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WECA Political Update August 4, 2022

Thursday, August 4, 2022

Travel Season — Lawmakers and interest group representatives spent part of the July recess in Montreal and Maine to learn about recycling for the latest California Foundation on the Environment and the Economy voyage. Senators Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica), Susan Eggman (D-Stockton), Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) and Bob Wieckowski (D-Fremont), Assemblymember Heath Flora (R-Ripon), and Treasurer Fiona Ma joined officials from waste management companies, Google, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, the American Forest and Paper Association, and others. The trip comes after Allen shepherded a landmark plastics recycling bill to Gov. Gavin Newsom's desk after multiple failed attempts in the Legislature, averting what looked likely to be an expensive campaign battle over a ballot initiative to overhaul plastic waste and impose a new tax on producers. Such trips have become a tradition for lawmakers and groups with business before Sacramento. CFEE, whose board is a cross-section of political players like unions, utilities, business organizations, and local government groups, covers the costs. The Chairman is former State Building and Construction Trades Council boss Bob Balgenorth, and their President/CEO is Jay Hansen, former building trades lobbyist. Wieckowski is leaving office on August 31 – so that trip will undoubtedly help immensely for his last month in the Senate!

Working in Colorado? They Enacted Wage Theft Amendments, Increasing Employer Penalties, and Permitting Class-wide Demands Colorado has modified the state’s wage theft laws with Senate Bill 22-161. Among other things, the wide-ranging amendments increase penalties for employers that do not timely pay wages, allow employees to demand wages on behalf of a class of similarly situated employees, permit the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment’s Division of Labor Standards and Statistics (“Division”) to investigate such demands on a class-wide basis, and severely limit employers’ ability to recover attorney’s fees for successfully defending a claim. The amendments also impose additional requirements on employers to deduct the value of unreturned company equipment from an employee’s final payment. While some provisions take effect on August 10, 2022, the most significant changes are effective on January 1, 2023. Colorado has again modified the state’s wage theft laws by enacting Senate Bill 22-161. Among other things, the wide-ranging amendments increase penalties for employers that do not timely pay wages, allow employees to demand wages on behalf of a class of similarly situated employees, permit the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment’s Division of Labor Standards and Statistics (“Division”) to investigate such demands on a class-wide basis, and severely limit employers’ ability to recover attorney’s fees for successfully defending a claim. The amendments also impose additional requirements on employers to deduct the value of unreturned company equipment from an employee’s final payment. While some provisions take effect on August 10, 2022, the most significant changes are effective on January 1, 2023. More

Does the new California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) apply to employers? Yes. More

Former President Donald Trump's sway among Arizona Republicans appears intact as his picks for Governor, U.S. Senate, U.S. Congress, Arizona Attorney General, and Secretary of State pull ahead. The most significant outstanding question mark from Tuesday’s primaries remains unanswered in the Arizona GOP gubernatorial race: Kari Lake (the Donald Trump-backed candidate) still leads Karrin Taylor Robson (the Mike Pence-backed pick) by two percentage points as of publishing time.
Lake led in every county but Maricopa.

Ruben Gallego's campaign teases Senate challenge to Kyrsten Sinema, raises money off idea Rep. Ruben Gallego is campaign fundraising off the prospect of his running against Sen. Kyrsten Sinema in Arizona's 2024 Democratic primary. "Many people are asking Ruben if he will run against Senator Kyrsten Sinema," a promoted June 18 Facebook post says. "We know many of you hope he does, and he appreciates that fact. That’s one of the reasons he is asking you to contribute to his campaign today. Because if he is going to run against her, he’ll need to win his re-election campaign this November and build a strong grassroots movement." The Facebook ad says any contributions will go toward his House re-election effort this year. Story

The New York Times looked at the CHIPS+ bill and asked Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and NEC Director Brian Deese about it. “The legislation will hand significant power over the private sector to the Commerce Department (shudder), which will choose which companies qualify for the money. The department has already said it will prefer companies that invest in research, new facilities, and workforce training, rather than those that engage in the kind of share buybacks that have been prevalent in recent years.” However, the Times neglected to mention the requirements to pay local prevailing wages on construction projects receiving grants to aid semiconductor development. President Joe Biden said on July 26, "It was a top priority for me to ensure that incentives for semiconductors have a Davis-Bacon prevailing wage requirement. And these semiconductor projects—there are billions of dollars and thousands of construction jobs in each of these sites." In addition, the bill contains $52 billion in subsidies and tax credits for any global chip manufacturer that chooses to set up new or expand existing operations in the United States, along with more than $200 billion toward scientific research in areas like artificial intelligence, robotics, and quantum computing. President Biden is expected to sign the bill into law on Aug. 9.

One of my favorite maxims is "no good deed goes unpunished." And now the distillers and brewers who helped stave off hand sanitizer shortages during COVID are now being targeted by the FDA with threats of recalls and fines over harmless ingredients. Distillers across the U.S. are beginning to face the wrath of the health agency after promises that their cooperation in producing hand sanitizer to keep businesses, government agencies, and families stocked up would be met with leniency. For one Central Coast distiller, who produced hand sanitizer for Federal agencies, the FDA is applying intense pressure to institute a recall (or face fines) over the presence of a specific ingredient found in higher quantities in food and wines. Story

Inside the donor network reshaping CA politics Govern for California’s 18 chapters have so far donated more than $3 million to candidates across California in the 2022 election cycle. One of the top beneficiaries is Assemblymember Robert Rivas, a Salinas Democrat. Govern For California is funded mainly by a small group of tech leaders, financiers, and other wealthy donors from the Bay Area. Their goal: counter the sway of special interests, especially labor unions, in the state Capitol. The organization is the brainchild of Stanford lecturer David Crane. One of its longtime political advisors is Rick Rivas, Robert’s brother. Story