the immediate first steps to addressing this institutional crisis. To accomplish this, we echo the San Francisco Women's Political Committee (SFWPC) and demand the following reforms to address harassment, discrimination and retaliation in the state legislature:

1. Investigate the failures of the WCU. The California Legislature must allow an independent and impartial body to investigate, reorganize and restaff the WCU to prevent failures like the one Ruth experienced. No such state agency or department currently has the authority to investigate the Legislature, including the State Auditor. The public deserves a transparent and impartial investigation, free from legislative interference, into the WCU and the California Legislature’s practices.

2. Demand transparency. We echo Ruth’s call to amend the Legislative Open Records Act (LORA) to increase much needed transparency in the Legislature. LORA must be amended to allow the release of all misconduct records in the Legislature -- including cases that the WCU fails to substantiate. The WCU has shown an inability to protect survivors, and its employment by the California Legislature prohibits the WCU from impartiality. Applying sunshine to this system will help restore public trust.

3. Demand accountability. The Legislature must hold accountable those who have perpetuated and/or enabled misconduct. Policy changes are not effective if bad actors continuously fail to implement them. Protections and consequences enacted by AB 403 (Melendez), the Legislative Employee Whistleblower Protection Act, are meaningless if the Legislature continues to ignore actions that violate outlined protections therein.

We are disappointed by elected leaders and caucuses who pay lip service to championing survivors and women but have failed to hold their friends, colleagues and staffers accountable. The Legislature is solely responsible for the health and safety of its employees, and must take action to protect legislative staffers who are suffering from a lack of leadership.

We call on the California Legislature to introduce legislation that meets our demands by May 31st, 2022. Californians deserve more from their elected officials. We should not have to wait until the next legislative session to seek changes in this system.

Signed: