Why implementation + enforcement?

We know that any law is only as good as its implementation. Our work doesn’t end once a law is passed. We follow through to ensure that the regulatory and industry behaviors we advocate for are effectively implemented. We work with groups, both inside and outside of government, to ensure that changes and protections included in policies will be felt in people’s lives.

We recognize that tech companies are also central actors in our work. We push industry-wide conversations and promote ethical frameworks for high-road practices that paint a vision of what industry-wide action should look like. We’ve developed tools that help companies adopt better practices so that as the industry context shifts, they can access the resources needed to implement change.

A major key to effective implementation is addressing information and data asymmetries. When companies have more access to data about critical areas of the economy—like the housing market—than people do, it creates an unhealthy imbalance of power. 

We want to ensure that data of this type is publicly-held and privacy-protecting wherever possible. We want people to know how data about people in the economy is being collected, managed, and sold. We want lawmakers to have the information they need to hold corporate actors accountable. We want to ensure that these data-driven tools are shaped to benefit everyday people.

That’s why we work with regulators and advocates alike to increase transparency and protect privacy across sectors and industries. We build tools, visualizations, and apps that make data access more accessible where it exists, and expose the gaps where it doesn’t.

Enforcement in action: Tenant Protection Act of 2019

In 2019, TechEquity helped pass the Tenant Protection Act in California, a historic policy that protects renters from steep rent hikes and unjust eviction. In 2022, we partnered with the Terner Center to explore how the lack of data transparency threatens to undermine California’s rent cap. Our research found that over 60% of California rental listings experienced increases in the double digits—on average $372 more a month than this time last year. 

These preliminary findings underscored the need for comprehensive, publicly accessible rent data so the Tenant Protection Act could help the people who need it the most. TechEquity quickly got to work and launched the most comprehensive anti-gouging rent calculator in California: the Tenant Protections Rent Calculator. 

In just under five minutes, renters can now take a quick protections quiz and use a rent increase calculator to understand what protections they’re eligible for and which laws their landlord may have violated. This tool was made possible by an amazing team of civic tech volunteers. Read on to learn more.

Implementation in action: enacting responsible contracting 

Our research on contract work illuminated the disparities between contract workers and direct employees and found that in order for contract workers and temps to have stable, good jobs, employers need to follow a more comprehensive standard. As a result, TechEquity released a Responsible Contracting Standard in 2022 that lays out the practices that create the conditions for contract workers to have safe, healthy, and family-sustaining employment opportunities in the tech industry and beyond.

Digital design company, LunarLab, used our Responsible Contracting Standard as a blueprint to enact high-road contracting practices and to equitably scale their business. They implemented the standards by hiring contract workers, developing their professional portfolio, and converting them to full-time employees as the agency’s four-person full-time team continued to grow. Read the case study to learn more.

We also collaborated with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s Expanding Equity program to release a course on Responsible Contracting: Bringing Equity to Your Extended Workforce. The course gives HR and diversity, equity, and inclusion leaders everything needed to adopt responsible contracting in their workplace.