Strong opposition from the California Chamber of Commerce helped stop three more job killer bills from continuing past the Assembly Appropriations Committee last week.
Held in the committee on May 25 were proposals that would have interfered with an employer’s ability to provide a drug-free workplace, interfered with personal service contracts, and led to increased health care costs.
• AB 1902 (Levine; D-San Rafael) Interference with Contracts — Discourages and reduces “personal service contracts” as defined, by unfairly increasing the contract price for these services based upon an undefined and unspecified “area income” rate that presumably will include wages from different industries and different occupations that are not comparable to personal services. It also provides the Department of Industrial Relations with extraordinary authority to value companies, determine “similar services” to be included under the provisions of this bill, and what constitutes “area income.” Held in Assembly Appropriations Committee Suspense File.
• AB 2069 (Bonta; D-Oakland) Medical Marijuana in Employment — Undermines employer’s ability to provide a safe and drug-free workplace by requiring employers to provide a reasonable accommodation to employees who use marijuana for a disability or medical purposes, exposing employers to costly and unnecessary litigation under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) whenever the employer terminates an employee who has created a safety hazard in the workplace. Held in Assembly Appropriations Committee Suspense File.
• AB 3087 (Kalra; D-San Jose) Health Care Price Controls — Jeopardizes employers’ negotiating power and access to care, ignores the drivers of health care costs, and adds another layer of bureaucracy by creating an appointed commission to impose price controls on health care providers and insurers. Held in Assembly Appropriations Committee Suspense File.
A number of job killer bills were awaiting action by the full Senate or Assembly as Alert went to print. For updates on the remaining job killers, visit calchamber.com/jobkillers.
