The following “job killer” bills are scheduled to be considered next week by legislative policy committees.
The California Chamber of Commerce is encouraging members to voice to legislators their concerns about the harm these proposed measures could do to employers, the job climate and economic recovery.
Easy-to-edit sample letters are available in the action center at www.calchambervotes.com.
Tax Increases
• ACA 4 (Frazier; D-Oakley) Lowers Vote Requirement for Tax Increases — Adds 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%. Assembly Transportation, April 20.
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. Assembly Banking and Finance, April 20.
• SB 203 (Monning; D-Carmel) Lawsuit Exposure — Exposes beverage manufacturers and food retailers to lawsuits, fines and penalties based on state-only labeling requirements for sugar sweetened drinks. Senate Health, April 22.
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 new, protected leave of absence from work as well as a broad new protected class of employees who are receiving public assistance or have an identified family member receiving such assistance. Assembly Labor and Employment, April 22.
• 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 Appropriations, April 20.
• 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 less than 5 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 on both small and large employers to administer, thereby increasing costs and risk of litigation. Senate Labor and Industrial Relations, April 22.
Increased Health Care Costs
• SB 546 (Leno; D-San Francisco) Health Care Rate Regulation — Threatens employers with higher premiums and interferes with their ability to negotiate with health plans by imposing unnecessary and burdensome new reporting requirements on health plans and insurers in the large group market, and giving the Department of Managed Health Care and the Department of Insurance authority to modify or deny all rate changes in the large group market. Senate Health, April 22.
