June 6, 2003
Coalition for California Jobs Releases ‘Job Killer’ Bill ListList of Harmful Bills Longest in Coalition History
The California Chamber-led Coalition for California Jobs (CCJ) has released its annual list of “job killer” bills and is urging state lawmakers to reject the economically disastrous proposals.
The list of “job killers” is the longest in CCJ’s history, and illustrates the assault being waged against California employers and employees this legislative session.
CCJ warned legislators that trying to eliminate the budget deficit on the backs of workers will further harm California’s stagnant economy.
Jobs at Stake
“It is unfortunate that our past predictions regarding previous ‘job killer’ bills have come true — and California continues to lose jobs at an astounding rate,” said Chamber President Allan Zaremberg, co-chair of CCJ. “In April alone, California lost 32,891 jobs which accounted for one in five jobs lost across the country.
“Workers’ comp costs are skyrocketing, and small businesses must deal with other cost burdens looming such as a unique paid family leave law and unemployment insurance increases. We must stop this attack on California’s employers and their workers, or we will lose even more California jobs, sinking California deeper into economic quicksand.”
The coalition’s list of 51 “job killer” bills includes oppressive taxes and fees, new burdensome regulations, expensive health care mandates, proposals that increase unnecessary litigation, and heavy-handed labor/employment proposals. All of these bills represent additional new costs to employers which they can no longer absorb and which may force them to reduce their workforce or go out of business completely.
‘Job Killer’ Bills
Examples of job killing bills include:
- SB 888 (Dunn; D-Santa Ana) Raises the cost of electricity, re-regulates energy markets, eliminates direct access and threatens energy supplies
- AB 76 (Corbett; D-San Leandro) Makes employers liable for the harassment of a worker by a person over which the employer has no control, such as customers or clients.
- SB 2 (Burton; D-San Francisco) Requires employers to pay for health insurance or pay a tax.
- ACA 16 (Hancock; D-Berkeley) Raises property taxes on businesses by removing business property from the protections of Proposition 13.
The full list of “job killer” bills appears at the end of this article.
Need to Stimulate Economy
CCJ urged lawmakers to focus on stimulating California’s business climate to encourage job growth and economic recovery.
“California jobs and the income tax revenues they produce are the state’s number one resource for funding the budget,” said Jack Stewart, co-chair of CCJ and president of the California Manufacturers and Technology Association. “By creating jobs and stimulating our economy, we can fund essential programs such as public safety and education.”
Through the Jobs 1st effort, CCJ intends to hold legislators accountable for their anti-jobs votes and will educate local constituents about anti-job activity by their state legislators.
Coalition
CCJ is a broad-based coalition led by the Chamber, California Manufacturers and Technology Association, California Business Roundtable, California Taxpayers’ Association, California Retailers Association, Western States Petroleum Association, California Business Properties Association, California Restaurant Association, California Building Industry Association, California Distributors Association, California Beer and Beverage Distributors Association, AeA (formerly known as the American Electronics Association), Personal Insurance Federation of California, Civil Justice Association of California, Associated Builders and Contractors of California, and the Association of California Life and Health Insurance Companies, among others.
JOB KILLERS 2003
- Expensive, Unnecessary Regulatory Burdens
- Expensive Workplace Mandates
- Increases Frivolous Litigation
- Expands Government at Employers' Expense
- Criminalize Business Conduct
- New Taxes and Fees
1. EXPENSIVE, UNNECESSARY REGULATORY BURDENS.
These bills impose burdensome and unnecessary regulations that increase costs for employers, making their products or services more expensive, without providing significant consumer, environmental or other benefit. This makes employers less competitive and takes more money from consumers, thus killing jobs.
Environmental, energy, and other regulatory bills:
AB 406 (Jackson)
Prohibits project applicants from submitting draft reports or participating in document initiation and preparation under the California Quality Act (CEQA).
How it kills jobs: The construction sector has been among the most productive during this economic recession. This bill will lead to inaccurate EIR reports, higher project costs, more project litigation and unnecessary delays in public review and approvals. This raises costs to employers and consumers, killing jobs.
Learn more:Click here and select Assembly from the House field and type 406 in the Bill Number field.
SB 532 (Romero)
Significantly expands CEQA by requiring risk assessment studies even when state environmental and public health officials find that a risk assessment is not necessary.
How it kills jobs: CEQA already contains the most rigorous environmental protection requirements in the nation. Employers spend billions of dollars annually complying with these tough environmental rules. Unnecessary studies will add more costs, making products and services more expensive, killing jobs.
Learn more:Click here and select Senate from the House field and type 532 in the Bill Number field.
AB 1015 (Laird)
Imposes redundant and unnecessary drinking water verification for development that conflicts with existing policy.
How it kills jobs: The bill will result in extensive, costly litigation and will needlessly slow down development in the state, raising costs on consumers, killing jobs.
Learn more:Click here and select Assembly from the House field and type 1015 in the Bill Number field.
SB 923 (Sher)
Imposes conditions on waivers for waste discharges.
How it kills jobs: Imposes costly, unnecessary, and unreasonable new conditions on dischargers even while regional water boards are revising waiver policies. Deprives the regional boards of flexibility needed to fashion waivers tailored to individual and categories of dischargers. This raises costs to employers, increasing costs to consumers, killing jobs.
Learn more:Click here and select Senate from the House field and type 923 in the Bill Number field.
SB 888 (Dunn)
Re-regulate the energy markets, increases energy costs, eliminates direct access and threatens new supplies.
How it kills jobs: The bill raises the cost of electricity for many manufacturing employers, making their products less competitive, killing jobs. It also threatens future electricity supplies, making future prices likely higher and supplies less reliable, causing employers not to expand in California, killing jobs.
Learn more:Click here and select Senate from the House field and type 888 in the Bill Number field.
SB 304 (Morrow)
Mandates the same price of gasoline between refiners and franchise dealers within a region.
How it kills jobs: By forcing refiners to offer the lowest wholesale price to all dealers in a region, refiners are not likely to lower the price to meet competition in a particular location within the region, thus keeping retail prices higher. If they do lower prices across a region, the refiner may choose to make up any losses in less competitive markets, exacerbating the existing regional differences in gasoline prices. In addition to creating an enforcement nightmare, this bill makes gasoline more expensive for employers and consumers, killing jobs.
Learn more:Click here and select Senate from the House field and type 304 in the Bill Number field.
SB 974 (Alarcon)
Grants bid preference for "socially responsible" businesses doing business with the state.
How it kills jobs: Bidding preferences hurt small businesses in California that cannot absorb the various costs associated with meeting the various standards established in law. Each new standard represents a new cost to bidding on state projects, placing many California businesses at a competitive disadvantage, costing jobs.
Learn more:Click here and select Senate from the House field and type 974 in the Bill Number field.
SB 288 (Sher)
Blocks federal reforms of "new source review" rules and creates new lawsuits.
How it kills jobs: Conflicting and confusing grafting of federal law onto state law would jeopardize existing permits and weaken current air pollution requirements while likely resulting in new fees on employers. Unnecessary lawsuits would increase costs of litigation, killing jobs.
Learn more:Click here and select Senate from the House field and type 288 in the Bill Number field.
AB 623 (Lieber)
Imposes criminal penalties for Prop 65 chemical releases even if employer does not know of the release.
How it kills jobs: Already strict laws prohibiting chemical discharges with hefty civil penalties and private attorney rights of action would become even more punitive, with criminal liability for unknowing and unintended releases. This greatly increases the risks and costs of doing business in California, encouraging companies to leave the state, raising costs to consumers, making employers less competitive, killing jobs.
Learn more:Click here and select Assembly from the House field and type 623 in the Bill Number field.
AB 47 (Simitian)
Imposes redundant regulation on timber harvesting plans (THP)
How it kills jobs: California timber rules lead the nation. This bill requires findings and studies for THPs that are redundant to existing cumulative impact analysis for THPs. This will raise the cost of timber products in California, making other state's products more cost competitive, further killing jobs in California.
Learn more:Click here and select Assembly from the House field and type 47 in the Bill Number field.
SB 1 (Speier/Burton)
Prohibits information sharing with non-affiliated companies unless consumers provide express permission, regulates information sharing among affiliates, and imposes civil penalties.
How it kills jobs: Existing federal law provides privacy protection for sensitive consumer information. California has already passed over 40 laws to further protect consumer privacy. This bill requires major and costly changes in business and information technology practices, and exposes employers to civil penalties and unfair competition lawsuits, increasing costs to consumers, killing jobs.
Learn more:Click here and select Senate from the House field and type 1 in the Bill Number field.
SB 64 (Speier)
Prohibits an insurer from using credit scores to set the price for a homeowner policy or to determine whether or not a homeowner policy will be offered.
How it kills jobs: Consumers benefit from use of credit scoring because they earn discounted premiums. This bill will exacerbate an already tight homeowners insurance market, increase premiums to consumers and may also drive insurers from the California market, killing jobs.
Learn more:Click here and select Senate from the House field and type 64 in the Bill Number field.
AB 16 (Jackson)
Restricts movement of oil produced form offshore platforms to pipelines.
How it kills jobs: Creates oil supply uncertainty, raising prices for petroleum products, increasing costs for employers and consumers, killing jobs.
Learn more:Click here and select Assembly from the House field and type 16 in the Bill Number field.
SB 679 (Ortiz)
Mandates nutritional information for all food sold in restaurants.
How it kills jobs: Burdensome and onerous requirement that would raise the cost of restaurant food for consumers, expose owners to lawsuits for incorrect information, making employers less competitive, killing jobs.
Learn more:Click here and select Senate from the House field and type 679 in the Bill Number field.
2. EXPENSIVE WORKPLACE MANDATES.
These include bills that impose burdensome mandates on employers or unnecessarily restrict operations in the workplace that make products and services more expensive. This makes employers less competitive and takes resources away from consumers, killing jobs.
Health care mandates:
SB 2 (Burton)
Requires employers to provide health insurance or pay tax.
How it kills jobs: Imposes new multi-billion dollar cost on employers, raising cost to consumers and making employers less competitive, killing jobs.
Learn more:Click here and select Senate from the House field and type 2 in the Bill Number field.
SB 921 (Kuehl)
Universal health insurance funded by employers.
How it kills jobs: Imposes new multi-billion dollar cost on employers, raising cost to consumers and making employers less competitive, killing jobs.
Learn more:Click here and select Senate from the House field and type 921 in the Bill Number field.
AB 1527 (Frommer)
Requires most employers to provide health insurance or pay tax.
How it kills jobs: Imposes new multi-billion dollar cost on employers, raising cost to consumers and making employers less competitive, killing jobs.
Learn more:Click here and select Assembly from the House field and type 1527 in the Bill Number field.
AB 1528 (Cohn)
Employers pay costs of state health insurance for employees.
How it kills jobs: Imposes new multi-billion dollar cost on employers, raising cost to consumers and making employers less competitive, killing jobs.
Learn more:Click here and select Assembly from the House field and type 1528 in the Bill Number field.
Other workplace mandates:
AB 226 (Vargas)
Prohibits the issuance of corporate owned life insurance (COLI).
How it kills jobs: Many employers use corporate owned life insurance policies as a way to pay for employee retirement and benefit plans. By eliminating COLI policies, these employers would be forced to drop health coverage and retiree benefits or fund them by cutting wages, jobs, or other employee benefits.
Learn more:Click here and select Assembly from the House field and type 226 in the Bill Number field.
SB 57 (Burton)
Mandates yearly increases in minimum wage rates to track the consumer price index.
How it kills jobs: Employer costs would rise by at least $624 million annually, raising costs to consumers and making employers less competitive, killing jobs.
Learn more:Click here and select Senate from the House field and type 57 in the Bill Number field.
SB 576 (Alarcon)
Extends benefits for Unemployment Insurance.
How it kills jobs: Increases employer UI costs by $404 million by triggering payment of UI without regard to looming UI trust fund insolvency or double digit employer UI tax increases made likely by last year's huge benefit increase. This raises costs of employer's products and services, making employer less competitive, killing jobs.
Learn more:Click here and select Senate from the House field and type 576 in the Bill Number field.
SB 569 (Alarcon)
Creates a new way to qualify for unemployment insurance.
How it kills jobs: Raises the cost of UI by at least $120 million annually, increasing cost of products and services, making employers less competitive, killing jobs.
Learn more:Click here and select Senate from the House field and type 569 in the Bill Number field.
3. INCREASES FRIVOLOUS LITIGATION.
These bills make it easier to bring frivolous lawsuits against employers, making them pay more for attorneys and settlements. This increases the costs of products and services, making the employers less competitive and taking resources from consumers, killing jobs.
AB 274 (Koretz)
Presumes that an employer is retaliating against an employee if the employer discharges, demotes, suspends or reduces the hours or pay of an employee within 90 days after an employee makes a claim under the Labor Code.
How it kills jobs: An employee can create a 90 day safe harbor against employer action by filing a claim under the Labor Code because proving a negative (that the action was NOT in retaliation) is nearly impossible. This reduces employer's ability to manage wages and hours, discipline troublesome employees, thus raising costs on products and services, making the employer less competitive, killing jobs.
Learn more:Click here and select Assembly from the House field and type 274 in the Bill Number field.
AB 1715 (Corbett)
Limits use of arbitration in employment contracts.
How it kills jobs: By resulting in more employment disputes being adjudicated through the courts, rather than the normally more streamlined arbitration process, the bill will drive up the cost of litigation, killing jobs.
Learn more:Click here and select Assembly from the House field and type 1715 in the Bill Number field.