AB 2157
Workforce development: Displaced Oil and Gas Worker Pilot Program: extension.
Vote required
Majority
Fiscal committee
No
Appropriation
No
Current location
Appropriations
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Bill overview
This bill extends California’s Displaced Oil and Gas Worker Pilot Program indefinitely. It requires the Employment Development Department to contract with the University of California, Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education to assess the program’s success and develop recommendations for making it a permanent program to support workers transitioning from the fossil fuel industry. The assessment findings and program design recommendations must be submitted to the Legislature within 18 months.
Key provisions
- Extends the Displaced Oil and Gas Worker Pilot Program indefinitely.
- Requires the Department of Employment Development to contract with UC Berkeley’s Center for Labor Research and Education.
- Mandates an assessment of the program’s success and recommendations for a permanent program.
- Specifies benchmarks for evaluating the program’s performance, including worker support, service delivery speed, and comprehensive support quality.
- Requires the development of a program design for a permanent program, including best practices review, wage replacement strategies, and worker transition pathways.
- Sets a deadline of 18 months for submitting the assessment to the Legislature.
- Focuses on supporting displaced fossil fuel workers during the clean energy transition.
- Requires an estimate of the number of workers needing services and potential program costs.
Who is affected
- Oil and gas workers
- Displaced workers
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AB2157:v98#DOCUMENT
Bill Start
| Amended IN Assembly May 18, 2026 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill
No. 2157
| Introduced by Assembly Members Connolly and Bryan |
| February 18, 2026 |
An act to repeal and add Section 9925 of the Unemployment Insurance Code, relating to workforce development.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2157, as amended, Connolly. Workforce development: Displaced Oil and Gas Worker Pilot Program: extension and assessment. extension.
Existing law establishes, until July 1, 2027, the Displaced Oil and Gas Worker Pilot Program, to be administered by the Employment Development Department (department), for the purpose of addressing employment dislocations associated with oil, gas, and related industries. That program requires the department, using funds to be appropriated by the Legislature for purposes of the program, to award grants on a competitive basis to qualified applicants, as specified, for specified eligible activities.
This bill would extend the program indefinitely by removing the July 1, 2027, repeal date. The bill would also require the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to contract within 120 days with the University of California, Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education (labor center) to complete an assessment analyzing the success of the program, as described. The bill would also require the department to work with the labor center to develop a recommended program design for turning the program from a pilot into a permanent program able to support displaced fossil fuel workers during the clean energy transition, as described. The bill would require the assessment to be submitted to the Legislature no later than 18 months after the execution of the contract.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NO
Bill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
(a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(1) The economic threats facing oil and gas workers are immense as refineries shut down across the state.
(2) In 2020 and 2021, the closure of Marathon’s Martinez Refinery and the closure of the Phillips 66 Santa Maria Refinery displaced over 600 full-time workers and between 250 and 2,500 contract workers.
(3) More than 300 full-time workers experienced layoffs after the Phillips 66 refinery closure in Los Angeles at the end of 2025.
(4) Additionally, the Valero Benicia refinery closure in 2026 stands to impact hundreds of additional workers.
(5) Surveys of impacted workers reveal that, more than a year after their layoffs, many remain unemployed or underemployed and struggle to pay basic bills.
(6) Oil and gas workers are best positioned to understand the needs of impacted communities and craft effective responses.
(b) Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature to do both of the following:
(1) Provide urgent and practical solutions for oil and gas workers to remain full and active participants in California’s economy as an increasing number face industry closure and layoffs.
(2) Establish a program that will provide the comprehensive approach needed to successfully transition workers into new, secure, high-skill careers, while maintaining economic stability for workers, their families, and their communities.
SEC. 2.
Section 9925 of the Unemployment Insurance Code is repealed.
SEC. 3.Section 9925 is added to the Unemployment Insurance Code, to read:
9925.
(a)(1)Upon appropriation by the Legislature, the department shall contract within 120 days with the University of California, Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education to complete an assessment analyzing the success of the pilot program and make recommendations on policies the state shall use to turn the pilot program into a permanent program that is able to support displaced fossil fuel workers during the clean energy transition.
(2)(A)The assessment shall specifically analyze how the program met or did not meet the most urgent needs of the state’s displaced oil workers during the pilot period by evaluating certain benchmarks.
(B)The benchmarks shall include, but are not limited to, the number of workers supported, speed of service delivery, and quality of comprehensive support provided in order to maintain economic well-being, including, but not limited to, career navigation, wage replacement, retirement assistance, wraparound services, access to training, and access to certifications.
(b)(1)The department, as part of its assessment under subdivision (a), shall work with the University of California, Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education to develop a recommended program design for turning the pilot program into a permanent program that is able to support displaced fossil fuel workers during the clean energy transition.
(2)At minimum, the program design shall include all of the following:
(A)Review of best practices from other federal, state, and regional models in supporting displaced fossil fuel workers.
(B)Design of wage replacement and bridge to retirement strategies that can be incorporated into the structure of the program, in addition to individual assessment, career navigation, training, credentialing and skills certifications, wraparound services, and other in-demand services.
(C)Design worker transition pathways for the most at-risk fossil fuel occupations by identifying industries best suited to utilize displaced workers’ skill sets, and by developing policy and programmatic strategies to support worker transitions into these aligned industries statewide.
(D)Design of criteria for future program grantees based on the assessment of pilot program success.
(E)Estimate of how many workers in the state are likely to require the services provided by this program, potential costs, and the timeline of need.
(F)Implementation recommendations for program structure and staffing to accomplish program objectives, including, but not limited to, strategies for leveraging stakeholder expertise on an ongoing basis.
(c)The assessment required by this section shall be submitted, in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code, to the Legislature no later than 18 months after the execution of the contract.