Chamber Opposition Stops 2015 Job Killer Holdovers

A number of California Chamber of Commerce-opposed job killer bills first identified in 2015 appear to be dead for this year after missing legislative deadlines or being amended.

• AB 244 (Eggman; D-Stockton) jeopardized access to credit for home mortgages and increased 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.

AB 244 was held in the Assembly Banking and Finance Committee on Feb. 17, 2015, therefore missing the Jan. 15, 2016 deadline for any committee to advance a bill introduced in that house last year.

• AB 356 (Williams; D-Carpinteria) would have potentially shut down certain in-state oil production operations by redefining critical components of the Underground Injection Control program that would, in turn, have compromised oil production without providing any additional environmental and groundwater protections beyond those recently proposed by state regulators.

AB 356 was placed on the Assembly Inactive File on June 11, 2015, thereby missing the Jan. 31, 2016 deadline to pass the house in which it was introduced in 2015.

• AB 357 (Chiu; D-San Francisco) would have imposed an unfair, one-size-fits-all, two-week notice scheduling mandate on certain retail and food employers that penalized these employers with "additional pay" for making changes to the schedule with less than two weeks notice, and additionally imposed a new, protected leave of absence from work for employees who are seeking public assistance.

AB 357 was placed on the Assembly Inactive File on June 4, 2015, thereby missing the Jan. 31, 2016 deadline to pass the house in which it was introduced in 2015.

• AB 1357 (Bloom; D-Santa Monica) threatened jobs in beverage, retail and restaurant industries by arbitrarily and unfairly targeting certain beverages for a new tax in order to fund children’s health programs.

AB 1357 failed to pass the Assembly Health Committee on May 12, 2015. It therefore missed both last year’s deadline to be considered on the Assembly Floor and the Jan. 22, 2016 deadline for bills introduced in 2015 to be sent to the Assembly Floor.

• AB 1490 (Rendon; D-Lakewood) would have driven up fuel prices and energy prices by imposing a de facto moratorium on well stimulation activities by halting the activity after an earthquake of a magnitude 2.0 or higher.

AB 1490 was in the Assembly Appropriations Committee on May 6, 2015. It missed both last year’s deadline to be considered on the Assembly Floor and the Jan. 22, 2016 deadline for bills introduced in 2015 to be sent to the Assembly Floor.

• SB 203 (Monning; D-Carmel) would have increased frivolous liability and exposed beverage manufacturers and food retailers to fines and penalties by mandating a state-only labeling requirement for sugar-sweetened drinks.

SB 203 failed to pass the Senate Health Committee on April 29, 2015, therefore missing the Jan. 15, 2016 deadline for any policy committee to advance a bill introduced in that house last year.

• SB 576 (Leno; D-San Francisco) stifled innovation and growth in the mobile application economy and created unnecessary and costly litigation by mandating unnecessary, redundant and impractical requirements that will leave many current and future mobile applications unusable, with no benefit to the consumer.

SB 576 has been in the Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee since March 12, 2015, therefore missing the Jan. 15, 2016 deadline for any policy committee to advance a bill introduced in that house last year.

Before the Jan. 4, 2016 amendments, SB 563 (Pan; D-Sacramento) exposed injured workers to potentially inappropriate treatment, undercut the recent workers’ compensation reforms and significantly increased workers’ compensation costs by eliminating the Utilization Review and Independent Medical Review process for many treatment requests.

The Jan. 4, 2016 amendments led to removal of the job killer tag. Based on those amendments and the author’s commitment to adopt additional amendments that provide confidentiality protections to utilization review contracts, payment schedules and compensation agreements referenced in the bill language, the CalChamber is now neutral on SB 563.