The Delegation joined the California Chamber of Commerce's Capitol Summit where business and local leaders from throughout the state met. They also participated in the Host Reception, which presented a networking opportunity for California business leaders from all industries to discuss key issues facing California with elected officials. On day two, they joined the 96th Annual Host Breakfast, which invited California’s top industry and government leaders to meet, socialize and discuss issues facing business, the economy and government.

Senate Bill 213 (Cortese): Workers’ Compensation: Hospital Employees – OPPOSE

Senate Bill 301 (Skinner): Combating the Online Sale of Stolen Goods – SUPPORT

Senate Bill 922 (Weiner): California Environmental Quality Act: Exemptions: Transportation-Related Projects – SUPPORT

Senate Bill 1044 (Durazo): Employers: State of Emergency or Emergency Condition: Retaliation – OPPOSE

This bill would prohibit an employer, in the event of a state of emergency or an emergency condition, from taking or threatening adverse action against any employee for refusing to report to, or leaving a workplace within the affected area because the employee feels unsafe. SB 1044 completely ignores the protections that these regulations already provide in making long term emergency topics – such as wildfire and heat – safer for California’s workplaces. Instead, this bill just allows workers to walk away regardless of how outdated the state of emergency is or how distant it is from the workplace.

Senate Bill 1162 (Limon): Employment: Salaries and Wages – OPPOSE

SB 1162 would encourage new, burdensome litigation against employers based on the publication of broad, unreliable data collected by the state. Further, this bill undermines employers’ ability to hire, imposes administrative and record keeping requirements that are impossible to implement, and subjects’ employers to private right of action and penalties under the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA). The bill will similarly open businesses up to litigation. Once the data is made public, a plaintiff’s attorney would simply have to review the companies with perceived pay disparities and send a settlement demand or threaten litigation.

Assembly Bill 437 (Kalra): Employee Obligations: Exclusivity Options: Actors – OPPOSE

AB 437 would prohibit exclusivity provisions in contracts between producers of movies, television and streaming programs and their employees, radically upending nearly a century of business practices and legal principles that have benefited employers and employees alike. AB 437 attempts to undermine that collective bargaining process by legislating around it. By abandoning the strong, well-working framework and freezing deal terms in inflexible statutory text, AB 437 will reduce advances for all but the biggest superstars.

Assembly Bill 983 (Kalra): Employee Obligations: Exclusivity Options: Musicians – OPPOSE

Similar to AB 437, this bill would prohibit exclusivity provisions in musicians’ contracts and destabilize California’s music business, cut opportunities for working artists, and weaken the state’s economic recovery. AB 983 would disincentivize the investments that record companies make in artists, which would result in fewer artist signings and fewer new acts, especially for diverse and less commercial genres. It would take away existing flexibility and control that artists currently have over when to deliver their records by forcing premature option decisions on a narrow timeframe and create the perverse result of discouraging labels from exercising options negotiated and desired by artists.

Assembly Bill 1001 (C. Garcia): Environment: Mitigation Measures for Air and Water Quality Impacts: Environmental Justice – OPPOSE

AB 1001 proposes the expansion of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The bill will effectively be a housing and private development mitigation tool by putting limitations on local zoning. It puts up new legal barriers for local agencies to contend with by creating new guidelines that will further slow the development of new housing. While we support the continuance of environmental justice throughout California, AB 1001 is not a proper path to take when considering the gravity of California’s housing crisis. AB 1001 is using backchannel reasoning and arguments to expand CEQA. It uses discriminatory land-use policies to enforce its environmental justice policies.

Assembly Bill 1951 (Grayson): Sales and Use Tax: Exemptions: Manufacturing – SUPPORT

Assembly Bill 2097 (Friedman): Residential and Commercial Development: Parking Requirements – SUPPORT

California's Primary Election is approaching on Tuesday, June 7. Some of you may have already received your ballots in the mail, while others will be heading to the polls once they open.

The VICA PAC has been interviewing candidates from different races, and has voted to endorse the following candidates as well as one ballot measure for the Primary Election.

Take a look below at the PAC's current positions:

Measure BB - SUPPORT

Prioritize local businesses in the City of Los Angeles before outside entities for public contracts.

Los Angeles County Assessor Jeff Prang

Bob Hertzberg

Rick Caruso

Kevin James

Councilmember Bob Blumenfield

Councilmember Monica Rodriguez

Councilmember Mitch O'Farrell

Tim McOsker

The VICA Board strongly supports a budget request which would provide a qualified taxpayer a credit under the Personal Income tax (PIT) Law and Corporation Tax (CT) Law equal to amounts paid in COVID-19 paid sick leave benefits.

Sponsored by the Verdugo Hills Council Boy Scouts of America

Sponsored by Hospital Association of Southern California & Heritage Sierra Medical Group

Hosted by The Garland

Hosted at The Garland

Sponsored by Dolphin Group

For three days, a striking group of Jack in the Box cashiers and cooks shut down their Sacramento County store. They were calling for better schedules, more staff and for management to repair a broken ice maker. Donning red T-shirts from the decade-old “Fight for $15” minimum wage campaign, the workers chanted for the passage of Assembly Bill 257. AB 257 threatens to upend the fast food franchise business model in California. It would create a state-run council to negotiate wages, hours and working conditions for the industry.

The Los Angeles City Council backed a proposal Tuesday by five council members to amend the city’s law against homeless encampments in certain areas of the city to extend to within 500 feet of all schools and day care facilities. The ordinance already restricts sleeping and encampments within 500 feet of schools and day care facilities after each individual location is approved for enforcement by the City Council. On Tuesday, the council voted 13-2 to have the city attorney prepare an ordinance amendment to prohibit sitting, lying, sleeping or storing personal property within 500 feet of “any school or daycare.”

Get ready for short showers and brown lawns: More than 6 million Southern Californians will be placed under new drought rules in an unprecedented effort to conserve water. The restrictions are a response to the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s urgent call for a 35% reduction in water use following California’s driest-ever start to the year. MWD’s board has never before issued such severe cuts, but said they were left with little recourse after state officials slashed deliveries from the State Water Project to just 5%.

The city of Los Angeles has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 36% from its 1990 baseline, Mayor Eric Garcetti said Tuesday while announcing an update of his “Green New Deal.” The mayor said the city’s energy grid now runs on 62% zero-emission sources. The city aims to have a 100% renewable energy grid by 2035. The program was launched in 2019, setting ambitious new environmental goals in a range of areas including electric vehicles, air quality, trees and public transportation. The goals are collectively expected to save 1,650 lives, 660 trips to the hospital, and $16 billion in avoided health care expenses each year by 2050.

VICA members can promote their business, events and news in VICA Weekly. Member messages are available for $50 per week or $175 for four weeks. Messages are text-based and may not contain more than 70 words. A logo may be added for an additional $5 per week. For more information or to schedule your member message, contact cathy@vica.com or call (818) 817-0545.