SB 597 · Housing Laws Navigator
Bills · 2025-2026 Regular Session

SB 597

Labor-related liabilities: direct contractor and subcontractor.Ch. 774, Stats. 2025 · chaptered 2025-10-13 · Current law

Key provisions · Claude summary of the digest, not bill text

Revised direct contractor liability for subcontractor labor debts on private works for contracts entered into on or after January 1, 2026, and extended related standing to labor-management committees.

  • Prior rule sunset. Limited the existing wage-claim liability provision to contracts entered into on or after January 1, 2022, and before January 1, 2026.
  • New liability rule. Required, for contracts entered into on or after January 1, 2026, a direct contractor on private work to assume and be liable for any indebtedness for the performance of labor, as specified.
  • Joint check safe harbor. Prohibited holding a direct contractor liable for fringe or other benefit contributions if contribution payments are made by joint check, as specified.
  • Direct contractor definition. Defined "direct contractor" as a contractor with a direct contractual relationship with an owner or any other person or entity engaging contractors or subcontractors on the owner's behalf.
  • Streamlined housing standing. Granted joint labor-management cooperation committees standing to sue under the new liability provision, building on existing standing related to health care expenditure requirements for streamlined ministerial housing developments.

Paraphrased from the Legislative Counsel’s Digest. Check the bill text before relying on it.

ClaudeGreen text is a summary heading written by Claude to help navigate. It is not statute text; the statute text is in black.

SEC. 1In the navigator:§ 65912.131changes

Section 65912.131 of the Government Code is amended to read:

SEC. 2In the navigator:§ 65913.4changes

Section 65913.4 of the Government Code is amended to read:

SEC. 3In the navigator:§ 65913.16changes

Section 65913.16 of the Government Code is amended to read:

SEC. 4

Section 218.8 of the Labor Code is amended to read:

SEC. 5

Section 218.9 is added to the Labor Code, to read:

Source: LegiScan API, chaptered text of SB 597 (2025-2026 Regular Session).

Bill text is the chaptered version from LegiScan (California Legislature); spacing is normalized. Code section text in a bill is the text that bill chaptered, not necessarily the law in effect today. Not legal advice.