2015 Job Killer List

The California Chamber of Commerce released a preliminary list of job killer bills on April 9 to call attention to the negative impact that the proposed measures would have on California’s job climate and economic recovery if they were to become law. The list grew to 19 bills before the end of the 2015 legislative session. Only one job killer bill became law as originally proposed. Shown below is the status of the job killer bills at the end of the session.

Job Killers Overview

Click on the bill numbers below for more information.

Increased Labor Costs

AB 357 (Chiu; D-San Francisco) Predictable Scheduling Mandate/Protected Leave of Absence — Imposes an unfair, one-size fits all, two-week notice scheduling mandate on certain retail and food employers that penalizes these employers with “additional pay” for making changes to the schedule with less than two weeks notice, and additionally imposes a new, protected leave of absence from work for employees who are seeking public assistance. Assembly Floor Inactive File, 06/04/15.

SB 3 (Leno; D-San Francisco/ Leyva; D-Chino) Automatic Minimum Wage Increase — Unfairly increases employers’ costs while ignoring the economic factors or other costs of employers by increasing the minimum wage by $3.00 over the next two and a half years with automatic increases tied to inflation. Held on Assembly Appropriations Committee Suspense File 08/19/15. Failed deadline.

SB 406 (Jackson; D–Santa Barbara) Significant Expansion of California Family Rights Act — Increases costs, risk of litigation and creates less conformity with federal law by expanding the family members for whom leave may be taken, which will provide a potential 24-week protected leave of absence for employers to administer. Vetoed 10/11/15.

SB 563 (Pan; D-Sacramento) Significant Increase in Workers’ Compensation Costs — Exposes injured workers to potentially inappropriate treatment, undercuts the recent workers’ compensation reforms, and significantly increases workers’ compensation costs by eliminating the Utilization Review and Independent Medical Review process for many treatment requests. Held in the Senate Appropriations Suspense File, 05/28/15; Failed Deadline.

Increased Fuel Costs

SB 350 (de León; D-Los Angeles) Costly and Burdensome Regulations — Before amendments, potentially increased costs and burdens on all Californians by mandating an arbitrary and unrealistic reduction of petroleum use by 50%, increasing the current Renewable Portfolio Standard to 50% and increasing energy efficiency in buildings by 50% — all by 2030 without regard to the impact on individuals, jobs and the economy. Opposition and job killer status removed due to September 11, 2015 amendments. Signed 10/07/15—Chapter 547, Statutes of 2015.

Tax Increases

ACA 4 (Frazier; D-Oakley) Lowers Vote Requirement for Tax Increases — Before amendments, added complexity and uncertainty to the current tax structure and pressure to increase taxes on commercial, industrial and residential property owners by giving local governments new authority to enact special taxes, including parcel taxes, by lowering the vote threshold from two-thirds to 55%. Opposition and job killer status removed due to 08/17/15 amendments. Assembly Appropriations Suspense File 8/19/15.

AB 1357 (Bloom; D-Santa Monica) Targeted Tax — Threatens jobs in beverage, retail and restaurant industries by arbitrarily and unfairly targeting certain beverages for a new tax in order to fund children’s health programs. Failed passage in the Assembly Health Committee, 05/12/15.

SB 684 (Hancock; D-Berkeley) Increased Tax Rate — Threatens to significantly increase the corporate tax rate on publicly held corporations and financial institutions up to 15% according to the wages paid to employees in the United States, and threatens to increase that rate by 50% thereafter, if the corporation or institution reduces its workforce in the United States and simultaneously increases its contractors. Senate Governance and Finance Committee 03/19/15.

SCA 5 (Hancock; D-Berkeley)/(Mitchell; D-Los Angeles) Split Roll — Undermines the protections of Proposition 13 by unfairly targeting commercial property owners and increasing their property taxes by assessing their property based upon current fair market value instead of acquired value. Such costs will ultimately be passed on to consumers and tenants through higher prices and will result in job loss as businesses struggle to absorb such a dramatic tax increase. Senate Governance and Finance Committee 07/16/15.

Increased Burdensome Environmental Regulation

AB 356 (Williams; D-Carpinteria) Limits In-State Energy Development — Potentially shuts down certain in-state oil production operations by redefining critical components of the Underground Injection Control program which would, in turn, compromise oil production without providing any additional environmental and groundwater protections beyond those recently proposed by state regulators. Assembly Inactive File 06/11/15.

AB 1490 (Rendon; D-Lakewood) Limits In-State Energy Development — Drives up fuel prices and energy prices by imposing a de facto moratorium on well stimulation activities by halting the activity after an earthquake of a magnitude 2.0 or higher. Assembly Appropriations Committee, 05/06/15. Failed deadline.

SB 32 (Pavley; D-Agoura Hills) Slows Economic Growth — Increases costs for California businesses, makes them less competitive and discourages economic growth by adopting further greenhouse gas emission reductions for 2030 without regard to the impact on individuals, jobs and the economy. Assembly Natural Resources Committee 09/10/15.

SB 654 (de León; D-Los Angeles) Creates Unworkable Hazardous Waste Permitting Process — Discourages investment in upgrading and improving hazardous waste facilities by shutting down hazardous waste facilities if the Department of Toxic Substances Control fails to take final action on the permit renewal application within a specified timeframe, even if the permit applicant acted diligently and in good faith throughout the permit application process. Assembly Floor Inactive File 09/08/15.

Increased Health Care Costs

SB 546 (Leno; D-San Francisco) Health Care Rate Regulation — Threatens employers with higher premiums by imposing unnecessary and burdensome new reporting requirements on health plans and insurers in the large group market. Job killer tag removed due to April 30 amendments eliminating authorization for state regulators to veto or unilaterally alter large-group rate changes, but CalChamber remains opposed.

Economic Development Barriers

AB 359 (Gonzalez; D-San Diego) Costly Employee Retention Mandate — Inappropriately interferes with and alters the employment relationship by mandating that a successor grocery employer retain the employees of the former grocery employer for 90 days, potentially under the terms of a collective bargaining agreement to which the successor employee was not a party, and then forces the successor employer to consider offering continued employment to such employees beyond the 90 days unless the employee’s performance was unsatisfactory. Signed 08/17/15— Chapter 212, Statutes of 2015.

SB 576 (Leno; D-San Francisco) Stifles Mobile Application Technology Development — Stifles innovation and growth in the mobile application economy and creates unnecessary and costly litigation by mandating unnecessary, redundant and impractical requirements that will leave many current and future mobile applications unusable, with no benefit to the consumer. In the Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee, 03/12/15. Failed deadline.

Increased Unnecessary Litigation Costs

AB 244 (Eggman; D-Stockton) Private Right of Action Exposure — Jeopardizes access to credit for home mortgages, increasing the challenge to attract business to California because of high housing prices, by extending the homeowner’s bill of rights to others, thereby opening the door to more private rights of action. In the Assembly Banking and Finance Committee, 02/17/15. Failed deadline.

AB 465 (R. Hernández; D-West Covina) Increased Litigation — Significantly drives up litigation costs for all California employers as well as increases pressure on the already-overburdened judicial system by precluding mandatory employment arbitration agreements, which is likely pre-empted by the Federal Arbitration Act. Vetoed 10/11/15.

SB 203 (Monning; D-Carmel) Lawsuit Exposure — Increases frivolous liability and exposes beverage manufacturers and food retailers to fines and penalties by mandating a state-only labeling requirement for sugar-sweetened drinks. Failed passage in the Senate Health Committee, 04/29/15.