Twenty-eight California Chamber of Commerce-opposed bills, including two job killer bills, are currently on the Governor’s desk awaiting action.
Governor Gavin Newsom has until Sunday, October 13 to sign or veto bills.
Opposed Bills
The CalChamber is asking the Governor to veto the following bills:
- AB 9 (Reyes; D-Bernardino): Unnecessarily extends the statute of limitations from one year to three years for all discrimination, harassment and retaliation claims filed with the Department of Fair Employment and Housing.AB 35 (Kalra; D-San Jose): Requires a workplace investigation by Cal/OSHA, within three days, whenever the Department of Public Health records an employee’s blood lead level at 20 micrograms, a level well-below present regulatory standards.
- AB 171 (Lorena Gonzalez; D-San Diego): Places additional and duplicative, sexual harassment protections in the Labor Code, which are already protected under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) exposing employers to additional liability including Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) claims.
- AB 403 (Kalra; D-San Jose): Undermines the essence of the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DSLE) complaint process by requiring a one-sided attorney’s fee provision that will incentivize further litigation.
- AB 520 (Kalra; D-San Jose): Codifies a limited definition of the term “de minimis” to determine what level of public subsidy triggers prevailing wage requirements on an otherwise private project overturning the established practice of viewing the subsidy in the context of the entire project.
- AB 589 (Lorena Gonzalez; D- San Diego): Creates new onerous requirements for employers to provide a worker bill of rights document to all employees, have them sign it, give them a copy of the signed document, keep the original for three years, and post the document.
- AB 729 (Chu; D-San Jose): Replaces the current carpet stewardship 35-cent assessment per cubic yard of carpet with a complicated, difficult to calculate and potentially costly differential assessment.
- AB 731 (Kalra; D-San Jose): Increases administrative costs and imposes a burdensome rate and methodologies review process for health plans and insurers in the large group market.
- AB 744 (Aguiar-Curry; D-Winters): Eliminates the cost savings benefit of telehealth and requires telehealth services to be reimbursed on the same basis and to the same extent as in-person medical services.
- AB 749 (Mark Stone; D-Scotts Valley): Unnecessarily bans the use of no re-hire provisions in settlement agreements for all employees, including those who have engaged in unlawful or egregious behavior.
- AB 857 (Chiu; D-San Francisco): Allows the creation of local public banks which will impose significant costs and risks to taxpayer revenue for operations and capital, as well as unfairly compete with local community banks.
- AB 1130 (Levine; San Rafael): Expands the California Consumer Privacy Act’s (CCPA) private right of action, which requires no proof of injury.
- AB 1451 (Low; D-Campbell): Prohibits compensation for collecting signatures for state or local initiatives, referendums or recall petitions on a per signature basis.
- AB 1478 (Carrillo; D-Los Angeles): Expands job-protected leave.
- AB 1677 (Weber; D-San Diego): Improperly seeks to penalize California companies who move their call centers out of the country.
- AB 1783 (Robert Rivas; D-Hollister): Imposes a more rigorous process on the development of farmworker housing than all other types of affordable housing development by restricting the location of such housing and who can manage the housing.
- SB 142 (Wiener; D-San Francisco): Significantly amends current law regarding lactation accommodations.
- SB 163 (Portantino; D-La Cañada Flintridge): Increases costs and undermines the ability of health care issuers to promote and manage applied behavioral analysis for children with autism by making a number of changes to how the autism services are provided.
- SB 208 (Hueso; D-San Diego): Creates patchwork of state laws and enforcement to address illegal robocalls.
- SB 210 (Leyva; D-Chino): Proposes to create a “smog check” program for heavy duty diesel vehicles, which has the potential to substantially increase the costs of transportation and goods in and from California.
- SB 218 (Bradford; D-Gardena): Creates uncertainty, inconsistency, and confusion with regard to the application and interpretation of the Fair Employment and Housing Act by allowing Los Angeles County to create a local agency with enforcement authority.
- SB 227 (Leyva; D-Chino): Increases health care costs by imposing arbitrary and significant additional fines specifically for hospital violations of nurse-to-patient staffing ratios and staffing assignments that are already reviewed by the Department of Public Health.
- SB 329 (Mitchell; D-Los Angeles): Imposes additional and unnecessary costs on rental property owners by prohibiting rental property owners from refusing to accept tenants because they have a Section 8 voucher.
- SB 468 (Jackson; D-Santa Barbara) : Creates unnecessary commission to study tax expenditures that will cause uncertainty for business.
- SB 600 (Portantino; D-La Cañada Flintridge): Increases health care premiums by mandating coverage for fertility preservation services due to infertility caused by necessary medical treatment.
- SB 707 (Wieckowski; D-Fremont): Discourages the use of arbitration by subjecting employers to significant monetary, evidentiary, and criminal sanctions if the company fails to pay any cost or fee associated with arbitration, even if there is a valid fee dispute.
Job Killer Bills
The CalChamber is urging the Governor to veto the following two job killer bills:
- AB 51 (Lorena Gonzalez; D-San Diego): Bans arbitration agreements made as a condition of employment.
- SB 1 (Atkins; D-San Diego): Undermines current state efforts to move forward with Voluntary Agreements through a rigid approach to water management that fails to appreciate science-based decision-making to manage and provide reliable water supplies for California and protect, restore, and enhance the ecosystems of the Bay-Delta and its tributaries.
