Cal/OSHA reports falling vacancy rate but advocates press for more funding and studies

Cal/OSHA officials told the Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 5 that the division's long-standing staffing shortfall is improving but remains a priority as lawmakers weigh budget choices.

"Eighteen months ago Cal/OSHA's vacancy rate was around 35% and at December 2024 it was down to about 23%," Josh Iverson, chief financial officer at the Department of Industrial Relations, said during the hearing. Agency witnesses said that the department has added roughly 100 net staff in the division over the past 18 months and called out emergency-hire authority granted in Assembly Bill 171 and contracted classification and workload studies as steps to accelerate hiring and clarify minimum qualifications.

The subcommittee and legislative analyst office emphasized that vacancy mitigation is only one part of the question. Chaz Alamo of the Legislative Analyst's Office told members that the workload study and the state auditor's forthcoming report will be important for assessing whether the total number and distribution of Cal/OSHA inspectors meet California's needs.

Public commenters including farmworker and labor advocates urged additional investment. Beth Spitler, field director for the California Food & Farming Network, asked the committee to allocate $1,250,000 from the Occupational Safety and Health Fund to support a study and advisory committee in AB694, arguing that the OSH fund has reserves built from unpaid salaries and employer surcharges and that the money should be used to strengthen enforcement capacity.

Committee members probed outcomes and metrics. Assemblymember Ward asked whether the department can show concrete improvements in case-resolution timelines; officials said those performance metrics are not yet available and that the workload study is intended to produce that data. Assemblymember DeMaio pressed whether newly required inspection duties created by recently signed laws (including the domestic worker protections in SB 1350) should be prioritized given vacancies, and asked the department to present a clear strategic workforce plan that ties staffing decisions to highest-risk inspections.

The department said it would follow up with requested data, and the Legislative Analyst reiterated that the state should use the workload and classification studies, plus the auditor's review, to determine whether staffing levels and the allocation of positions align with statewide safety needs.

While no formal budget vote occurred in the hearing, members signaled interest in targeting limited funding to high-risk enforcement work and asked for additional documentation on investigation timelines, the classification study, and use of existing OSH fund reserves.