Sacramento Legislative Update

by Gary Toebben

Last Friday marked the deadline for the state legislature to vote bills out of their “house of origin” and over to the next house for consideration.. The Chamber was in Sacramento at the end of May to support and oppose a large number of bills.  Here is a recap of some early victories and priorities for the rest of the session.

The following Chamber-supported bills have advanced:

• AB 1734 (Calderon) and SB 951 (Mitchell), would extend the current film tax credits to 2025.
• AB 427 (Muratsuchi) and AB 2596 (Cooley & Kiley), would establish a California Aerospace & Aviation Commission and create a comprehensive California Economic Development Plan.
• SB 940 (Beall), a Chamber-sponsored bill to provide greater access to post-secondary education for foster youths.   
• AB 2430 (Arambula), AB 2579 (Burke) and SB 910 (Hernandez), all seek to maintain and increase health care access for Californians.
• SB 828 (Wiener), SB 1227 (Skinner), and SB 831 (Wieckowski), all would increase housing options and opportunities.
• SB 1206 (de Leon), to provide funding for permanent supportive housing for the mentally ill.

Legislation we will continue to oppose:

• SB 822 (Wiener), because regulating the Internet should not be done on a state-by-state basis.
• AB 1300 (Jackson), a Job Killer bill that would significantly increase litigation against employers by removing the requirement that a plaintiff have standing before alleging failure to prevent harassment.
• SB 1402 (Lara), would hold retailers and end clients responsible for the business practices of trucking companies who transported their products, thereby subjecting retailers and the goods movement industry to more lawsuits.   

The Chamber successfully advocated against the following bills, which appear to have failed for the year:

• AB 2364 (Bloom) and AB 2925 (Bonta), would have made it harder to evict bad tenants.
• AB 2571 (Gonzalez Fletcher), a Job Killer seeking to publically shame certain companies by forcing them to submit annual reports on wage information by demographics.
• AB 3087 (Kalra), a Job Killer, would have created an appointed commission to impose price controls on health care providers and insurers.
• SB 993 (Hertzberg), would add a tax on services. The legislature declined to vote on this bill, and instead chose to hold hearings, in which the Chamber will participate.
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Additionally, AB 1668 (Friedman), a two-year bill the Chamber supported passed out of the Senate and was signed by the Governor. The bill will create a framework for long-term water use efficiency.

Thank you to all who joined us for ACCESS Sacramento at the end of May. Your voice was very impactful and will continue to help our staff and allies as we support and oppose legislation during the rest of the session.

And that's The Business Perspective.