Legislature Advances Dumb Bills

Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but the California Legislature likes anything the State Building and Construction Trades Council sponsors.

AB 1859 (Ortega – D) requires awarding bodies or owners to grant access to joint labor-management committees to enforce prevailing wage and apprenticeship standards. These committees can take legal action if access is denied. Additionally, the bill specifies that courts may impose civil penalties for violations. Passed Assembly Judiciary 9-3 party-line. WECA Opposes

SB 1154 (Reyes - D) gives best-value contracting option to community college districts for projects over $1,000,000. It includes bad safety language that deems any union contractor “safe” regardless of their experience. It includes STW mandates unless covered by a PLA. It mandates a report to the Legislature by January 1, 2030, on its utilization. These provisions will expire on January 1, 2031. Passed by Senate Education on a party-line 5-2 vote. WECA Opposes.  Senator Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh (R-Redlands), whose husband is a subcontractor and recently visited WECA/AGC Riverside, spoke passionately in opposition to the bill’s discriminatory nature. You can watch the hearing here. SB 1154 is the first bill.

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Washington Post Rips FLCA as Anti-Worker

On April 8, the Washington Post’s editorial board slammed the Faster Labor Contracts Act, (HR 5408), saying it would rush newly recognized unions and employers into a compressed bargaining timeline, ending in binding arbitration if no deal is reached. The board added that this could leave workers bound to a contract they never voted on and limit unions' and employers' ability to negotiate terms tailored to a specific workplace.

On March 26, Rep. Donald Norcross, D-N.J., filed a discharge petition to move the Act, which would impose mandatory arbitration on the private sector and allow the federal government to mandate terms of contracts between unions and companies.

Discharge petitions require at least 218 signatures to bypass the traditional legislative process and fast-track a bill to the floor for a full House vote. Assuming all Democrats sign the petition, Rep. Norcross would need just four Republicans to bring the FLCA for a vote. There are currently 17 Republican cosponsors on the bill!

The FLCA is a core provision of the Protecting the Right to Organize Act (PRO Act). Under this proposal, after a union organizing campaign, the parties would have less than 150 days to reach a first contract. If no agreement is reached, a government-appointed arbitrator would dictate the terms. Washington could override private-sector labor negotiations and impose contract terms on American workplaces. This would mark an extreme shift away from an economy built on voluntary agreements, worker choice, and free enterprise. [CDW]

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Sweet Lord, Scott Wiener isn’t Progressive Enough for SEIU!

Per the San Francisco Chronicle (I know, you shake your head that I read the Chron and the New York Times)

“The California Service Employees International Union, with 750,000 members statewide, has pulled its endorsement of state Sen. Scott Wiener over his opposition to Proposition D, San Francisco’s “Overpaid CEO Act,” set to appear on the June 2 ballot. In the race to succeed Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi in a San Francisco House seat, the union will endorse only San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan, who supports the tax. Previously, the union had issued a dual endorsement of Chan and Wiener. Proposition D would tax companies with more than 1,000 employees and $1 billion in annual revenue whose top executives earn more than 100 times the median pay of their San Francisco employees. SEIU locals 2015 and 1021 are sponsors of the Yes on D campaign.”

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie and the city’s Chamber of Commerce oppose the tax. Wiener said he is worried the measure would slow the city’s recovery.

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Kiley to Punish States with High Gas Taxes

California Rep. Kevin Kiley introduced a bill on Wednesday that would withhold federal transportation funding from the five states with the highest gas taxes. Kiley, a former Republican recently turned independent, announced in a post on X that he had introduced legislation to withhold annual federal transportation funding from states with gas taxes exceeding 50 cents per gallon. The move comes after Kiley warned in January that he was preparing to author the proposal, which he framed as an effort to punish California, which has the nation’s highest gas tax at nearly 71 cents per gallon. “This will stop states like California from overtaxing their residents,” Kiley wrote in his X post on Wednesday. The bill would also affect Illinois, Washington, Pennsylvania, and Indiana, which have gas taxes ranging from 54 to 66 cents per gallon. California Republicans have long blamed the state’s Democratic majority for high gas prices and have failed to advance state legislation to freeze the gas tax in recent years.

Kiley’s bill would impose an 8 percent reduction in funding on states from the National Highway Performance Program and the Surface Transportation Block Grant Program, two of the five federal highway formula grant programs.

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Record-High Number of U.S. House Candidates Filed to Run in California After Prop 50 Mid-Decade Redistricting

A record 289 candidates, 5.6 per district, are running for California's 52 congressional districts in the state’s June 2 top-two primaries. That’s the most candidates to run for the U.S. House since 2014 and the most candidates per district since 2022, when California was apportioned 52 districts following the 2020 census.

These primaries are happening against the backdrop of mid-decade redistricting. On Nov. 4, 2025, California voters approved Proposition 50 64.4% to 35.6%. The constitutional amendment allows the state to use a new, Legislature-drawn congressional district map for 2026 through 2030. The state’s Citizens Redistricting Commission will redraw congressional districts in 2031.

According to The New York Times’ Kellen Browning, the new congressional map makes five Republican-held districts more favorable to Democrats. As of April 6, California’s U.S. House delegation includes 43 Democrats, seven Republicans, one independent, and one vacancy.

Of the 289 candidates running, there are 154 Democrats, 97 Republicans, and 38 independent or minor party candidates. The chart below shows how the total number of candidates running and the number per district compare to recent years.



 

California and five other states — Iowa, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, and South Dakota — are holding U.S. House primaries on June 2.

Click here to learn more about California's 2026 U.S. House elections.

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Campaign Hijinx

An opponent of Assemblymember Mike Gipson’s bid for the Board of Equalization is accusing his campaign of recruiting a candidate with a similar last name to confuse voters and split the Asian vote, according to POLITICO.

The candidate in question is Zhijing Liu, an undergraduate at the University of Southern California who will be listed on the ballot as a “banker!” Gipson’s campaign flatly denies recruiting her, and a representative told POLITICO it had never heard of her.

Yvonne Yiu, a former Monterey Park City Council member, who is running against Gipson, ties Liu to Gipson through Jose Ugarte, who used to consult for Gipson and was paid by his campaign as recently as last April, according to campaign finance records. Liu’s papers were filed by another USC student, Amir King, who has volunteered for Ugarte. But both Ugarte and Gipson’s campaigns say Ugarte, who is running for the Los Angeles City Council, had no involvement in Liu’s candidacy.

King says the explanation is simple. It was Liu’s own idea to run, and the two got connected through a mutual friend. Liu said in an email that she’s been “working at a bank and wanted to run to explore our state's tax policies to advocate for a better system. I thought the Board of Equalization was a good fit to do that,” she said. She did not respond to additional questions about the allegations, saying she needed to focus on school until finals were over.

Assemblymember Gipson has been a leader on police reform in the state Legislature for more than a decade, frequently citing his background as a Maywood police officer and publicly describing the on-duty murder of his partner.

But the Gardena Democrat has been exaggerating his brief stint as a reserve police officer — and especially his relationship with a fallen officer, John Hoglund, who was gunned down responding to a robbery in 1992.

“He’s definitely, definitely not being honest,” said former sergeant Randy Bundschuh, who was assigned to the murder investigation of Hoglund, whom friends on the force called “Hogie.” He added later in a text message: “He was NOT Hogie’s partner.”

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CA Supreme Court Halts Bianco's Ballot Seizure

The California Supreme Court has ordered a pause in Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco's investigation and recount of ballots cast in the November 2025 special election as multiple lawsuits challenging the effort make their way through the courts. Bianco, a Republican and a leading candidate for governor, seized more than 1,400 boxes of ballots and other materials from local election officials earlier this year as part of the investigation, alarming voting rights advocates.

The order came in response to one of Attorney General Rob Bonta's court filings seeking to halt the investigation. Bonta, a Democrat running for reelection this year, is also seeking to stop Bianco's effort in Riverside County court. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra has filed a similar, separate suit on behalf of voting rights advocates. Bianco last week said he had put the investigation on hold amid legal challenges.

Also on Wednesday, a Riverside County judge unsealed the three search warrants Bianco obtained from a different county judge — with whom Bianco has political ties — that allowed him to seize the ballots. A coalition of media outlets, including CalMatters, had asked to unseal documents, which include the sworn statements Bianco's deputies made to the judge to justify their investigation. [CalMatters]

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Quiz: How Much Do You Know About the U.S. Tax System?

The lengthy and complex U.S. tax code can be difficult to understand. Take a quiz to see how much you really know. Quiz. (I scored 70%)

Legislative Committees Advance Building Trade’s Agenda

It’s been a busy two weeks in the California State Capitol.

The Assembly Labor & Employment committee passed:

AB 1707 (Davies – R) would require the DLSE ECU to permit the application for certification and examination as an electrician to be submitted electronically and would also permit electricians to renew their certifications electronically. The bill would permit an individual who fails the electrician certification examination to reregister for certification and to retake the examination immediately at the next available appointment with the division. Passed 7-0. WECA Supports.

AB 1838 (Berman – D) requires contractors to disclose any history of wage-and-hour violations as part of their bid submission. Contractors who fail to provide these disclosures and supporting documents may be disqualified from the bidding process. Passed 7-0. WECA Opposes

AB 1859 (Ortega – D) requires awarding bodies or owners to grant reasonable access to joint labor-management committees to ensure compliance with prevailing wage and apprenticeship standards. These committees can take legal action if access is denied. Additionally, the bill specifies that courts may impose civil penalties for violations. Passed 7-0. WECA Opposes

The Assembly Education Committee passed AB 1809 (Fong - D). This bill would make certain provisions related to job order contracting for school and community college districts permanent by removing their January 1, 2027 expiration date. Job order contracting allows these districts to hire contractors for project management through a simplified process if they have a PLA that covers all public works. Passed 7-0-1. WECA Opposes

The Senate Labor Committee passed:

SB 909 (Smallwood-Cuevas – D) would exempt contractor DIR registration fee adjustments from the APA, remove the $800 cap, and eliminate the publishing requirement. It also mandates that contractors who violate prevailing wage laws face increased penalties, with 50% of the penalties directed to the State Public Works Enforcement Fund. Passed 4-1. WECA Opposes

SB 1241 (Smallwood-Cuevas D) broadens the circumstances under which skilled and trained workforce requirements apply and includes additional changes. It prohibits the waiver of penalties if monthly compliance reports are incomplete or false. The bill also considers whether a contractor submitted and followed a compliance plan when determining penalties. Additionally, a contractor or subcontractor found guilty of material misrepresentation becomes ineligible for public works contracts. The Commissioner must investigate complaints about workforce violations from labor-management committees. Passed 4-1. WECA Opposes

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Frying Higher

According to a report from the Economic Policy Institute, a DC-based “nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank,” California should raise the $20 minimum wage for fast-food workers to keep pace with inflation. They argue that the $20 wage — the result of a 2023 truce between fast-food companies and labor unions — has improved workers' earnings and has not caused significant job losses. Now, they write that the California Fast Food Council should prioritize a cost-of-living adjustment in 2026.



 

But a new study from researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz suggests the policy may be producing unintended consequences. According to the report, while more people are applying for fast food jobs due to higher wages, many are not seeing increased hours or even securing employment at all. Researchers found that businesses are adjusting by cutting shifts, raising menu prices, and increasingly turning to automation such as self-service kiosks and mobile ordering systems. (Full disclosure, Richard is a Banana Slug)

“Based on what we’ve found, I think this legislation is a classic case of ‘no good deed goes unpunished,’” UC Santa Cruz Economics Lecturer Stephen Owen said. “There are unintended consequences and knock-on effects, and overall, I think the results have definitely not been as positive as policymakers had been expecting.”

Who do you suppose the California Fast Food Council will listen to?

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Waters Back on Top

Rep. Maxine Waters (CA 43) has all but locked down a second turn as chair of the House Financial Services Committee if Democrats win a majority in November. That means the committee could soon have the oldest leader in its history as it grapples with technological shifts like cryptocurrency, and Democrats look to aggressively ramp up oversight of the president, his family business, and his Wall Street regulators.

Waters faces virtually no opposition, despite a growing chorus of Democrats calling for the end of Capitol Hill’s enduring gerontocracy and a long-shot Democratic challenger back in her district. Privately, some Democrats on and around the committee gripe that she doesn’t do enough to elevate her members or support them with campaign funds from the finance industry. But few are willing to publicly cross her, and she maintains the backing of most senior Democrats on the panel.

But according to the Los Angeles Times, Waters' relatives made ~$1.59 million in 2024 dollars by doing business with companies, candidates, and causes that Waters had helped. They claimed she and her husband helped a company get government bond business, and her daughter, Karen Waters, and son, Edward Waters, profited from her connections. Waters replied, "They do their business, and I do mine." Liberal watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington named Waters to its list of corrupt members of Congress in its 2005, 2006, 2009 and 2011 reports. Citizens Against Government Waste named her the June 2009 Porker of the Month due to her intention to obtain an earmark for the Maxine Waters Employment Preparation Center.

Waters came under investigation for ethics violations and was accused by a House panel of at least one ethics violation related to her efforts to help OneUnited Bank receive federal aid. Waters' husband is a stockholder and former director of OneUnited Bank and the bank's executives were major contributors to her campaigns. In September 2008, Waters arranged meetings between U.S. Treasury Department officials and OneUnited Bank so that the bank could plead for federal cash. It had been heavily invested in Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, and its capital was "all but wiped out" after the U.S. government took it over. The bank received $12 million in Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) money. The matter was investigated by the House Ethics Committee, which charged Waters with violations of the House's ethics rules in 2010. On September 21, 2012, the House Ethics Committee completed a report clearing Waters of all ethics charges after nearly three years of investigation.

Waters had already served in the State Assembly for ten years when I arrived in 1986. My first encounter with her was in 1990 when I staffed a jail bond bill moving through the California Legislature. SB 1094, which was Proposition 147 on the November ballot. To get the bill out of the Assembly, my boss was “asked” to include $25 million to fund youth centers and youth shelters. When I took that back to my boss, the Senator from Riverside, he chuckled, “Was that from Maxine?” I said “Yes.” “Draft it,” he said, “we won’t get it out of her committee without it.”

Voters in November 1990 were tired of approving more bonds and voted “no” overwhelmingly 37% to 63%. We weren’t alone:


 

Voters to Decide Fate of 80 Local Tax and Bond Measures in June

In local elections across California in June, voters will consider 80 local tax and bond measures, totaling $738.5 million in direct new taxes if approved, along with additional property taxes to repay $2.6 billion in bonds, plus interest.

This total includes San Francisco’s Measure D, which would raise taxes on businesses based on the difference between executive pay and median employee wages. It does not include tax proposals that have not yet qualified for June and are moving toward the November ballot, including two major business taxes – a similar executive pay tax in Los Angeles and a separate San Francisco measure to fund a public bank by increasing gross receipts taxes on financial institutions.

After reviewing election materials from the 58 counties and consulting local election officials, CalTax found that parcel taxes make up 29 of the 80 measures. School bond measures account for 22, while 19 propose sales or transactions and use taxes, three target businesses, and four would increase transient occupancy (hotel) taxes.

Click here for the complete list of local tax measures, compiled by CalTax.

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Only Days to Comply with New Emergency Contact Rule

Employers must provide their employees with the opportunity to designate an emergency contact and to disclose whether that emergency contact should be notified if the employee is arrested or detained under the various circumstances described in Labor Code §1555. More

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California Lawmakers' Luxury Freebies

Trips overseas. Free spa treatments. Ritzy resort stays in Hawaii. Fancy dinners and premium seats at sporting events. These are just some of the freebies California lawmakers reported receiving last year in the mandatory reports they file with state ethics regulators. And it's all perfectly legal under California laws, despite giving powerful moneyed interest groups unfettered access to lawmakers that an average voter would never have. Story


 

The United States Is Adding to the National Debt Faster Than Ever

We just passed $39 trillion in national debt, only five months after we passed $38 trillion. It is not your imagination: debt is accumulating at a faster pace. Story

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No Solar for You!

A California court ruled that regulators acted within their discretion when they established a less generous system for compensating rooftop solar owners for the power they produce, striking down a challenge from solar advocates. The California First Appellate Court issued an opinion that struck down a lawsuit the Center for Biological Diversity, Environmental Working Group and The Protect our Communities Foundation filed against the California Public Utilities Commission. The suit challenged the third-generation net metering system that the CPUC adopted in 2022 to compensate rooftop solar users less, ensuring they paid a larger share of the fixed costs of maintaining the electricity grid.

The ruling snuffed out a glimmer of hope for the rooftop solar industry, which has been fighting the less-generous so-called NEM 3.0 tariff since its adoption. Rooftop solar installations fell significantly in California after the policy went into effect. “At a time when California needs to accelerate local renewables to combat a federal obsession with fossil fuels, this is a huge step in the wrong direction,” Roger Lin, a senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. [Politico]

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Trump-Backed Utah Redistricting Repeal Fails to Make Ballot

A Republican-led initiative to repeal an anti-gerrymandering law in Utah will fail to make November’s ballot, despite garnering support from President Donald Trump, Turning Point Action and a host of other GOP influencers and organizations.

The ballot initiative, which sought to repeal a 2018 law that created an independent redistricting commission in the state, fell short of the required signature threshold after a coordinated signature-removal campaign, according to data released Thursday by the state election office.

The initiative’s failure, first reported by the Deseret News, is a major blow to Republicans in the deep-red state, who attempted to overturn a new judge-ordered congressional map that hands Democrats one safe blue seat. Repealing the anti-gerrymandering law would have allowed the Republican-controlled legislature to reinstall a more favorable map ahead of the 2028 elections. [Politico]