Twelve of the 19 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 28:
- 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, 05/28/15; Failed Deadline.
One bill was held on the Senate Appropriations Committee suspense file on May 28:
- 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. Not taken up and held on the Senate Appropriations Suspense File, 05/28/15.
Following are job killer bills that are awaiting action this week by the full Senate or Assembly:
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.
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. Senate Floor.
SB 406 (Jackson; D–Santa Barbara) Significant Expansion of California Family Rights Act — Creates less conformity with federal law by dramatically reducing the employee threshold from 50 to at least 25 employees and expanding the family members for whom leave may be taken, which will provide a California-only, separate 12-week protected leave of absence for both small and large employers to administer, thereby increasing costs and risk of litigation. Senate Floor.
Increased Fuel Costs
strong>SB 350 (de León; D-Los Angeles) Costly and Burdensome Regulations — Potentially increases 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. Senate Floor.
Increased Burdensome Environmental Regulation
AB 356 (Williams; D-Santa Barbara) Limits In-State Energy Development — Jeopardizes high-paying middle class jobs in resource extraction fields by severely restricting wastewater injection sites and requiring unnecessary monitoring of those sites. Assembly Floor.
SB 32 (Pavley; D-Agoura Hills) Halts Economic Growth — Increases costs for California businesses, makes them less competitive and discourages economic growth by adopting further greenhouse gas emission reductions for 2030 and 2050 without regard to the impact on individuals, jobs and the economy. Senate Floor.
SB 654 (de León; D-Los Angeles) Imposes Unjustifiable Legal Violations on Hazardous Waste Permit Applicants —Discourages investment in upgrading and improving hazardous waste facilities by deeming a hazardous waste permit applicant in violation of the law if the Department of Toxic Substances Control fails to take final action on the permit application within a specified timeframe, even if the permit applicant acted diligently and in good faith throughout the permit application process. Senate Floor.
The next significant deadline for the job killer bills is June 5, 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
