WECA Government Relation Voters Guide. The WECA Government Relations Committee released a guide for the November election as pertains to California. It is available here for WECA CA members.

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White House Calls for Stronger Labor Standards President Joe Biden signed an executive order on September 6 calling on federal agencies to adopt a series of “high-road labor standards,” according to an announcement from the White House, continuing the administration’s push toward expanding the federal workforce while pushing certain standards. The announcement calls the move the “first in history to specify a clear list of labor standards that all Federal agencies should look to prioritize.” Story

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Most Senate Republicans Dislike PLAs. Only one Republican in the State Senate joined their Democratic colleagues in passing Senate Bill 984 (Wahab) and sending it to Governor Newsom. SB 984 requires the Judicial Council and the California State University (CSU), by January 1, 2027, to identify and select at least three major construction projects and subject those projects to a Project Labor Agreement (PLA). Republican Scott Wilk joined the Democrats, except for Democrat Steve Glazer, who understands the damage PLAs inflict. If you are a constituent of Wilk, feel free to share your opinions politely. And if former Jerry Brown staffer Steve Glazer is your State Senator, I am sure he would appreciate hearing you know of his vote.

Alas, Glazer is finished in the Senate due to first winning election in a 2015 special election and thus is ineligible to run for another 4-year term in 2024. Two Democrats qualified for the November ballot, AD 15 Democratic Assemblyman Tim Grayson, and San Ramon City Councilmember Marisol Rubio, who challenged Glazer from the left in the 2020 primary.

Rubio has yet to be able to raise the funds needed to run a competitive race, and it is unclear if labor and progressive groups will come in with the lifeline in November that would be necessary to reverse her nearly 20-point deficit in the primary.

AYES:

Wilk, Scott

Lancaster

661-729-6232

NOES:

Glazer, Steve

Antioch

925-754-1461

Alvarado-Gil, Marie 

Modesto

209-576-6001

Dahle, Brian 

Bieber

530-294-5000

Grove, Shannon 

Bakersfield

661-323-0443

Jones, Brian 

Escondido

760-796-4655

Niello, Roger 

Rancho Cordova

916-464-3980

Ochoa Bogh, Rosilicie 

Redlands

909-335-0271

Seyarto, Kelly

Murrieta

951-894-2220

ABSTAIN/ABSENT:

Nguyen, Janet

Huntington Beach

714-374-4000

We’ll report on Newsom’s decision in October.

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PAGA Plaintiff Has No Right to Intervene, Vacate or Object to Another PAGA Plaintiff’s Settlement, Affirms the State’s Highest Court In a welcome win for employers, the California Supreme Court recently blocked a PAGA plaintiff’s attempt to intervene and object to another PAGA plaintiff’s proposed settlement as a matter of right, in Turrieta v. Lyft, Inc., No. S271721. Resolving an appellate court split, the court held in a 5-2 decision: “We hold that an aggrieved employee’s status as the State’s proxy in a PAGA action does not give that employee the right to seek intervention in the PAGA action of another employee, to move to vacate a judgment entered in the other employee’s action, or to require a court to receive and consider objections to a proposed settlement of that action.” Story

And, the same Court Holds Public Employers Exempt from Labor Code, and PAGA In Stone v. Alameda Health System, the California Supreme Court considered whether all public entities that are not specifically governmental in nature are exempt from the obligations in the Labor Code, such as meal and rest breaks and overtime, and whether penalties available under the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) apply to public entities. The Court held that public entities were exempt from obligations under the Labor Code unless specifically stated and that PAGA penalties do not apply to public employers. Story

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More Than 470 Local Tax and Bond Measures to Be Decided in November Election In the November election, California voters will decide the fate of at least 470 local tax and bond measures, with that number expected to rise as additional counties report qualified measures.

Of the 470 tax and bond measures in the 52 counties for which complete information is available, 203 are direct tax increases that cumulatively would cost taxpayers $3.1 billion, and 262 are bond measures that would authorize local governments and school districts to issue $49.1 billion in debt, to be repaid with interest through higher property taxes. Additionally, five measures would reduce or repeal existing taxes.

Broken down by type of tax, the measures propose 246 school bonds, 86 transactions and use taxes, 66 parcel taxes, 20 hotel taxes (“transient occupancy taxes”), 16 general obligation bonds, 14 business license tax changes, and 17 that ask for other types of tax increases.

Los Angeles County voters will contend with the highest number of tax measures, with a cumulative 66 tax and bond measures proposed in the many jurisdictions within the populous county.

Notable measures include:

·        Los Angeles County Sales Tax Increase. Measure A would repeal an existing 0.25 percent countywide transactions and use tax and replace it with a 0.5 percent transactions and use tax. The county estimates the tax increase would cost taxpayers more than $1 billion annually. If approved, Measure A will bring the top combined sales tax rate to 10.75 percent in parts of the county.

·        Revenue from the tax increase would fund programs to support homeless residents. Although Measure A is a special tax, local officials have opined that because it was placed on the ballot via a local initiative, it requires a simple majority vote rather than a two-thirds vote for passage. The officials cited the California Supreme Court’s ruling in California Cannabis Coalition v. City of Upland.

·        Los Angeles County Square Footage Tax. Measure E would impose a $0.06-per-square-foot tax on building improvements for property located in the county, with the tax rate adjusted annually for inflation. According to county estimates, the tax hike would cost taxpayers $152 million annually, with revenue earmarked to support the Los Angeles County Fire Department. The chief of the Fire Department would be responsible for administering the tax appeal process, and appeals would be limited to mathematical errors in the tax calculation or discrepancies between the assessed and actual square footage of improvements. Measure E was placed on the ballot via an initiative, so elections officials ruled that it requires a simple majority vote despite being a special tax.

·        Santa Cruz Soda Tax. Santa Cruz’s Measure Z would impose a tax of 2 cents per fluid ounce on any sweetened beverage containing one or more caloric sweeteners and 40 or more calories per 12 fluid ounces. According to the city's estimate, the tax would cost taxpayers $1.3 million annually.

·        Local governments had been prohibited from enacting new taxes on grocery items, including beverages, following the enactment of AB 1838 (Assembly Budget Committee) of 2018. However, a nonprofit organization and Santa Cruz City Council Member Martine Watkins sued the state to overturn the prohibition on beverage taxes. In 2023, the Court of Appeals ruled in Cultiva La Salud v. State of California that the state law violated municipalities' constitutional authority to enact local taxes. The state law “improperly uses the threat of crippling penalties to chill charter cities from exercising their constitutional rights,” the court wrote.

·        Berkeley Natural Gas Tax. Measure GG in Berkeley would impose a new tax on natural gas consumption. Measure GG proposes a tax of $2.9647 per therm of natural gas consumed in buildings larger than 15,000 square feet. The city estimates that this would cost taxpayers $26.7 million annually, with revenue earmarked for decarbonization programs. Although Measure GG is a special tax, election officials state that it would require a simple majority vote for passage, citing the Upland decision.

The number of tax and bond measures on the ballot is substantially higher than in the last presidential election when voters faced 261 measures. The total number of tax and bond measures is expected to increase when Colusa, Mariposa, Modoc, Orange, Riverside, and Tehama counties publish complete lists of measures qualified for the ballot.

[Courtesy of CalTax]

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You’re Special, and You’re Special The Assembly is getting its calendar for the special session on gas prices that has divided legislative leaders, with plans to convene in late September and get a floor vote by early October. Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas notified members today that the body would return for informational hearings on Sept. 18 and 19 ahead of a bill hearing on Thursday, Sept. 26. Rivas scheduled a floor session for Oct. 1, teeing up a floor vote that would allow the Assembly to conclude its business well before the November election. Meanwhile, Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire has said he'll call his members back once Rivas proves he has the votes to pass legislation.

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Drug Test Cheating Up 6X, Says Quest Diagnostics

• Drug test cheating among U.S. workers in 2023 was six times higher than in the previous record 12 months, lab chain Quest Diagnostics found in its analysis of nearly 10 million drug tests.
• Tampering surged to the highest level in more than 30 years of annual reporting, Quest said
• Substituted urine specimens increased by 633%, and invalid urine specimens jumped more than 45%.
• Quest also reported historically high rates of general U.S. workforce drug positivity as well as post-accident marijuana positivity.
• READ MORE

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When will Phoenix drop below 100 degrees? Phoenix is amid a scorching stretch, with temperatures soaring above 100 degrees for 106 straight days as of Tuesday. When will it end?

Some Republicans Like PLAs This shouldn’t shock faithful readers, but a handful of Republicans in the State Assembly joined their Democratic colleagues in passing Senate Bill 984 (Wahab) back to its Senate home. As a reminder to readers who haven’t memorized all the critical legislation emanating out of the state orifice, AKA the State Capitol, SB 984 bill requires the Judicial Council and the California State University (CSU), by January 1, 2027, to identify and select a minimum of three major construction projects and subject those projects to a Project Labor Agreement (PLA). Here’s how the Republicans in the Assembly voted. If you are a constituent of any of the AYE votes, feel free to share your opinions politely.

AYES:

Alanis, Juan

Modesto

209-521-2201

 

Chen, Phillip

Brea

714-529-5502

 

Davies, Laurie

Oceanside

760-433-7400

 

Flora, Heath

Ripon

209-599-2112

 

Wallis, Greg

Rancho Mirage

760-346-6342

 

NOES: 

Dahle, Megan

Redding

530-223-6300

 

Essayli, Bill

Corona

951-277-3639

 

Waldron, Marie

San Diego

858-566-7538

 

ABSTAIN/ABSENT:

Dixon, Diane

Newport Beach

949-798-7221

 

Gallagher, James

Chico

530-895-4217

 

Hoover, Josh

Folsom

916-294-9774

 

Lackey, Tom

Palmdale

661-267-7636

 

Mathis, Devon

Visalia

559-636-3440
 

Patterson, Jim

Fresno

559-446-2029

 

Patterson, Joe

Rocklin

916-435-0501

 

Sanchez, Kate

Rancho Santa Margarita

949-459-7170

 

Ta, Tri

Westminster

714-379-0970
 

We’ll report on the Senate vote next time.

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Presto Chango For the last seven months, SB 1162 (Cortese) was a modest bill requiring contractors and subcontractors on public works projects to include a worker's date of birth in public works payroll records and in monthly compliance reports made to the public entity or awarding body for projects with a skilled and trained workforce requirement. It also would have required DLSE to accept and investigate a complaint submitted by a joint labor-management committee (JLMC) alleging a contractor (or subcontractor) did not follow skilled and trained workforce (STWF) requirements.

The bill is sponsored by the California State Association of Electrical Workers, the California State Pipe Trades Council, and the Western States Council of Sheet Metal Workers – all construction union members of the State Building and Construction Trades Council.

Cortese amended SB 1162 last week. The amendments strike the DOB change in the labor code, replacing it with new STWF requirements in PCC §2602 and adding a new §2604.

2602 (2) The contractor, bidder, or other entity will provide to the public entity or other awarding body, on a monthly basis while the project or contract is being performed, a report demonstrating compliance with this chapter. The required monthly report demonstrating compliance with this chapter shall include the full name of, and identify the apprenticeship program name, location, and graduation date of, each worker relied upon to satisfy the apprenticeship graduation percentage requirements of paragraph (2) of subdivision (d) of Section 2601.

2604. On or before July 1, 2025, the Division of Apprenticeship Standards shall create and maintain a public online database to verify that a worker graduated from a California apprenticeship program. The database shall be searchable by using the first name, last name, and graduation date of the worker.

One possible explanation for the change is the estimated cost of the investigation mandate. The Assembly Appropriations Committee identified costs of approximately $1.23 million in the first year and $1.16 million annually for the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement to investigate every skilled and trained workforce complaint submitted by a JLMC. The Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) would also incur additional costs to update database systems to reflect the DOB requirement for CPRs and skilled and trained compliance reports.

In a budget year of continued state deficits, Cortese could have been forced to drop the investigation provision and go with the DOB, which was considered to have minor state costs. But this might have failed to satisfy the sponsors.

However, adding §2604 creates a similar programming cost, possibly higher than just the DOB addition.

The bill was re-referred to Assembly Labor and must be heard this week, the final week of the session.

The legislature's rules state that this week is reserved for floor sessions only. However, there are a couple of exceptions, and SB 1162 qualifies for one of them.

The chances of derailing the bill are slim. But knowledge is power.

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Money for You, and You, and You A first-in-the-nation California proposal could make undocumented immigrants eligible for up to $150,000 in state-supported home loans just as immigration has become an incendiary topic in the presidential election.

The California Dream for All program is run by the California Housing Finance Agency, which generates revenue through mortgage loans and not from taxpayers. The measure, AB 1840 (Arambula – D), would open up the program to illegal immigrants; it is likely to pass the California Legislature this week, where Democrats enjoy a supermajority and in a state with the largest share of undocumented immigrants in the country. Unsurprisingly, AB 1840 support has been split along party lines in the Legislature.

Newsom, a top surrogate for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, declined to say whether he would sign the measure if it clears the statehouse by the August 31 deadline. He would likely decide while Republican nominee Donald Trump criticizes Harris over the influx of migrants at the U.S-Mexico border early on in Biden’s tenure and as Harris moves to the right on immigration.

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California’s Minimum Wage Will Increase Again in 2025 California's minimum wage will increase from $16.00 per hour to $16.50 per hour on January 1, 2025. This increase applies to all employers, regardless of size. The adjustment is based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which saw a 3.18% increase over the past year. Additionally, on January 1, 2025, the minimum salary for full-time exempt employees will increase from $66,560 to $68,640. Because of wage order 16, this change affects the threshold for employers to pay for hand tools. Story

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First-In-Nation Measure to Require Textile Recycling Clears California Assembly Because California is doing a bang-up job of recycling everything, including politicians, California is one step closer to having the nation's first state-level clothing recycling program after the state Assembly passed legislation on Wednesday. State Sen. Josh Newman's "Responsible Textile Recovery Act," SB 707, calls for clothing producers to create and fund an organization to help launch a textile recycling program overseen by CalRecycle. It passed the Assembly 46 to 5 on Wednesday. Newman's bill is meant to reduce textiles that end up in landfills every year. About 1.2 million tons of textiles were thrown out in California in 2021. Newman's office has said that while most of that material could be reused or recycled, only about 15 percent currently is. The bill excludes mattresses and carpets covered by existing take-back programs.

Introduced in 2023, the bill passed the Senate last spring before stalling in the Assembly amid opposition from textile industry groups. Newman negotiated with the groups and made changes to the bill, including excluding retailers with less than $1 million in sales, structuring the program after other "extended producer responsibility" programs, and addressing online marketplaces to clear key Assembly committees this year. The bill heads to a concurrence vote in the Senate. The legislative session ends Saturday. Newsom then has until Sept. 30 to sign the bill, veto it, or let it become law without his signature. If the legislation becomes law, it would still take several years for any clothing recycling program to be operational. It requires a plan to be approved by CalRecycle by July 1, 2030.

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Because California Gas Prices Aren’t High Enough Already Gov. Gavin Newsom wants lawmakers to hold a special session to deal with energy issues, according to four legislative sources. This is a signal that his end-of-session bid to rein in gasoline price spikes is facing opposition among Democrats. Newsom on Tuesday evening floated the idea of a special session to Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas and Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire, according to a legislative source who was granted anonymity to discuss confidential negotiations.

The move came after Newsom's office presented bill language to Assembly Democrats earlier to give the California Energy Commission more authority to oversee oil refiners' supplies, a move aimed at controlling gasoline price spikes. The proposal met skepticism from moderates in the Assembly, who were concerned the move risked increasing gas prices, per several sources. Assembly leadership was receptive to taking more time with it in a special session, while some senators balked.

Sen. Nancy Skinner, who authors the refiner proposal in SB 950, said she supports completing it in regular sessions. "I hope we would get it done now," she said. "Be smart, get it done now."

McGuire declined to say whether he supported the idea on Wednesday, but Sens. Lena Gonzalez and Scott Wiener also said they'd like to pass the refinery bill before the regular session ends Saturday. “We don’t need a special session, we should just do the work before recess,” said Wiener.

Several senators said the special session could also incorporate other hard-to-land energy proposals to reduce electricity bills and streamline permitting.

The refinery bill would give the CEC authority to require refiners to provide advance notification of how they plan to make up for lost production during outages associated with maintenance at refineries. It would also authorize the state to require refiners to store more products and to impose penalties of up to $1 million per day for noncompliance. Refinery sources told WECA they would have to use tankers anchored offshore to store refined fuel to comply. #WCGW

Newsom spokesperson Izzy Gardon said Newsom, who was at home in Marin, was still focused on passing the bill during this session. "We're focused on this one," he said.

Newsom has been concerned about gas prices, which rose as high as $6.44 per gallon in the fall of 2022. He called a special session in December 2022 that resulted in SB 1 X-2. This bill directed the CEC to collect and analyze gasoline market data and decide whether to impose new regulations on oil refiners, including a potential profit cap. The CEC has focused on refiners’ inventories as a price driver, leading to the proposal to require more storage. The agency has also said it plans to announce whether to impose a profit cap this fall.

Republican Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo has raised concerns that Newsom's push could raise Nevada state's gas prices since the state gets most of its gasoline from California. Industry representatives from Arizona, which also gets gas from California, have raised concerns.

A range of energy proposals in the Legislature, including those on permit streamlining and electricity affordability, have also struggled to gain approval from the Senate, Assembly and governor’s office in the last days of the session.

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I Want to Be Your Governor. I know we haven’t picked which loser we want for President, and I am already talking about 2026, but…Conservative commentator Steve Hilton is seriously considering a run for governor and is already piquing the interests of Silicon Valley assholes.

Three people in close touch with him told POLITICO that Hilton, the former Fox News host and policy adviser to British Prime Minister David Cameron, is mulling a run to succeed California Gov. Gavin Newsom in two years.

While Hilton and his team did not comment when asked about the story, several prominent political figures in the state conveyed that the Silicon Valley entrepreneur, who has been increasing his public appearances and focus on California public policy, is already deep in discussions about a possible run as a Republican.

“He is thinking very seriously about running for governor, and he is doing it in a very organized way,” said Jim Brulte, former California Republican Party chairman and GOP leader of the state Senate. “I know he’s talking to a lot of the right people because I have heard from a lot of the right people that he’s talking to them.”

His candidacy would be a major test of voters’ appetites to challenge Democratic dogma and conventional wisdom in one of the nation’s most significant, bluest states. It also could help resolve whether deteriorating conditions on the ground — pockets of high crime, homelessness and soaring cost of living — will precipitate a fulsome conversation about alternative leadership that hasn’t happened in decades.

Word of Hilton’s interest has already caught the attention of Silicon Valley leaders, including figures pining for a political disruptor. In an interview, Chamath Palihapitiya, the billionaire tech venture capitalist who has increasingly waded into national and state politics, said Hilton’s emergence could jump-start conversations around various issues plaguing California.

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Andrew Who? GOP Rep. Michelle Steel appears to be distancing herself from longtime ally Andrew Do, an Orange County supervisor facing calls to resign amid a federal probe related to reports that he directed millions of taxpayer dollars to a nonprofit run by his daughter.

Do was previously listed among Steel’s endorsements on her campaign website but had removed his name from the roster as of Monday. Lance Trover, a spokesperson for her campaign, said in a statement that “public officials must be held accountable for their actions, but like any other American, they are entitled to due process of the law. Steel is fighting a close reelection battle this year against Democrat Derek Tran, who has been working to tie Steel to Do’s turmoil.

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I don’t usually comment on the specifics of my sausage-making, but this one caught my eye. FYI, I did not receive any PPP loans. Lobbyist Settlement The lobbying firm California Advisors LLC, including partner Delaney Hunter and former partner William Gonzalez, have agreed to pay $580,000 in damages and penalties over allegations they fraudulently sought a federal Paycheck Protection Program loan during the pandemic. The U.S. Attorney's Office announced the settlement on Monday, noting the loan program wasn’t open to firms that primarily lobby. Hunter and Gonzalez both signed the settlement agreement. They received a PPP loan for $144,340! Cue the tears.

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Third Circuit Holds Multiemployer Pension Fund Claim Cannot Be Enforced due to Unreasonable Delay in Providing Notice of Withdrawal Liability Assessment While California is in the Ninth Circuit, this story caught my eye. In July, the Third Circuit upheld a District of New Jersey decision to throw out a withdrawal liability assessment, finding the multiemployer pension fund was barred from pursuing its claim because the fund unreasonably delayed notification of a withdrawal liability assessment for 12 years.

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), as amended by the Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act of 1980 (MPPA), sets minimum funding and other standards for multiemployer defined benefit pension plans. Under ERISA and MPPA, an employer that exits a multiemployer plan must pay “withdrawal liability” to the fund to cover the employer’s “share” of the fund’s unfunded vested liabilities.

This is relevant as some contractors who work on PLA projects could be hit with a withdrawal penalty. Story

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California Court Holds Mechanic's Lien Enforceable Despite Failure to Provide Preliminary Notice In a recent case, the California Court of Appeal held that a contractor could foreclose a mechanic's lien over the project owner's objection, even though the contractor had not provided a preliminary notice of lien to the project owner's construction lender. The court based its decision on the lack of prejudice to the lender.

As you all know, California law requires contractors to provide a preliminary notice of mechanic's lien to any lender on the project. The notice is a prerequisite to the lien's validity. In the case at issue, the contractor did not provide the lender with a preliminary notice. When the owner did not pay the contractor, the contractor sought to foreclose its lien. The owner opposed the foreclosure on the ground that the lien was invalid because the preliminary notice had not been given to the lender, who had a trust deed.

In a recent case, the California Court of Appeal held that a contractor could foreclose a mechanic's lien over the project owner's objection, even though the contractor had not provided a preliminary notice of lien to the project owner's construction lender. The court based its decision on the lack of prejudice to the lender. Story

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OSHA’s Walkaround Rule Raises Questions of Liability, Safety OSHA’s new employee walkaround rule has raised many questions. The final rule was enacted on May 31, allowing employees to select a third-party representative to be present during OSHA inspections. The agency has touted the change to improve inspections by increasing worker representation and making it easier for compliance officers to obtain more information about workplace safety. “Worker involvement in the inspection process is essential for thorough and effective inspections and making workplaces safer,” Doug Parker, assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health, said in a press release. Story

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When Does Job-Hunting By CA Lawmakers Raise Questions? Like we need more lobbyists. CalMatters reports: At the end of this year’s legislative session, nearly a quarter of the 120 lawmakers will depart and collect their final state paycheck in late December.

Some hope to start in a new elected office next year, while others will return to their previous jobs. However, based on recent history, at least one in five will land a job at companies or organizations trying to influence California’s government.

And as CalMatters Digital Democracy reporter Ryan Sabalow explains, some may be job hunting while still voting on bills that could affect their prospective new bosses.

Outgoing Republican Assemblymember Devon Mathis of Visalia: “August is kind of … the interview period. You see people that are trying to shop, you know, for a third-house gig or something like that.”

While legislators are still in office, state ethics guidelines allow voting on bills that could benefit a “significant segment” of an industry as long as they don’t specifically affect their would-be employer. Mathis has started a public relations firm and agreed to work for an energy company, but he said he checked with state ethics officials to make sure he wasn’t violating any laws.

And lawmakers aren’t required to publicly disclose if they’re in job talks with an outside organization trying to influence state policy. Ethics experts and good governance advocates argue the rules should be updated so that the public can at least know if a lawmaker has a new job lined up while they’re still casting votes. When legislators abstain from voting, which is common, there’s also no way to know if it’s because of a conflict of interest.

After leaving office, a one-year “cooling off period” prevents lawmakers from directly lobbying their former colleagues. But they can still work for a company that’s lobbying the Legislature.

A CalMatters analysis of 180 lawmakers who left office in 2012 found that about 40 registered as lobbyists, worked as political consultants, or took executive-level jobs with companies or organizations actively lobbying at the Capitol. Story

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Does Construction Need More Access to Opioid Overdose Meds When people think about the potential dangers of working on a construction site, falling off scaffolding or being injured or killed by heavy machinery are typically the situations that come to mind. To be sure, these are all very real risks. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that construction workers already face the highest number of fatal work injuries compared to any other profession. Story

PLAs Cost Taxpayers What? A new 35-page study by Rand estimates the effects of a project labor agreement (PLA) requiring union construction labor on the production costs of publicly funded permanent supportive housing projects aimed at addressing chronic homelessness in Los Angeles. The results indicate that the PLA added 21 percent to total development costs. Additional evidence presented suggests that longer project completion time is one potential mechanism driving this cost effect. Study

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BAHFA Decides, Not 2024 A Bay Area affordable housing bond of $20 billion to invest in producing and preserving affordable housing in the nine-county region had been proposed for the November 2024 ballot. But because this is California, state Senator Dave Cortese amended a bill to require PLAs on any construction using bond proceeds. WECA contacted Bay Area citizen groups and assisted in crafting a ballot opposition statement that was reportedly instrumental in the decision to drop the bond. Leaders of the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority and the Association of Bay Area Governments issued a joint statement on removing it.

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Hawaii’s New “Captive Audience” Law: What Employers Need to Know Under current federal law, employers may legally require workers to attend meetings during working hours that concern the employer’s views on politics, religion, and similar matters. Hawaii recently joined several states, including Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, New York, and Oregon, that have enacted laws restricting employers from requiring employees to attend such employer-sponsored meetings. Hawaii’s Captive Audience Prohibition Act, Senate Bill 2715 (SB 2715), went into effect July 2, 2024, and is codified in Hawaii Revised Statutes § 377-6. Learn More

But, you ask, why is a Hawaii law important to California, Utah, and Arizona contractors? Because California is poised to adopt its own bill to restrict the free-speech rights of employers. Senator Aisha Wahab (I bet readers remember that name) is the author of SB 399, which effectively prohibits any discussion of political matters in the workplace and is unnecessary in light of existing California and federal laws that protect employees from any coercion related to their political beliefs or activities outside the workplace. The bill is also opposed by a coalition of public employer associations led by the League of California Cities, which argues this bill “would treat many routine government functions as political matters and interfere with government operations” or “potentially be argued to be political, leading to costly disputes.”

The California Labor Federation and California Teamsters Public Affairs Council co-sponsored the bill. Despite the Legislative Analyst’s Office projecting that the General Fund faces a structural deficit in the tens of billions of dollars over the next several fiscal years, Democrats are expected to vote AYE if the bill comes off suspense.

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Illinois Makes Move to Ban Employer-Sponsored Meetings For over 75 years, the National Labor Relations Board and courts (including the U.S. Supreme Court) have held the right of employees to make informed choices about unions is best served when employers share competing information—the side of the story employees don’t typically hear when organizers are soliciting them to sign union cards, petitions, or cast a vote. On July 31, 2024, Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker signed into law Illinois Senate Bill 3649 (SB 3649). The new law is scheduled to take effect immediately and is aimed at prohibiting employers from discharging or disciplining employees who refuse to attend mandatory employer-sponsored meetings. Learn More

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Bill C-58’s Ban on Use of Replacement Workers in Strikes or Lockouts in Federally Regulated Workplaces to Become Effective on June 20, 2025 On June 20, 2024, Bill C-58, an Act to amend the Canada Labour Code and the Canada Industrial Relations Board Regulations, 2012 (Bill C-58) received Royal Assent. Bill C-58, which will go into effect on June 20, 2025, prohibits an employer from using the services of replacement workers to perform all or part of an employee's duties in the bargaining unit on strike or locked out in federally regulated workplaces, subject to exceptions. Once effective, the new law will influence how an employer in a federally regulated workplace conducts itself during strikes and lockouts.

Why do I care about Canada, besides being a beautiful country and a major trading partner of the USA? I haven’t decided who I am voting for in November, but I could envision a future Harris/Walz administration if the Democrats build a wave, take the House and Senate, and toss out the filibuster, where a bill like C-58 hits home. Learn More

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In Defense of Liberty, Jack Karlson, the Australian petty crook whose 1991 arrest outside a Chinese restaurant unexpectedly became one of the great viral clips of all time decades later, died recently at 82. If you’ve never seen his finest moment, take a second and do yourself a favor.

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This year, Proposition 5 is a constitutional amendment referred to on the ballot by lawmakers that would lower the threshold of voter backing necessary for cities and counties to pass bonds for public housing and infrastructure. In the past, the same number has been used for measures that would: Create an office of state corporations commissioner to oversee investment banks and stock brokers (1914, passed)...Impose a system of land-value taxation (1915, failed)...Create a state licensing board for chiropractors (1920, failed)...

Ban boxing and wrestling prizefights (1928, failed)...Provide pensions to state employees (1930, passed)...Legalize gambling on horse and dog racing (1932, failed)...Require Los Angeles and Orange County property assessors to reassess properties damaged in that year’s Long Beach Earthquake (1933, passed)...

Issue $5 million in bonds for an exhibition celebrating completion of the Boulder Dam (1936, failed)...Reinstate state employees and public officials who resigned their posts for military service (1944, passed)...Allow legislators to simultaneously sit on boards or commissions that fund state agencies (1950, failed)...Prohibit “subversive persons,” including those who endorse overthrow of the U.S. government, from holding any state job (1952, passed)...

Cap state legislators’ pay at the average salary of supervisors in the five most populous counties (1958, failed)...Require state Senate approval for the appointment of UC regents (1972, passed) ...Abolish the state inheritance tax (1982, passed)...Legalize tribal casinos and permit the state to sign gaming compacts with tribes (1998, passed)…Reduce penalties for marijuana possession and expand treatment rehabilitation programs for non-violent drug offenders (2008, failed)... Amend Prop 13 to allow seniors to transfer the assessed value of their home to a new property (2018, failed).

The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association won the first round in a legal fight over the amendment’s ballot label. A Sacramento County judge ruled that the ballot description does not make it clear that the measure reduces the threshold to pass local housing bonds to 55 percent rather than raise it. Alas the appeals court rejected the trial courts decision and concluded the language needed no rewrite.

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Gavin Newsom’s Office Pays a Famed Photographer $200,000 a Year. Newsom has quietly hired a famed photographer—who has previously worked with Mark Zuckerberg, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama—to burnish his man-about-the-state image. Charles Ommanney, a former photojournalist and war photographer who traveled with Newsom to China last fall as a freelancer, was on hand recently to capture Newsom in aviator sunglasses, jeans, and work gloves, picking up trash left over from a recently cleared homeless encampment in Los Angeles County. Late last month, he photographed the governor surveying the damage of the Borel Fire in Kern County.

This week, standing on the edge of a steep river embankment in a bright-white shirt, he pointed his lens at the governor as he collected items left behind in the San Fernando Valley encampment: a shopping cart, skateboard, soiled blankets, and tires.

The governor’s office named Ommanney its director of photography about six months ago. According to the state controller's office, the title comes with a $200,000 per year salary, which makes him among the top earners in the Newsom administration. The governor himself drew a $234,101 salary last year. Ommanney’s position is new for Newsom’s office, although his team points out that other governors use the role. It didn’t include an announcement, as the administration usually shares only new senior staff hires.

“Charles plays an instrumental role in communicating the work of state government across visual platforms—including social media, helping us meet Californians where they are at,” said Izzy Gardon, a Newsom spokesperson, in a statement to POLITICO.

The job makes sense for a governor with national ambitions and an affinity for developing his own media to tout his accomplishments. This year, instead of the traditional State of the State address before a live audience of lawmakers and journalists, Newsom’s office produced a slick video showing shots of the governor delivering his speech behind a podium cut together with relevant images. The address, released just ahead of President Joe Biden’s disastrous June debate, leaned heavily into national issues and painted a dramatic picture that his team could easily broadcast to the national audience the speech seemed to target. The video featured some of Ommanney’s photos. Newsom hired the photographer full-time in January after he had worked freelance last year when he documented the governor’s trip to China.

Election Polling A new round of surveys from GOP pollster Public Opinion Strategies, conducted for the Competitiveness Coalition, finds a tight presidential race in five battleground states:

• Pennsylvania: Kamala Harris at 48%, Donald Trump at 45%
• Wisconsin: Harris 48%, Trump 46%
• Arizona: Trump 48%, Harris 43%
• Nevada: Trump 46%, Harris 45%
• Michigan: Harris 45%, Trump 45%

Some caveats: In this sample, 47% of undecided voters lean Republican, compared to 19% who say they are Democrats. Each state had a sample size of 400 likely voters. The margin of error is ±2.19%. The full results

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Harris Alumni Reap the Change: When Joe Biden tapped Kamala Harris as his running mate in 2020, the first-term senator from California had only a handful of alumni in the lobbying world. Nearly four years and one term in the White House later, the influence industry in Washington is replete with a network of former staffers for Harris from her time in the Senate, White House, and as California attorney general.

The Harris aides who have since landed downtown include Yasmin Nelson, one of Harris’ top aides in the Senate, who now works for Holland & Knight, lobbying for clients like Intel, Mothering Justice, and Urban Mom Collective. Former Harris spokesperson Meaghan Lynch is now a federal affairs lead at Airbnb, and former chief economic adviser Deanne Millison is now a lobbyist at Ford Motor Co.

Longtime Harris adviser Andy Vargas is now a senior vice president at Mercury Public Affairs, and the vice president’s former director of public engagement and intergovernmental affairs, Michael Collins, lobbies for Starbucks. Former Harris Senate aide Robyn Linscott is now director of education and family policy at the advocacy group Arc of the United States. Government affairs shops for blue-chip companies such as T-Mobile, General Mills, and Intuit, and trade groups such as the Motion Picture Association and Interactive Advertising Bureau now include Harris alumni as well.

Global public affairs, communications and consulting firms have snapped up former Harris staffers as well. Her former deputy chief of staff Michael Fuchs now works for the Biden-heavy consultancy WestExec Advisors, and former chief economic adviser Mike Pyle works for Macro Advisory Partners, the former private sector home of Biden national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

Harris advisers Shari Yost Gold and Amanda Bailey now advise clients at the lobbying firm Invariant; former social media director Jeremy Thompson now works on digital campaigns at Edelman Global Advisory; Maria Restrepo is now at Tusk Strategies, and former Senate aide Chris Harris is now a spokesperson at the gun control advocacy group Giffords.

Two other former Harris staffers, Rachel Palermo and Josh Hsu, now work for the government controversies practice at the white shoe law firm Jenner & Block. Several of her former speechwriters are now at the comms firms Fenway and West Wing Writers. Former campaign staffers Samantha Maciel and Chris Keosian are now lobbyists at Townsend Public Affairs and Best Best & Krieger, respectively.

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Judge Halts Unionization Effort at Wonderful Nurseries The Wonderful Company has won an initial victory in court over an attempt by United Farm Workers to unionize its operation in Kern County. A Kern County Superior Court judge issued a preliminary injunction to temporarily halt the hearing between Wonderful and the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB). Story

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Who’s on Second? National labor union leaders are generally amenable to everyone on Vice President Harris’ Democratic shortlist but have yet to coalesce around a favorite publicly. “There are a lot of strong candidates because part of Joe Biden’s legacy is transforming the party into a pro-union party at every level,” said Stuart Appelbaum, the president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. “Our priority has to be to focus on how we will have the best opportunity to win.” At the same time, local unions are trying to boost their hometown guy and familiarize labor powerbrokers with some contenders who are lesser-known nationally. “A lot of our leaders here are trying to educate their national leadership about what Gov. [Roy] Cooper has done for our state,” North Carolina AFL-CIO President MaryBe McMillan said in an interview. Of course, Cooper later withdrew from consideration.

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Construction job openings decline by 19% According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' latest jobs report, construction job openings fell by 71,000, or about 19%, from May to June. The data measures positions for which employers are currently hiring. The 295,000 available jobs on the last day of June marked a 29% decrease from the same month in 2023. In total, 3.5% of all construction jobs went unfilled in June. Experts continue to ascribe recent drops in job openings to slowdowns in residential construction, saying that high interest rates have dragged down home-building backlogs. In contrast, infrastructure and manufacturing spending continue to anchor commercial work. Story

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True Cost of Transitioning Fleets to Electric May Be More Than CARB Anticipated

By Mike McManus, Director of Engineering Construction & Industry Relations AGC San Diego Chapter

Reprinted with Permission

Ryder recently published a white paper on the cost of electric vehicle conversion for U.S. commercial fleets that was very different than the analysis put forth by the California Air Resources Board (CARB), suggesting that this cost-saving measure proposed by CARB may instead increase consumer costs across the board. This comes as part of CARB's justification for the Advanced Clean Fleets (ACF) Regulation. The Ryder analysis factored in the cost of the vehicle, maintenance, and the drivers. In addition, it factored in the range, payload, diesel fuel versus electric and the required electric vehicle charging time. 

Ryder is one of the longest-running fleet owners in North America, with 90 years of experience in truck transportation and nearly 250,000 trucks under management. They obviously are one of the major stakeholders in this proposed transition to battery electric trucks in California.

The white paper analyzed and compared costs of fleet transitioning in California and Georgia. California has much higher fuel costs than Georgia. However, it does not look like good economics in either state. Here are some highlights from the California comparison.

The first comparison was made with short-haul delivery vans. The assumed operation was 80 miles, via two trips, daily, with an average payload of 2,500 pounds per day. The comparison was annualized into a total cost to transport the payload for a year. For short haul vans the total cost per year was pretty close with $170,000 for internal combustion engines (ICE) and $176,000 for electric (EV), about a 3% difference in cost. Again, that includes the costs for labor, fuel, electricity and maintenance.

The next comparison was of Class 6 trucks, mid-size trucks assuming hauls of 100 to 200 miles and an average payload of 11,000 pounds. The annual cost of transport was $221,000 for ICE trucks, while for EV trucks, it was estimated to be $268,000 per year. This makes it 22% more expensive to transport goods with EV trucks.

For big rig trucks, the cost to transport goods per year was not close at all. For ICE trucks the cost of moving a payload of 29,000 pounds a day for a year was estimated at $334,000. For EV trucks, because of the weight of the batteries, they could only move a payload of 22,000 pounds. The analysis also concluded that because of charging time, it would take two EV trucks to move the same cargo as one ICE truck. For an EV big rig, the annual cost of moving the same payload as the ICE truck, described above, was estimated to be $649,000. A 94% increase would be passed onto the customer and the consumers in this instance.

For mixed fleets with a combination of small, medium and heavy-duty big rigs transporting goods, the cost of transitioning from ICE trucks to EV trucks would result in a 56% increase. This would be passed on to the consumers and customers of fleet owners. This would be a massive economic burden on California taxpayers. The Ryder white paper did not consider the cost of bringing power to truck terminals or the societal costs of expanding the electric grid, so it would seem to be a low-side estimate. What was CARB’s “big picture” analysis of the cost to California consumers?

CARB says it will save the consumers money to transition to all electric fleets. According to the ACF analysis published by CARB, the transitioning to EV trucks will save California $48 billion from 2024 to 2050. The analysis by CARB says that the savings in fuel costs and maintenance costs will far outweigh the additional costs for infrastructure and additional purchase costs for EV trucks versus ICE trucks.

CARB’s ACF regulatory scheme is being challenged in state court in California and in federal court in the D.C. Circuit. Will CARB’s economic claims stand up to that scrutiny? Click here to read Ryder's white paper.

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The National Debt Is Now More Than $35 Trillion. What Does That Mean? The gross federal debt of the United States has surpassed $35,000,000,000,000. Although the debt affects each of us, it may be difficult to put such a large number into perspective and fully understand its implications. The infographic below offers different ways of looking at the debt and its relationship to the economy, the budget, and American families.

The $35 trillion gross federal debt includes debt held by the public as well as debt held by federal trust funds and other government accounts. In very basic terms, this can be thought of as debt that the government owes to others plus debt that it owes to itself.

America’s high and rising debt matters because it threatens our economic future. The coronavirus pandemic rapidly accelerated our fiscal challenges, but we were already on an unsustainable path, with structural drivers that existed long before the pandemic. Putting our nation on a better fiscal path will help ensure a stronger and more resilient economy for the future. Story

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As the PBGC Gives $5.7 Billion In Taxpayer Funds to A Failed Teamster Pension Plan, The White House Boasts About It The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) announced that the New England Teamsters Pension Plan (New England Teamsters Plan), based in Burlington, Massachusetts, and covering 72,141 participants in the transportation industry, would receive a $5.7 billion taxpayer-funded bailout. As of July 29, 2024, PBGC has announced approval of about $67.7 billion in SFA to plans that cover about 1,148,000 workers, retirees, and beneficiaries. Upon the announcement, and despite the U.S. being $35 trillion in debt, the White House issued a statement reminding Americans that the Biden Administration had protected "600,000 Teamster Pensions" through the taxpayer-funded bailout. Story

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Brace Yourselves; Rules and Penalties are Coming for “Enterprise-wide and Egregious” Violations You may remember back to 2021 when California Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 606 into law. The bill created new categories of Cal/OSHA violations: “enterprise-wide” and “egregious,” which were incorporated into the Labor Code Sections 6317 and 6317.8. Attorneys blogged about it here. The rulemaking is necessary to incorporate these classifications into the existing regulatory framework for citation classification and penalty calculation and to provide related definitions and procedures. Notably, these proposed changes are similar to Federal OSHA’s. Cal/OSHA believes enforcing enterprise-wide and egregious violations is necessary to ensure California’s enforcement program remains “at least as effective” as the federal program. Story

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Redemption Some readers may recall Laura Richardson. She served on the Long Beach City Council for two terms, was elected to the State Assembly in 2006, and was elected to Congress in an August 2007 Special election.

After her election to the California Assembly, Richardson purchased a home in Sacramento with no money down and a subprime mortgage. According to county records, Richardson received a default notice and Notice of Trustee's Sale in late 2007. In December 2007, Richardson was behind in payments by more than $18,000. According to the couple that sold the home to Richardson, Richardson was not maintaining the home.

The real estate broker who bought Richardson's Sacramento house at the foreclosure sale accused her of receiving preferential treatment because her lender had issued a notice to rescind the sale. James York, owner of Red Rock Mortgage, filed a lawsuit against Richardson and her lender, Washington Mutual, but settled out of court with the terms not disclosed. Richardson had not been making payments on the property for nearly a year and defaulted on her two other houses in Long Beach and San Pedro. Representative Richardson (D-Long Beach) said that the auction should never have been held because she had worked out a loan modification agreement with her lender. Besides, she was a member of Congress and did the people’s work. 

Richardson left Congress after being re-districted, losing her seat to Janice Hahn, now on the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors.

Richardson could now win the election to the State Senate, where she can serve for the next 12 years. In March, she came in first by 3,246 votes in this D+48 district that goes from Inglewood to San Pedro.

BAHFA In 2019, the Legislature enacted AB 1487 (Chiu), to establish the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority (BAHFA). BAHFA is authorized to raise, administer, and allocate funding and provide technical assistance in the nine-county Bay Area region for tenant protection, affordable housing preservation, and new affordable housing production. Two governmental entities provide region-wide housing planning: the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG). These entities govern BAHFA. Among its powers, AB 1487 allows its board to place various revenue-generating measures on the ballot in all nine Bay Area counties. Specifically, the bill allows the authority to approve:

• Various types of special taxes, including parcel taxes;
• A regional commercial linkage fee; and
• General obligation and revenue bonds.

If approved, BAHFA retains 20 percent of the revenue raised and distributes the remaining funds directly to counties or cities for specified housing projects, programs, and related infrastructure. BAHFA planned to put a regional financing measure on the November 2020 ballot, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced the agency to delay its plans. The Budget Act of 2021 (SB 129, Skinner) allocated $20 million to BAHFA to fund five BAHFA pilot programs.

In June, the BAHFA board agreed to ask voters across the nine counties of the Bay Area to approve an IOU of up to $20 billion dollars. The bulk of the funds would go toward the construction of new subsidized housing projects, with the rest to be spent buying up existing units (to make or keep them affordable) and on housing-related infrastructure.

But big borrowing comes with a big cost. The authority estimates that paying off principal and interest will add up to nearly $50 billion, to be paid via higher property taxes. Even for one of California’s most reliably progressive regions, that’s no sure thing. Last March, a mental health housing and treatment bond was backed by Gov. Gavin Newsom and supporters spent nearly 15,000 times more than the opponents. Still, Prop. 1 passed by less than half of a percentage point. Polling commissioned by BAHFA found that 54 percent of likely voters support the bond. That may be more than a majority, but in California, where most local bonds require the backing of two-thirds of voters, that isn’t enough to pass. That could change this November. Legislators approved a constitutional amendment to reduce the threshold needed to approve local housing and infrastructure borrowing to 55 percent. That change is headed for the November ballot, and if it passes, it would apply to any bond concurrently on the ballot, including the Bay Area bond. That means the fate of California’s largest-ever housing bond may hinge on the outcome of not one ballot measure but two.

But, and I suspect every reader saw this coming, the board concluded (after careful study, I am sure) that any money they send to local agencies to produce this vitally needed housing comes with a payout to the State Building and Construction Trades Council.

And here comes Senator Dave Cortese to the rescue. His SB 753, that was introduced to require motion picture production employers to hire a qualified set safety advisor and to be on set daily, was stripped of that language and amended to mandate that any construction or rehabilitative project receiving funding from BAHFA is a public work and subject to prevailing wage and a PLA. Who are Dave’s leading campaign contributors? General trade unions and public sector unions, of course. The Assembly Housing Committee approved the bill on a party-line vote, and it is awaiting judgment in Assembly appropriations when the Legislature returns in August.
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California Court of Appeal Thwarts Efforts to Conceal Important Driving History Information from Employers California employers are familiar with how officials continue to restrict employers' access to public records, including criminal history information. For example, lengthy delays in completing standard criminal background checks are now routine in California. Apart from criminal background checks, many employers rely on motor vehicle record checks (MVRs) to vet candidates for positions that require driving as part of the job. In Doe v. California Dept. of Motor Vehicles, the court of appeal rejected the plaintiffs’ efforts to enjoin the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) from releasing information about the reason for a driver’s alcohol-impaired driving license suspension (e.g., the driver had an excessive blood-alcohol level) when the driver has not been convicted. Reversing the trial court, the court of appeal held the disclosure of such information does not constitute the disclosure of information about a non-conviction arrest within the meaning of California’s privacy laws. This is a rare “win” for employers in the Golden State. Story
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“New PAGA” Brings Guarded Optimism to California Employers The long-awaited PAGA reform legislation (“New PAGA”) brings significant change and some clarification to the 20-year-old law. It reconciles previously ambiguous interpretations of the law and adds new provisions that will have far-reaching effects on the litigation of PAGA actions. The new law provides further guidance and new opportunities for employers regarding plaintiff standing, cure, remediation, early settlement opportunities, and adjusted default penalty amounts. Some expect these changes to generate significant future litigation regarding their scope and implementation. More
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Five + Four = Nine The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is set to consider a proposed charter amendment to increase the number of board seats from five to nine. Each LA County supervisor oversees a district of approximately 2 million people and earns about $280,000. The proposal aims to establish a governance structure that is "more representative, accountable, and efficient." The county has not released a formal estimate for the cost of the proposed changes. If the board approves the proposal, which was announced last week by Supervisors Lindsey Horvath and Janice Hahn, it will go before voters on the November ballot. If the motion passes tomorrow, it will return at least twice to the board for final votes on language. The proposal also includes two additional reform measures changing the structure of the county's government. The County Chief Executive position, which oversees the county's $45.6 billion budget, would change from a board appointment to an elected post. It would also create an independent ethics commission. Fact sheet
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JATCs Rule The Biden/Harris administration has been on a blitz promoting registered union-friendly apprenticeships. Last Thursday, it doled out more than $244 million through a pair of grant programs. White House domestic policy adviser Neera Tanden also traveled with acting Labor Secretary Julie Su to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, to tout the announcement. It was part of a two-day swing through the Keystone State for Su, also joined in Philadelphia by Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo. Treasury recently finalized regulations tying registered apprenticeships and prevailing wage requirements to lucrative clean energy tax credits. Adeyemo said his priorities are ensuring employers are aware of these incentives — and that Treasury is serious about enforcing the labor requirements. “If you're going to claim the tax credit, you have to do the right thing and make sure you're paying employees the prevailing wage and making sure you're using legitimate apprenticeship programs,” he said in an interview. DOL is also working on an overhaul of the rules for apprenticeships, with the agency targeting August to finalize them — a potentially risky move that would expose them to a possible GOP rollback depending on the elections.
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Mark Who? Democrat donors are talking up a new potential candidate: Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona. Kelly, a former astronaut and U.S. Navy fighter pilot has won two elections in a crucial battleground state, demonstrates a potential allure to undecided moderates. (He is married to Gabby Giffords, the former Arizona Representative who survived an assassination attempt in 2011.) For some Democratic financial supporters, his bio makes him the man of the moment. However, Kelly has many drawbacks that other donor wish-list names share. Those include a lack of name recognition, logistical hurdles to taking over the Biden campaign’s infrastructure, and money. Also, a lack of experience on the national and international stage and side-eye from Arizona’s Bob Bartlett.
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Taxpayers Bail Out Another Failing Union Pension Fund With $1.5 Billion On Monday, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) announced that it had approved giving $1.5 billion of taxpayer money to yet another underfunded union pension plan: The American Federation of Musicians and Employers Pension Plan (American Federation of Musicians Plan), which is based in New York City and covers 49,180 participants in the entertainment industry. Story
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PROP 36 Lindsey Cobia, a consultant with close ties to Newsom, will lead the “No” campaign on the tough-on-crime initiative. Cobia is not working on behalf of the governor. Still, the two are on the same page: Besides her new gig battling Prop 36, Cobia is a key official on Newsom’s bid to make Democratic inroads in red terrain. Newsom is expanding his offensive against national Republican figures by channeling $10 million into a new political organization that will wade into red states through the 2024 cycle.

In a glossy launch video featuring images of longtime GOP nemeses like former President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Newsom said his newly launched “Campaign for Democracy” committee would organize and spend money in “states where freedom is most under attack.”
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More SCOC Tinkering with Voting The California Supreme Court has signaled they will consider a case asking for the removal of a November ballot measure that targets the funding of one organization, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. Late last week, the court requested briefs related to the Proposition 34 challenge on an expedited timeline, an unusual request that suggests it is open to hearing the case. If the state's highest court removes the measure from the November ballot, it will mark the second such decision in recent weeks. Last month, the court killed the Taxpayer Protection Act, a high-profile initiative that would have made raising taxes in the state more difficult. Opponents of Prop 34 have argued that it is unconstitutional because it targets one organization, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. The measure would require AHF to spend 98 percent of its taxpayer-generated revenues on direct patient care, an apparent attempt to stop the tax-exempt nonprofit from using its funding to advance its political agenda, including expanded rent control, at the ballot box. On Friday, the California Apartment Association filed a brief in support of Prop 34 — and the court asked for a reply from AHF within two business days. “It doesn’t happen often,” said Jerry Flanagan, the litigation director for Consumer Watchdog, a progressive non-profit that filed an amicus letter on behalf of AHF, about the quick timeline. “The justices are not going to push a quick turnaround if they’re not interested.”

Thank goodness we have the court protecting a voter’s right to vote!
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Matt Haney’s Boozy Campaign Fundraisers Under Investigation by State Watchdog Assembly Member Matt Haney’s mixing of business with pleasure by holding boozy campaign fundraisers at San Francisco 49ers games, Broadway shows and other sporting events has run the state assemblymember into hot water. The California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) is investigating Haney’s campaign this week after The Standard reported unusual fundraisers frequently featured on Haney’s Instagram account as he snapped pictures with family and friends. Haney spent more than $65,000 in campaign funds on 49ers tickets since the beginning of last year. His campaign also spent thousands on tickets, food and drinks while Haney watched the San Francisco Giants, Golden State Warriors and Broadway shows like “The Lion King.” Many of Haney’s recent donors said they were not invited to the games, raising questions about who attended. Story

Legislature Wants to Borrow More, Natch Politicians plan to borrow $10 billion from Wall Street for school construction and make taxpayers pay it back plus 80 percent in total interest costs. Several years ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom bragged about having a $97.5 billion surplus to expand health care, social equity, and educational programs. But facing mid-term elections in November 2022, Newsom and the State Legislature hatched a plan to give more than $9 billion of this money back to low—and moderate-income California residents. And for some reason, Newsom signed a contract with an out-of-state company instead of issuing checks to send this money as prepaid debit cards. According to recent reports, over half the cards issued still had unspent funds as of April. Some 624,000 cards had not even been activated. Hundreds of millions of dollars are being held by the state’s contractor, Money Network, benefiting no one in California. Worse, the state auditor released a report recently saying Money Network failed to answer half of the calls from residents who wanted to speak with an agent about the program or problems with their cards. Because of that, the auditor said it’s impossible to track how much fraud occurred, even though, per its $25 million contract with the state, Money Network was supposed to limit the fraud rate to 1 percent. And the state just signed another $32 million contract with Money Network to handle more benefits.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the legislation to place the bond on the ballot (AB 247) includes a “sweetener” for the State Building and Construction Trades Council. In an attempt to address concerns that poor school districts have little access to the state matching fund, because these small, primarily rural districts can’t raise the match, the state plans to increase state funding for certain districts on a sliding scale. The bill creates a sliding scale system where lower-wealth school districts will receive a higher state funding share for projects. The state grant amount for new construction would increase from 50 percent to 55 percent, and for modernization from 60 percent to 65 percent, based on the district's ability to generate local funds, the percentages of low-income, foster care, and English learner students, whether the district has fewer than 200 students, and whether the district’s project has a project labor agreement. We all know the 18 percent cost increase for a PLA will certainly help these poorer districts build new, or repair existing facilities.
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If You Are Planning on Social Security, Bob, Yeah, Well, Don’t Social Security has been known as “the third rail of American politics” since the early 1980s. Touching the program can prove deadly to a politician’s career, the thinking goes. The program is on solid footing, but the latest projections point to benefit cuts in the next decade. On the campaign trail, the presidential candidates are promising to preserve the program and protect seniors. Still, snappy lines at campaign rallies can mask the issue's complexities. “I think there's a real difficulty in talking about Social Security because there's been so much storytelling,” said Romina Boccia, director of budget and entitlement policy at the Cato Institute. “And there's so many myths out there about how the program works.” For years, the system has been paying out more in benefits than it brings in in payroll taxes, partly due to the combination of lower birth rates and an aging population. Another reason is growing income inequality. There’s a cap on the income taxed for Social Security, so the Americans who earn the most — and their employers — only pay Social Security taxes on the first $168,600 of income. Stephen Goss, the chief actuary of the Social Security Administration, explained the issue to members of Congress in testimony before the House Budget Committee earlier this month. More
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Utah To Finally Get Its Own Passport Office, After Romney Push Salt Lake City will get a permanent passport office, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Tuesday. The closest passport office to Salt Lake is currently 500 miles away in Denver. Still, after a concerted effort by Sen. Mitt Romney and other members of Utah's congressional delegation, an office will soon be open in Utah. Romney released a statement after the announcement saying he and his team had worked for more than three years to bring a passport agency to Utah: "Utah is experiencing rapid population growth as it becomes a center for global commerce and tourism - as well as a home base to thousands of Latter-day Saints who embark on worldwide religious missions each year," Romney said. "A passport agency in Salt Lake now means that Utahns will not have to travel such long distances to obtain in-person consular services. I could not be more thrilled with today's announcement." In a statement released alongside the announcement, Blinken said six new agencies will open, including the one in Salt Lake, and that the department is issuing more passports “than ever before.” Story
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Flash: Indoor Heat Rule Done For the second time in three months, the Cal/OSHA Standards Board has adopted a rule to protect indoor workers from heat illness. In contrast to the controversial and ultimately rejected March version, this one will likely pass muster with the Office of Administrative Law. It could become effective as soon as August. The new standard is General Industry Safety Orders §3396, and it closely follows the current outdoor heat regulation in many instances. Employers must provide a quart of water per hour, access to “cool-down” areas, emergency response and acclimation procedures, and training. The basic provisions trigger when the indoor temperature reaches 82ºF. More detailed requirements kick in when the temperature is 87ºF, the heat index equals 87ºF, employees wear clothing that restricts heat removal, and the temperature is at least 82ºF, or they work in a high-radiant heat area and the temperature is 82º. In those cases, employers must measure the temperature and heat index and evaluate environmental risk factors. Employees must have “active involvement” in planning and conducting these tasks. Employers then must use engineering and administrative controls and, in some cases, personal heat-protective equipment to protect employees from the heat. Prisons, local detention facilities, and juvenile facilities are exempted from the regulation and will be subject to separate rulemaking. With the standard newly adopted, the Board is requesting OAL expedite its effective date. If that happens, the standard will be in force by early August. If not, the rule will take effect on October 1st.
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Labor Commissioner Audit: At a recent hearing, state labor officials discussed an audit of the Labor Commissioner’s Office that said severe understaffing is the primary cause of backlogs in the unit handling wage theft claims. Lawmakers were skeptical that approving more positions — which they have done the past few years — would completely solve the problem. Labor Commissioner Lilia Garcia-Brower said some of her initiatives, such as assigning staff more efficiently, are promising. New positions have helped the office shave the average wait time for a wage claim hearing and decision from 1,000 days to 800 over the past two years. That’s an improvement from the 890 found in the audit, but still a far cry from the 135 required by state law — which the office has failed to reach for decades. As part of a business-union deal reached over PAGA last week, the state will soon hand the department emergency hiring authority to try to address the staffing crisis.
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Making Voting Easier... Or Harder?: Nearly a decade ago, California revamped its voter registration program to allow eligible people to register to vote when they visit the Department of Motor Vehicles. But with 4.7 million eligible Californians still not registered to vote — more than the combined population of half of the states in the U.S. — advocates are pushing a proposal to further streamline the automatic registration process. SB 299, by Sen. Monique Limón (D-Santa Barbara), would implement a “back-end” process, automatically registering people to vote if the DMV or other state agencies receive information verifying eligibility, allowing them to opt out later. Limón told POLITICO that while the bill doesn’t address voter turnout, removing the step for people to opt-in to voting allows organizations to focus on informing voters on the issues. But the bill’s opponents—the ACLU, League of Women Voters and Naleo Education Fund—argue the risks of implementing a new voter registration system outweigh the potential benefits. In an opposition letter, the groups said that while they share the goal of increasing voter registration, they believe the proposal “has significant potential to increase voter confusion, incorrectly deny eligible voters registration opportunities, create erroneous registrations and strip important voter preference information from registration records.”
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A new decision by an NLRB Regional Director may help clarify the issue. A question that has confounded many in the labor relations community for years is whether or not worker centers are, in fact, labor organizations. However, a new National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Regional Director (RD) decision may shed some light on the subject.
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EV Charging Desert  A new study led by Harvard University shows that some rural counties across the U.S. have become EV “charging deserts.” According to the study, 34 counties that once had public charging stations no longer do, and three dozen other counties have lost most of theirs. The study shows that the U.S. charging network’s reliability is at 78 percent, well below the Biden administration’s 97 percent goal. The charging network is “uneven,” according to Omar Asensio, a Georgia Institute of Technology professor doing a fellowship at Harvard’s Institute for Business in Global Society and one of the study's authors. Loren McDonald, the founder of the EV-charging data hub EVAdoption, said multiple factors could contribute to the trend. “They didn’t get a lot of use, and they got old and stopped working,” he said. “There was no motive, either by the charging network or the host, to keep them going.” Story
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Newsom Warns Of ‘Forces of Darkness’ Ahead of Presidential Debate Gov. Gavin Newsom struck a somber tone in his annual remarks to Californians last Tuesday. He warned that the state’s democratic values are at stake while castigating Republican opponents for rolling back reproductive rights and failing to pass meaningful immigration reform. He then announced he was immediately returning to Marin, which is, apparently, immune.
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Register for the July 10 virtual meeting for ADOT’s Electric Vehicle 2024 Plan Update The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) will host a virtual public meeting on July 10 for the 2024 Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Infrastructure Deployment Plan Update. The update will include information about the additional highways being added as EV corridors, proposed station locations, and the status of implementing stations identified in the 2022 and 2023 plans.

The virtual meeting will be held:

• Wednesday, July 10 at 6 p.m.
• Visit AZDOT.gov/EVPlan to register for the meeting and receive your link to attend.

The public can provide feedback on the EV Plan update through July 17 in the following ways:

• Complete an online survey: azdot.gov/EVcomments
• Email: AZEVPlan@azdot.gov
• Call: (800) 915-4301
• Mail: ADOT EV Plan, 1655 W. Jackson, MD 126F, Phoenix, AZ 85007
• Attend the virtual public meeting

For more information about the EV plan, visit AZDOT.gov/EVPlan.
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House Appropriators Lop Off a Fifth of DOL's Budget, a Third of NLRB's House Republican appropriators are again seeking steep cuts to the Department of Labor’s budget as part of funding legislation released last week. The GOP proposed allocating $10.5 billion for DOL, a 23 percent cut from the $13.5 billion set aside for the department in the fiscal year that runs through the end of September. In March, President Joe Biden requested an additional $318 million in discretionary funding for DOL above FY24 levels. House appropriators attempted to slash DOL’s budget by about 30 percent last year, only to see their efforts dashed by their Senate counterparts amid White House pushback to such heavy cutbacks. GOP appropriators want to slice $75 million from DOL’s two main worker-protection arms, the Wage and Hour Division and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, a combined 12 percent cut to their budgets. The funding bill would bring the WHD budget down to $235 million and provide nearly $557.8 million for OSHA. In contrast, the Biden administration requested a $121 million boost for the two branches in its FY25 request. Separately, Republicans revived their bid to strip the National Labor Relations Board of a third of its funding, bringing its budget down to $200 million. Earlier in Biden’s term, the NLRB received its first increase in years, staving off impending furloughs. The White House had requested that the independent agency be brought up to $320 million, a 6.9 percent increase for FY25.
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Arizona State Legislature Refers 11 Measures to The General Election Ballot, Most Since 1984 The Arizona State Legislature adjourned earlier this month, referring 11 measures to the ballot—five state statutes and six constitutional amendments. This is the most legislatively referred measures on the ballot since 1984, when 13 measures were on the ballot. This is also the third-highest year on record in the state. Some measures did not make the ballot—an additional 15 amendments and five statutes passed one chamber but not the other. Arizona has a divided government. Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) was elected in 2022. This is the first time since 2008 that Arizona had a Democratic governor. Meanwhile, the Republican Party has controlled both chambers of the Legislature since 2003. In April, Hobbs set the record for the most vetoes of any governor in Arizona history, vetoing 185 bills since taking office in January 2023. In Arizona, legislatively referred measures do not require gubernatorial approval to go on a statewide ballot for a popular vote of the people, so they provide a different approach for the legislature to enact policy potentially. Story
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Court Rejects Phoenix and Tucson Prevailing Wage Ordinances A Maricopa County Superior Court judge on Monday ruled that attempts by Phoenix and Tucson to establish prevailing wage ordinances for public works projects violated state law. Attorneys from the Goldwater Institute successfully argued on behalf of the Associated General Contractors (AZAGC), the Arizona Builders Alliance (ABA), and the Associated Minority Contractors of Arizona (AMCA). Story
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Does Arizona Have Enough Water? Phoenix-Area Cities Are Spending Big To Make Sure It Does The Biden Administration has poured money … allocating $4 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act for Colorado River projects. … The Biden administration framed the spending effort as “water conservation,” but Arizona’s municipal water leaders aren’t using it to make changes traditionally considered conservation. Instead of paying for small tweaks to water use – like encouraging residents to install low-flow showerheads or rip out their thirsty lawns – many are thinking bigger, putting their multimillion-dollar checks towards billion-dollar infrastructure projects to keep taps flowing for decades. Cities like Peoria are planning to engineer their way out of the problem. Story

PAGA Deal California’s crowded November ballot will have one fewer question after business and employee groups resolved a dispute over a law workers commonly use to sue their employers. Newsom’s office announced Tuesday's agreement to rework the Private Attorneys General Act or PAGA, which lets workers sue employers on the state’s behalf. The California Chamber of Commerce has argued that the law leads to frivolous and expensive lawsuits, while the California Labor Federation counters that it’s an important tool for maintaining respect for workers’ rights. The agreement makes changes intended to reduce the number and scope of suits brought under the law, gives employers more chances to fix problems outside court, and caps some penalties. At the same time, it increases penalties for the worst offenders and awards a greater share of the payout to wronged employees — 35 percent of the total instead of 25 percent. The deal comes after weeks of behind-the-scenes conversations involving Newsom’s team and Democratic lawmakers. They are expected to pass legislation codifying the deal before next week’s deadline to remove qualified measures from the ballot.
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Biden Rule Weaponizes IRS to Steer Clean Energy Construction Projects to Union Donors Associated Builders and Contractors issued a statement regarding the Internal Revenue Service’s final rule released for public inspection on June 18, which requires private developers to follow onerous project labor agreement, prevailing wage and apprenticeship policies when building clean energy projects funded by more than $270 billion in tax credits via the ABC-opposed Inflation Reduction Act. According to the final rule, developers must certify that their contractors pay all construction workers prevailing wages and benefits determined by the U.S. Department of Labor following the federal Davis-Bacon Act. Developers must also ensure that contractors utilize apprentices enrolled in government-registered apprenticeship programs for 15% of all construction labor hours performed on a project, among other requirements. Project developers that satisfy these new provisions are eligible for a 500% increase in various clean energy construction project tax credits compared to baseline tax credits offered to developers under prior regulations widely used by industry. In addition, developers that require contractors to execute PLAs with labor unions are immune from new monetary penalties if the developer and its contractors fail to meet cumbersome prevailing wage and apprenticeship rules. Story
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Workplace Safety Reshuffle The Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board bucked the Newsom administration in March, criticizing how it handled long-delayed indoor heat rules. Now, the administration is pushing back. Four months ago, the Board was expected to approve the rules for employers to protect workers from extreme indoor heat. The night before the meeting, the Newsom administration withdrew its support, citing cost concerns. Two board members who were among the most outspoken critics of the administration’s move have been reshuffled. Chairperson Dave Thomas has been demoted (replaced by antitrust attorney Joseph Alioto). Laura Stock has been removed, which she said she learned in a phone call last Friday. Stock has served on the board since 2012 and is a researcher and director of the UC Berkeley Labor and Occupational Health Program. In March, she called the administration’s action “completely outrageous.”
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Pension Bailout In its third pension bailout, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) announced recently that it had approved $10.6 million in taxpayer funds for the Arizona Bricklayers' Pension Trust Fund. The fund, based in Phoenix, Arizona, covers 666 participants in the construction industry and was expected to run out of money in 2041. Thursday's announcement follows two other recent bailout announcements by the PBGC. The PBGC announced it approved approximately $545.6 million in special financial assistance (SFA) to the CWA/ITU Negotiated Pension Plan (CWA/ITU Plan), based in Mount Laurel, New Jersey. The plan, which covers 24,288 participants in the printing industry, was projected to become insolvent and run out of money in 2029. The PBGC also announced Tuesday that it approved special financial assistance for another failing Teamsters pension plan. The Teamsters Local 102 Plan, based in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and covering 508 transportation industry participants, will receive approximately $12.4 million. "As of June 13, 2024, PBGC has announced approval of about $54.6 billion in SFA to plans that cover about 818,000 workers, retirees, and beneficiaries," the PBGC noted. "Special financial assistance for financially troubled multiemployer plans is financed by general taxpayer monies." Just this week, the PBGC announced it would be providing $568.6 million in taxpayer money to only three underfunded union pension plans. Go here for prior posts about the PBGC's taxpayer-funded pension bailouts.
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EEOC Releases Anti-Harassment Guide for Contractors The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission released a guide to help construction leaders prevent and address harassment on the job. “Promising Practices for Preventing Harassment in the Construction Industry” is part of the EEOC’s ongoing focus to address bias within the building sector. More
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Lawmaker Spent $75K In Campaign Cash On 49ers, Giants, Warriors Tix Assemblyman Matt Haney had one hell of a weekend in late January. The state assemblymember and avid sports fan partied Saturday evening at Cavana, a beautiful rooftop bar in Mission Bay specializing in Colombian cuisine and fruity cocktails. Haney dropped a few hundred bucks on food and drinks and watched LeBron James and Steph Curry duel it out at Chase Center in a double-overtime thriller. The next morning, Haney got $158 of booze at Tenderloin Liquor and headed down to Santa Clara to watch the San Francisco 49ers battle the Detroit Lions for a trip to the Super Bowl. He pregamed at a tailgate party outside of Levi’s Stadium, smoking a stogie as he took a picture with Supervisor Shamann Walton. Story
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Labor Board May Impose Union on Mercedes Workers Despite Employee Vote against UAW On May 17, workers at the Mercedes Benz plant in Vance, Alabama, voted against joining the United Auto Workers, with 56% of the voters choosing not to unionize and 90% voter turnout. Despite this decisive vote, the UAW may still be forced on the Mercedes workers. Story
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Legislature Wraps Session, Closes Budget Gap, Continues ACA The second regular session of the Arizona 56th Legislature ended on Saturday night, finally adjourning sine die. Here’s the session and the business community’s perspective on the last six months. Story
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Mistake No. 4 of the Top 10 Horrible, No-Good Mistakes Construction Lawyers Make: Not Knowing When to Fold ‘Em The following is mistake No. 4 of the top 10 mistakes lawyers make in construction disputes. Story
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A Battle Looms Over Fair Funding for School Construction In the coming days, Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to confirm his commitment to place a state school construction bond on the November ballot. He hasn’t committed to anything yet, but he must decide in the next ten days whether to reform a method of sharing state-matching money that has long favored property-rich districts over their property-poor neighbors. Story
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Thirty seats are up for grabs in the Arizona Senate in 2024. Here's what to know about the incumbents and who's running ahead of the July 30 primary.
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Utah Climate Skeptic Lee Closes in On Top Senate Energy Role Politico reports that “Congressional Republicans who have sought to soften their party’s opposition to climate change action in recent years may be poised to elevate one of their most outspoken skeptics to lead a prominent Senate panel. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) has been a fierce conservative and perennial thorn in the side of leadership of both parties since arriving in the Senate in 2011. And despite some prominent GOP members’ efforts to craft a Republican-style policy on climate change, Lee looks likely to lead the party on the powerful Energy and Natural Resources Committee — and wield the gavel if Republicans win control of the chamber in November’s election.”
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Legislation

AB 107 (Gabriel) Budget bill was approved by the Legislature on 6/15. Included two “pork barrel” projects with PLAs. WECA Position: Oppose

AB 1957 (Wilson - D) Authorizes any county of the state to use the “best value” method for construction projects over $1 million and job order contracts up to $3 million until January 1, 2030. Devoid of State Building and Construction Trades Council language. Approved by Legislature on 6/13 WECA Position: Support

AB 1976 (Haney - D) Requires, on or before July 1, 2027, the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board to draft and adopt a rulemaking proposal to revise a standard on first aid materials to require all workplace first aid materials to include naloxone hydrochloride or another opioid antagonist, as specified, to reverse opioid overdose with instructions for using the opioid antagonist. Passed by Senate Labor on 6/12. WECA Position: Oppose Unless Amended

AB 2135 (Schiavo - D) Extends the statute of limitations on complaints submitted to the Labor Commissioner from 18 to 24 months. Allows the Labor Commissioner to continue ongoing investigations beyond the statute of limitation for good cause. Prohibits an open investigation from being closed solely due to the statute of limitations being reached. Passed by Senate Labor on 6/12. WECA Position: Oppose

AB 2179 (Davies - R) Requires a school district, county office of education, or charter school to, at the beginning of the first semester or quarter of each school year, provide information on local apprenticeship programs to pupils in grades 11 and 12. Passed by Legislature on 6/13. WECA Position: Support

AB 2182 (Haney - D) Allows the prevailing wage applicable to a public works project to be adjusted when an updated wage rate is determined by the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) director, recasts the method for annualizing benefit computations, and repeals any previously issued determinations. Passed by Senate Labor on 6/12. WECA Position: Oppose

AB 2499 (Schiavo - D) Entitles an employee with a family member who is a victim of crime to job-protected leave to attend to the family member’s needs and ensure their safety. Additionally, it permits both the employee victim and the employee who has a family member who is a victim to use sick leave for time off to obtain victim services. AB 2499 creates new, uncapped leave for scenarios already covered under existing law. And it applies to small businesses with just five employees. Passed by Senate Judiciary on 6/18. WECA Position: Oppose

AB 2696 (Rendon - D) Authorizes a joint labor-management cooperation committee (JLMCC), as specified, to bring an action in court against a direct contractor or subcontractor at any tier for any unpaid wage, fringe or other benefit payment or contribution, penalties or liquidated damages, and interest owed to a wage claimant by the direct contractor for the performance of private work. This proposed expansion of Section 218.8 is unnecessary from an enforcement perspective. Employees of general contractors know the identity of their direct employer. They can file wage claims with the Labor Commissioner, mechanics liens on the property, stop notices with the funding entity, civil lawsuits for non-payment of wages, and claims against payment bonds. AB 2696 encourages needless lawsuits that serve no legitimate enforcement purpose. Passed by Senate Labor on 6/19. WECA Position: Oppose

AB 2705 (Ortega - D) Provides that, for a violation of public works law, the statute of limitations (SOL) for the Labor Commissioner (LC) to sue a bonding company shall be the same as the 18-month SOL for the LC to issue a civil wage and penalty assessment to the contractor or subcontractor on that project or both. Passed by Senate Labor on 6/12. WECA Position: Oppose

AB 3265 (Bryan - D) Establishes procedures for an environmental leadership media campus in the County of Los Angeles. The project must pay prevailing wages unless covered by a PLA.  Passed by Senate EQ on 6/19. WECA Position: Oppose

SB 739 (Ashby - D) If the City of Elk Grove council approves, this new bill would expand this authorization to the City to use CMaR. It requires using a Skilled and Trained Workforce unless covered by a PLA. Passed by Assembly Local Gov on 6/5. WECA Position: Oppose Unless Amended

SB 984 (Wahab - D) Requires the courts and CSU to identify and select at least three major construction projects by January 1, 2027, governed by a project labor agreement (PLA). DTSC was removed after they reported that "utilizing a PLA for a project increased the cost of the cleanup by approximately 25 percent." Passed by Assembly Labor on 6/19. WECA Position: Oppose

SB 1022 (Skinner - D) Significantly expands existing statute limitations for any complaint brought by the Civil Rights Department or its “authorized representative” to ten years. It also gives a court discretion to extend that statute of limitations even further if it is “reasonable” to do so. Passed by Assembly Judiciary on 6/11. WECA Position: Oppose

SB 1162 (Cortese - D) Expands existing law, which requires contractors and bidders on public projects to use a skilled and trained workforce, by also requiring them to report the date of birth of each worker every month. Passed by Assembly Labor on 6/19. WECA Position: Support If Amended

SB 1321 (Wahab - D) Changes standards on ETP grants. A coalition of opponents states, “This bill poses a significant threat to the vital interests of manufacturers and small, diverse businesses throughout California. SB 1321 proposes fundamental changes to the Employment Training Panel (ETP) that would render the very businesses that fund the program ineligible to participate. Such a change would undermine the essence of the ETP, jeopardizing the development and sustainability of California's workforce." Passed by Assembly Labor on 6/19. WECA Position: Oppose