When the California Chamber of Commerce produces a list of what it terms “Job Killers” among proposed legislation, the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce pays attention. We often work side-by-side to preserve jobs.
Thus, we want to encourage our members to spend a little time reading these bills to make sure they know what can hurt them and relaying that information to their elected representatives in the state legislature.
We will post watch updates as legislation changes. Members can track the current status of the job killer bills here or on Twitter.
Here are some 2016 job killer bills:
Arbitration Discrimination
AB 2667 (Thurmond; D-Richmond) Arbitration Agreements Discrimination — Prohibits arbitration of Unruh Civil Rights violations made as a condition of a contract for goods or services.
AB 2879 (M. Stone; D-Scotts Valley) Employment Arbitration Agreements Discrimination — Prohibits an employer from requiring an individual who is a member of the military to sign a mandatory arbitration agreement as a condition of employment.
Increased Labor Costs
SB 1166 (Jackson; D-Santa Barbara) Imposes New Maternity and Paternity Leave Mandate — Unduly burdens and increases costs of small employers, as well as large employers, by requiring 12 weeks of protected employee leave for maternity or paternity leave, in addition to up to four months of existing pregnancy disability leave, for employees who have worked for the employer one day, as well as exposing employers with 50 or more employees to potentially provide 24 weeks of protected leave in a 12-month period, and all employers of 5 or more to the threat of costly litigation.
Meritless Litigation
SB 899 (Hueso; D-Logan Heights) Increased Meritless Litigation Costs — Drives up consumer costs and increases frivolous litigation similar to the disability access lawsuits in California, by prohibiting a retailer or grocery store from discriminating against a person on the basis of gender with the price of goods and subjecting them to a minimum $4,000 of damages for each violation.
Tax Increase
ACA 8 (Bloom; D-Santa Monica) 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 for storm and wastewater infrastructure, including parcel taxes, by lowering the vote threshold from two-thirds to fifty-five percent.
AB 2782 (Bloom; D-Santa Monica) Targeted Tax — Threatens jobs in beverage, retail and restaurant industries by arbitrarily and unfairly targeting certain beverages for a new tax in order to fund health programs.
2015 JOB KILLER CARRY-OVER BILLS
Burdensome Environmental Regulation
SB 32 (Pavley; D-Agoura Hills) Slows Economic Growth — Increases costs for California businesses, makes them less competitive and discourages economic growth by adopting further greenhouse gas emission reductions for 2030 without regard to the impact on individuals, jobs and the economy.
SB 654 (de León; D-Los Angeles) Creates Unworkable Hazardous Waste Permitting Process — Discourages investment in upgrading and improving hazardous waste facilities by shutting down hazardous waste facilities if the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) fails to take final action on the permit renewal application within a specified timeframe.
Tax Increase
SCA 5 (Hancock; D-Berkeley) Split Roll — Undermines the protections of Proposition 13 by unfairly targeting commercial property owners and increasing their property taxes by assessing their property based upon current fair market value instead of acquired value. Such costs will ultimately be passed on to consumers and tenants through higher prices and will result in job loss as businesses struggle to absorb such a dramatic tax increase.
The Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce has taken a stand on the following bills:
Public Utilities Commission
SB 512 Hill (D) – This bill proposes a suite of reforms of the operations and governance of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), including requiring the CPUC to hold no less than six sessions per year in Sacramento, expand the information required of the CPUC in its annual report and workplan to the Legislature and Governor, require specific information on its website, apply the Code of Ethics from the Administrative Procedures Act (APA) to administrative law judges (ALJs), and others. Carlsbad Chamber supports
Increased Labor Costs
SB 878 (Leyva; D-Chino) Mandated Scheduling Requirement — Eliminates worker flexibility and exposes employers to costly penalties, litigation, and government enforcement, by mandating employers in the retail, grocery, or restaurant workplace, including employers who have hybrid operations that include a retail or restaurant section, to provide a 21-day work schedule and then face penalties and litigation if the employer changes the schedule with less than 7 days notice, even when the change is at the request of the employee. Carlsbad Chamber opposes