Legislative Bills
SB 1159 Workers Compensation - Coronavirus - Oppose. This bill would increase workers comp costs for employers. The bill creates a "disputable" presumption, meaning that it is presumed that contraction of coronavirus is a workplace injury but may be controverted by other evidence. The bill would be retroactive and apply from the time the Governor's similar Executive Order expired (July 6). The bill is an urgency measure and would take effect immediately if signed by the Governor, which he is expected to do. Status: Enrolled to the Governor.
AB 196 - Workers Compensation - Coronavirus - Oppose This bill would increase workers comp costs for employers. This bill originally created a "conclusive" presumption that contraction of coronavirus by essential employees is a workplace injury without ability of employer to provide any evidence to the contrary. The bill was amended to create a "disputable" presumption and shorten the time frame for denial of claims. Status: Senate floor. Died.
AB 685 - Employee Notification - COVID-19. Oppose. This bill would require public and private employers to notify all employees and subcontractor employees, within one business day, regarding potential exposure to COVID-19. Violators will be subject to fines. Status: Enrolled to the Governor.
SB 1383 - Expands California Rights Act. Oppose. This bill requires employers, with at least 5 employees, to grant an employee up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for family care and requires employer to reinstate the employee returning from leave to the same or comparable position. Status: Enrolled to the Governor.
AB 995 - Hazardous Waste - Oppose unless amended. This bill creates the Board of Environmental Safety within CalEPA to provide policy direction to the oversight of the Department of Toxics Control. The bill will increase certain fees and authorize the creation of a fee task force to review existing fee structures supporting hazardous waste and toxic control accounts and report to the legislature. Status: Enrolled to the Governor.
SB 1447 - Business Hiring Tax Credits - Support. This bill provides small businesses (fewer than 100 employees) a $1,000 tax credit if they hire or rehire an employee over the next three months. The bill sets aside $100 million and will be provided to businesses that qualify under first-come, first served basis. Status: Enrolled to the Governor.
AB 2999 - Employees: Bereavement leave - Concerns. This bill imposes on all employers a mandate to provide employees up to 10 days of unpaid bereavement leave for the death of a spouse, child, parent, sibling, grandparent or domestic partner. Status: Held in Policy Committee. Died.
AB 2454 - Trusted Dealer BAR Certification Program. Concerns. This bill, among other things, would establish the "Trusted Dealer Certification" program. The program requires BAR to develop regulations to implement. Status: Held in Policy Committee. Died.
BAR Regulations
BAR Shop Locator Program. BAR has developed an application to make it easier for consumers to find ARD licenses based on zip codes and specialties such as transmission, glass, tire, auto body, etc. The application was released to the public earlier this month. See link to the BAR application. (https://bar.ca.gov/pubwebquery/ard/search.aspx).
BAR Cite and Fine Regulations. BAR is proposing to expand the "cite and fine" disciplinary process. Currently, cite and fine is used for smog violations and unlicensed activity. Expanding cite and fine authority to apply to all ARD's would provide BAR field representatives with the ability to issue citations and fines (up to $5,000 per violation) for violations. Concerns have been raised by the industry. Status: A presentation is expected at the next BAR Advisory Committee meeting on October 22, 2020.
Ballot Measures
Prop 15. The "Split Roll" initiative. Oppose. This measure will amend Prop 13 by requiring that commercial and industrial properties be assessed and taxed at current market value, rather than original price. The measure is expected to raise taxes by $12 billion. The initiative exempts commercial and industrial properties worth less than $3 million.
