The California Chamber of Commerce this week released its list of job creator bills, calling attention to 12 bills that will improve the state’s job climate and stimulate the economy.
Since 2008, the CalChamber has identified bills that will encourage employers to invest resources back into the economy and local communities rather than spend them on unnecessary government-imposed costs.
Job creating legislation promotes the following policies:
• Keeping taxes on new investment and business operations low, fair, stable and predictable.
• Reducing regulatory and litigation costs of operating a business—especially when hiring and keeping employees.
• Reducing the cost and improving the certainty and stability of investing in new or expanded plants, equipment and technology.
• Investing in public and private works that are the backbone for economic growth.
• Ensuring the availability of high-quality skilled employees.
CalChamber may add more bills to the list in the coming weeks as legislation is amended.
The list of 2016 job creator bills follows:
Reducing Meritless Litigation
• AB 1948 (Wagner; R-Irvine) Meal and Rest Period Penalty — Reduces unnecessary litigation by specifying that the one-hour premium pay penalty for a missed meal or rest period is the sole remedy for the violation.
• AB 2461 (Grove; R-Bakersfield) Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) Reform — Protects against meritless litigation by focusing a representative action under PAGA to four Labor Code sections instead of the entire Labor Code.
• AB 2462 (Grove; R-Bakersfield) Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) Reform — Reduces meritless litigation costs by allowing an employer 33 days to cure any alleged Labor Code violation before a civil action may be filed.
• AB 2463 (Grove; R-Bakersfield) Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) Reform — Reduces meritless litigation costs by capping the penalties an employee may receive under PAGA at $1,000 per aggrieved employee.
• AB 2464 (Grove; R-Bakersfield) Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) Reform — Reduces meritless litigation costs by providing the court with discretion to dismiss a PAGA case if the court determines the employee did not suffer any physical or economic harm.
• AB 2465 (Grove; R-Bakersfield) Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) Reform — Reduces meritless litigation costs by requiring the Labor and Workforce Development Agency to investigate and review all notices filed pursuant to PAGA and issue a determination as to whether there is a reasonable basis for a civil action within 120 days of receiving the notice.
• AB 2827 (Levine; D-San Rafael) Product Labels — Limits frivolous litigation against businesses that include “Made in the U.S.A.” or “Made in California” on labels by providing such businesses with a limited right to cure any alleged minor violation.
• SB 269 (Roth; D-Riverside) Incentivizing Disability Access and Education — Seeks to limit frivolous litigation and claims regarding construction-related accessibility violations by providing businesses that have proactively sought to become ADA compliant with an opportunity to resolve any identified violations.
• SB 1142 (Moorlach; R-Costa Mesa) ADA Reform — Reduces meritless litigation costs while protecting disability access by providing a business with 120 days to cure any alleged violation in a demand letter before a civil action may be filed.
• SB 1306 (J. Stone; R-Temecula) Consumer Legal Remedies Act — Creates fairness in the application of this law as applied to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) by amending it to allow a “prevailing party” to recover attorney’s fees instead of allowing only a defendant to recover attorney’s fees when the action was filed in bad faith.
Economic Growth Incentives
• AB 2664 (Irwin; D-Thousand Oaks) Increased Innovation and Entrepreneurship — Makes it easier to establish a business by providing 3 years of funding to allow the University of California (UC) and Berkeley National Laboratory to expand their capacity and increase access to their innovation and entrepreneurship centers, which provide incubator space, legal services, entrepreneur training and more for researchers and other individuals looking to develop innovative solutions.
• SB 936 (Hertzberg; D-Van Nuys) Loan Access — Encourages creation of small business by expanding their access to loans, which helps them grow.
