Six ‘Job-Killer’ Bills Clear Hurdle in Sacramento

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Six bills tagged by the California Chamber of Commerce as “job killers” survived the June 2 deadline to clear their house of origin and move on; three other bills the chamber had targeted were stopped.

Among the six bills moving forward:

• Two bills limiting the use of arbitration agreements in contracts: SB 33 by Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, which would limit the use of these agreements in consumer contracts with financial institutions; and SB 538, by Sen. Bill Monning, D-Carmel, which would limit arbitration agreements in certain hospital contracts;

• Two bills imposing more mandates on employers: SB 63 by Sen. Hannah Beth-Jackson, D-Santa Barbara, which would require employers to provide up to 120 days of maternity/paternity leave upon request; and AB 1209 by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez-Fletcher, D-San Diego, which requires California employers with more than 250 employees to collect and post on their websites data on the mean and median salaries paid to men and women for the same job titles and descriptions; and

• SB 562, by Sen. Ricardo Lara, D-Bell Gardens, which would set up a government-run universal health care system at a projected cost of $400 billion, but with no plan to pay for the system.

The chamber will have several more opportunities to try to stop these bills as they work their way through the opposite house from which they were introduced. Any that clear the Legislature then go to Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk for his signature or veto.

Among the job-killer bills that were stopped was SB 567, also by Lara, which would have imposed several new or increased taxes on employers, including removing the deduction for performance-based executive compensation.

Film Job Training

Also passing a key legislative hurdle earlier this month was a bill by Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra, D-Pacoima, to increase funding for entertainment industry job-training programs, specifically targeted to below-the-line workers in California.

AB 1664, which passed the Assembly on a 73-0 vote, would create training programs for high school and community college students that are run by entertainment unions. A fiscal analysis from the Legislative Analyst’s Office estimates the state would have to spend about $400,000 to set up the overall framework; school districts and community colleges would incur “minor costs” to implement the training programs.

“When I authored the film tax credit, I focused on returning good-paying jobs to California and stimulating our local economies,” Bocanegra said in a statement. “Since the program has proven successful and jobs have returned, we need to make sure we have a well-trained workforce ready to assume those jobs.”

The bill now goes to the Senate.

Minimum-Wage Hikes

On July 1, the minimum-wage elevator will rise to a new floor of $12 an hour for employers with more than 25 workers in the cities of Los Angeles, Santa Monica, West Hollywood, Pasadena, and unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County.

Employers in these cities with 25 or fewer workers will have to pay a minimum wage of $10.50 an hour starting July 1.

Employers in other cities in the county must still pay the statewide minimum wage, which is $10.50 an hour for employers with 26 or more employees and $10 an hour for employers with 25 or fewer employees. But in six months, they, too, will face minimum-wage increases to $11 and $10.50 an hour, respectively.

Ban the Box

Also taking effect on July 1 are a law in the city of Los Angeles and regulations statewide limiting employers’ ability to ask prospective employees about their criminal histories.

L.A.’s “ban the box” ordinance – so named because it forbids the practice of asking job candidates to check a box if they have been convicted of a crime – lays out exactly when and how in the job-screening process an employer can ask about a candidate’s criminal history, according to attorney Jim Evans, partner in Alston & Bird’s downtown office.

Most importantly, he said, the ordinance bans any criminal background investigations or inquiries until after a conditional job offer is made. If the candidate does have a criminal history, the ordinance spells out some of the factors employers must take into consideration when weighing the risk the candidate poses if hired.

The statewide regulations generally prohibit employers from asking about criminal histories for candidates for employment, promotion, and intracompany transfers, Evans said.

But the regulations do allow employers to have a standing policy disqualifying candidates with criminal convictions, if the employer clearly demonstrates those candidates would pose an unacceptable risk or would be hampered in their ability to perform their duties.

Staff reporter Howard Fine can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 549-5225, ext. 227.

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