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WECA Political Update June 24, 2021

Thursday, June 24, 2021

Victory For Property Rights in Supreme Court Union Trespassing Case. In a victory for property owners, the Supreme Court of the United States today affirmed that the government could not force people to allow third parties to trespass on their property. In Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid, two California agriculture businesses challenged a state law that allowed unions to access private property three hours per day, 120 days per year, to recruit new members. Pacific Legal Foundation represented the businesses at the Supreme Court, arguing that when the government allows a third party onto someone else’s private property without compensating the property owners, it violates their property rights. Story

Is Union Labor Requirement in The Way of Easing California’s Affordable Housing Crisis? CalMatters author Manuela Tobias poses this intriguing question in her analysis of Skilled and Trained Workforce mandates in State law. “California lawmakers introduced several bills this year that would rezone empty strip malls and big-box stores across the state to allow for new housing development without undergoing lengthy and costly local approvals. Two are sailing through the Legislature. The other died early on. A key difference? The successful bills had the support of arguably the most powerful entity in the Capitol on housing issues, the State Building and Construction Trades Council. The other faced its vehement opposition.” Story

Deadline Passes for Secretary of State to Verify Remaining Signatures in Newsom Recall June 22 was the deadline for the California Secretary of State to verify that enough valid signatures remain in the recall campaign targeting Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) to move the effort forward. Voters who signed petitions had until June 8 to request that county election offices remove their names from the petition. If at least 1,495,709 signatures remain, the recall process will proceed to a budgeting phase where the California Department of Finance will estimate the recall election's cost. Recall organizers originally submitted 1,719,943 valid signatures. Based on the remaining procedural steps required by state law for the recall campaign, an election is likely to occur in October or November 2021. The California Association of Clerks and Election Officials wrote on June 14 to Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis (D) requesting that a recall election not occur before Sept. 14 due to supply chain issues to printing ballots and procuring envelopes. More

As Businesses Re-Open in California, COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave Continues While the past week brought many changes around California for COVID-19 requirements, both the state statute and several local supplemental paid sick leave ordinances persist. The statewide COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave (“SPSL”) law remains in effect until September 30, 2021. Story

CA Employers Finally Have Guidance from Cal-OSHA on Updated Workplace COVID-19 Prevention Protocols The state of California, after a series of recommendations made and then withdrawn, has finally settled on new workplace safety guidelines. The Cal-OSHA Advisory Board approved the updated workplace COVID-19 prevention protocols on June 17, 2021, and Governor Gavin Newsom immediately issued an executive order implementing them. The guidelines help align workplace safety standards with the state public health guidance. Story

Biden Nominates SEIU General Counsel and Labor Law Attorney to NLRB On June 23, President Biden nominated David Prouty, the General Counsel of SEIU Local 32BJ, to serve as a member of the NLRB. Prouty has also served as a general counsel to the Major League Baseball Players Association and UNITE HERE and a member of the NLRB’s union advisory panel in the late 90s. Additionally, on May 26, Pres. Biden nominated labor law attorney Gwynne Wilcox to the Board. Wilcox is a senior partner at Levy Ratner PC, a union-side labor and employment firm, and serves as associate general counsel for the largest local SEIU. If confirmed, she would be the first African-American woman ever appointed to the NLRB. Three Republicans and one Democrat currently make up the Board, but Republican William Emmanuel’s term expires in August. If both Prouty and Wilcox are confirmed, the Board would have a 3-2 Democratic majority, opening the door to significant and radical policy changes.

A Family Affair: Children and Other Relatives of Biden Aides Get Administration Jobs Barely a week into office, President Biden made a promise that signaled a sharp break from his predecessor: No member of his family would be involved in government. But that vow did not extend to his senior staff and their relatives. In the first few months of Biden’s presidency, at least five children of his top aides have secured coveted jobs in the new administration. They include two sons and a daughter of the White House counselor, the daughter of a deputy White House chief of staff, and the daughter of the director of presidential personnel. Story

Union Organizing Trends: Use of Technology and Social Issues Union organizers effectively use technology and capitalize on prominent social issues to dramatically increase union organizing in the technology industry and elsewhere. No longer do union organizers have to meet employees face-to-face in their homes, their employer’s parking lot, or in a public gathering location such as in a restaurant or bar. The widespread use of smartphones, email, and social media has enabled union organizers to recruit virtually. These much less time-intensive organizing techniques have allowed union organizers to be more efficient and organize more employees in far less time. Story

Why Did IBEW create EVITP? California released an estimate of the number of EV chargers it will need by 2030, assuming it succeeds in its ambitious vehicle electrification goals. 1.2 million is the number of publicly accessible chargers needed to serve the 7.5 million EVs expected to be on the road by 2030, according to the Energy Commission's new analysis. For comparison, there's currently 73,000 public and shared chargers, and the state is on track to reach 123,000 by 2025. Newsom has proposed spending $500 million to boost that target to 250,000 stations. Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-San Francisco), who ordered the analysis as part of AB 2127, said it shows the state needs to increase its ambitions. "The assessment shows we must now scale up our installation efforts, building out our charging network for electric vehicle adoption to be as seamless as possible." Jimmy O'Dea, a senior vehicles analyst with the Union of Concerned Scientists said the estimate would help signal funding needs. "Investors, banks, construction companies need to know the scale of investments needed to realize California's electric vehicle goals." Report

Utah’s Economy (and California’s) Weathering Pandemic Far Better than Hawaii’s Utah currently has the best-performing economy, and Hawaii has the worst-performing economy in the nation, according to an analysis by WalletHub. WalletHub compared all 50 states and the District of Columbia based on 29 key indicators, including GDP growth and employment rate. Utah ranked first in both of those categories, while Hawaii ranked last in both. While California ranked 3rd overall, it ranked near the bottom (42) in economic health due to high unemployment and the lowest change in non-farm payroll. Story



Workers First in Biden/Harris Trade Policy Recent news that consumer prices have risen more than expected in the past year added fuel to a debate over the threat of inflation as the economy rebounds. It also mostly drowned out another announcement on trade policy, one the Biden administration had hoped would send a significant signal that it was breaking from the past. Katherine Tai, the U.S. trade representative, told the A.F.L.-C.I.O. during a speech today that the White House was working to put workers first in its negotiations with its trading partners, shifting from the usual focus on macroeconomics and business interests. In her speech, Tai said the previous approach had “created a trust gap with the public about free trade.” Story

Price for Recall? California finance officials said that the gubernatorial recall election would cost counties an estimated $215.2 million based on projections that local officials recently provided. The Department of Finance sent its estimate to legislative leaders for use in the upcoming state budget, which is expected to reimburse counties for costs related to the special election. Having that tally in hand also could allow the department and Joint Legislative Budget Committee to collapse their allotted 30-day windows for reviewing election costs in the coming weeks, accelerating the recall calendar. On a separate but related issue, counties had until June 22 to tell the Secretary of State's office how many recall supporters withdrew their signatures from petitions. That number is expected to have no bearing on the recall situation, however, and the secretary of state soon after will tell the Department of Finance that its 30-day clock will begin. Finance could quickly respond with its report on recall costs or take additional time at its discretion. POLITICO

Mid-Year Recall Report (2021) In the first half of 2021, Ballotpedia tracked 164 recall efforts against 262 officials. This was the most recall effort for this point since the first half of 2016 when they followed 189 recall efforts against 265 officials. In comparison, they followed between 72 and 155 steps by the midpoints of 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020. Story

I4AW Study on PRO Act’s Impact On May 6, the Institute for the American Worker released a study analyzing the potential consequences of the PRO Act. Specifically, I4AW focused on how the resulting increases in unionization rates would affect union income and political contributions. Key findings include:

  • If unionization levels reached 1983 (16.8%), dues received could exceed $20 billion per year.
  • That means unions would have an additional $660 million to contribute to political campaigns each year.