Fifteen of the 21 job killer bills identified by the California Chamber of Commerce this year remain alive after Friday’s deadline for fiscal committees to send bills to the floor.
One bill was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee on May 27:
- AB 1882 (Williams; D-Santa Barbara) Gas Price Increase — Jeopardizes the production of California-based fuel by substantially complicating the existing permitting process for the Underground Injection Control program by imposing duplicative requirements and requiring the Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources to cede aspects of its permitting authority to the regional water quality control board. Assembly Appropriations Committee, 05/27/16; Failed Deadline.
One bill was held on the Senate Appropriations Committee suspense file on May 27:
- SB 878 (Leyva; D-Chino) Mandated Scheduling Requirement — Eliminates worker flexibility and exposes employers to costly penalties, litigation, and government enforcement, by mandating employers in the retail, grocery, or restaurant workplace, including employers who have hybrid operations that include a retail or restaurant section, to provide a 21-day work schedule and then face penalties and litigation if the employer changes the schedule with less than 7 days notice, even when the change is at the request of the employee. Senate Appropriations Committee, 05/27/16; Failed Deadline.
Following are job killer bills that are awaiting action this week by the full Senate or Assembly:
Arbitration Discrimination
AB 2667 (Thurmond; D-Richmond) Arbitration Agreements Discrimination — Unfairly discriminates against arbitration agreements and therefore is likely preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act, which will lead to confusion and litigation, by prohibiting arbitration of Unruh Civil Rights violations made as a condition of a contract for goods or services. Assembly Floor.
AB 2879 (M. Stone; D-Scotts Valley) Employment Arbitration Agreements Discrimination — Unfairly discriminates against arbitration agreements and is likely preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act, which will lead to confusion and litigation, by prohibiting an employer from requiring an individual who is a member of the military to sign a mandatory arbitration agreement as a condition of employment. Assembly Floor.
Affordable Housing Barriers
AB 2502 (Mullin; D-South San Francisco/Chiu; D-San Francisco) Erodes Housing Affordability — Increases the cost and reduces the supply of housing by authorizing local governments as condition of development to impose a costly and inflexible price-controlled inclusionary housing requirement and, in doing so, legislatively repeals an established court decision upholding developers’ ability to set initial rental rates for new dwelling units. Assembly Floor.
SB 1150 (Leno; D-San Francisco) Erodes Housing Availability — Increases liability risk and the cost of residential loans by allowing a party not on the mortgage loan to interfere with appropriate foreclosures and creates a private right of action for violations of overly complex and burdensome requirements. Senate Floor.
SB 1318 (Wolk; D-Davis) Erodes Housing Affordability — Inappropriately leverages necessary affordable housing in order to solve infrastructure issues with the consequence that the housing won’t be built by imposing requirements on water or waste water districts to serve certain communities first. Senate Floor.
Increased Labor Costs
SB 1166 (Jackson; D-Santa Barbara) Imposes New Maternity and Paternity Leave Mandate — Unduly burdens and increases costs of small employers with as few as 10 employees, as well as large employers with 50 or more employees, by requiring 12 weeks of protected employee leave for maternity or paternity leave, and exposes all employers to the threat of costly litigation. Senate Floor.
Meritless Litigation
AB 2748 (Gatto; D-Glendale) Increases Environmental Litigation — Eliminates incentives to settle lawsuits and instead exposes businesses to multiple rounds of litigation at great expense to the parties and the courts by creating statutory prohibitions on “release” clauses in settlements pertaining to “environmental disasters.” Assembly Floor; Unfinished Business
California Oil Production Barriers
AB 2729 (Williams; D-Santa Barbara/ Thurmond; D-Richmond) Gas Price Increase — Jeopardizes the production of California-based fuel supply and increases costs to the industry by revising the definition of an idle well and requiring permanent closure of 25% of California’s long-term idle wells each year. Assembly Floor.
The next significant deadline for the job killer bills is June 3, the date by which bills must pass the house in which they were introduced.
For more information on the remaining job killer bills, visit www.CAJobKillers.com
