(a) The board, or a research institution under contract with the board, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, and the California Health and Human Services Agency, shall do all of the following:

(1) Draft a model plan for the development and implementation of a worker wellness center that provides services and support to transit workers and their families.

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(2) Develop a plan to encourage the establishment of worker wellness center demonstration sites statewide in transit authorities to reduce workplace violence. The plan shall include, but is not limited to:

(A) Analyzing the effectiveness of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority’s wellness center.

(B) Identifying interventions that promote employee wellness, prevention and early intervention, and peer-to-peer support.

(C) Examining violence prevention tactics in the workplace, including, but not limited to, developing a worker reporting structure that focuses on prevention and early intervention and ways to foster peer reporting.

(D) Identifying no less than three transit authority locations in California where the model plan could be utilized to reduce workplace violence and increase worker wellness interventions.

(E) Identifying other high-stress industries that could benefit from utilizing workplace violence prevention tactics and worker wellness interventions.

(b) In developing the plans described in paragraphs (1) and (2) of subdivision (a), the board, or a research institution under contract with the board, shall consider all of the following:

(1) Funding sustainability, including the prospects for securing federal matching funds and billing private insurers.

(2) Linkages to county behavioral health services agencies.

(3) Ways to streamline workers’ compensation claims resulting from workplace violence.

(c) (1) Subject to paragraph (2), the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority shall provide the board, or a research institution under contract with the board, with data and outcomes from its wellness center that are necessary for the evaluation required by this section.

(2) Data and outcomes provided pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be aggregated and deidentified in a manner that prevents the identification of an individual who is a subject of that information.

(d) (1) Pursuant to § 9795 of the Government Code, the board, or a research institution under contract with the board, shall prepare and send to the Legislature a report on the results of its evaluation conducted and plans developed pursuant to this section no later than two years following an appropriation for purposes of implementing this article.

(2) The requirement for submitting a report imposed by this subdivision is inoperative on January 1, 2028, pursuant to § 10231.5 of the Government Code.

(e) The board shall consult with the Division of Occupational Safety and Health to ensure plans or proposals comply with and do not conflict with occupational safety and health laws and regulations.

(f) This article shall become operative only upon an appropriation by the Legislature in the Budget Act or another statute for the purposes of implementing this article.

(Added by Stats. 2022, Ch. 305, Sec. 1. (SB 1294) Effective January 1, 2023. See conditional termination clause in Section 14007.)