November 27, 2007

2007 Vote Record: Fresno Chamber Continues to Hold State Officials Accountable to Business Community

The 2007 Vote Record: Over 50 Potential Laws Tracked by the Fresno Chamber and How Senators Dave Cogdill and Dean Florez and Assembly Members Tom Berryhill, Michael Villines, Nicole Parra and Juan Arambula Voted

The Fresno Chamber's Government Affairs Committee (GAC) voted in early 2007 to track over 50 potential laws (bills) that might impact Fresno businesses.

Each month, the GAC members reviewed and discussed the status of all 50 plus bills. The local Fresno legislators, which consisted of Senators Dave Cogdill and Dean Florez and Assembly Members Tom Berryhill, Michael Villines, Nicole Parra and Juan Arambula, received letters communicating the Chamber's positions on all bills.

The Fresno Chamber lobbied during the 2007 legislative session for our legislators to OPPOSE 15 final bills and SUPPORT 3 final bills. The Chamber is only holding the local legislators accountable for bills that made it to the Governor's desk. 2007 saw 18 of the over 50 potential laws make it to the Governor's desk.

 

Summary of Votes

 

	FOR pro-jobs legislation	AGAINST jobs legislation	Percentage FOR pro-jobs legislation
Senator Dave Cogdill	17	0	100%
Senator Dean Florez	3	15	17%
Assembly Member Tom Berryhill	17	1	94%
Assembly Member Michael Villines	17	1	94%
Assembly Member Nicole Parra	8	9	47%
Assembly Member Juan Arambula	4	14	22%

 

What the "No Vote" May Actually Mean

There are times when a legislator is unwilling to vote on a potential law. In this case, a legislator may abstain from voting, which will hinder the bill from actually passing. Their abstention is shown as a "no vote" and does not count for or against them.
 

Click here for a complete list of all state legislation tracked by the Fresno Chamber.

 

Details on Each Piece of State Legislation Tracked by the Fresno Chamber

 

AB 8 (Nuñez) – Healthcare Tax

Fresno Chamber Position: OPPOSE
 

AB 8 imposes a tax on small employers who cannot afford to provide health care coverage in to fund health care coverage for those who do not currently purchase it in an attempt to overhaul the current healthcare crisis in California.

 

AB 537 (Swanson) - Expanding Protected Leave
Fresno Chamber Position: OPPOSE

 

AB 537 proposes to expand protected leave for employees that employers must grant regardless of business necessity. Under current requirements of the California Family Rights Act (CFRA), employers with 50-plus employees must grant to their employees up to 12 workweeks leave in a 12-month period, to care for their seriously ill child, spouse, or parent. Expanding protected leave makes doing business in California more costly.

AB 377- Labor Contractors
Fresno Chamber Position: OPPOSE

 

AB 377 requires farm labor contractors to print the name and address of the person who contracts for services on the farm labor contractor’s employee pay stubs. This requirement is an attempt to impose new joint liability on farmers for the actions of farm labor contractors.

AB 448 - (Arambula) – Expansion of Liquidated Damages

Fresno Chamber Position: OPPOSE

This bill substantially increase penalties that can be awarded against employers in administrative minimum wage claims filed with the Labor Commissioner. Specifically, AB 448 would allow liquidated damages to be awarded against employers in not just court actions but also administrative actions.

AB 504 (Swanson)- New Employer Liability

Fresno Chamber Position: OPPOSE

AB 504 would inappropriately imposes new employer liability that could increase the cost of doing business in California by providing a new definition of lockout that requires an employer to pay restitution to employees.

AB 779 (Jones) – New Data Security Requirements

Fresno Chamber Position: OPPOSE
 

AB 779 places financial liability on businesses for the cost of replacing credit or debit cards even if they comply with the data security requirements of the bill.

AB 1707 (Swanson)- New Employer Liability

Fresno Chamber Position: OPPOSE
 

AB 1707 would unreasonably expand employee access to personnel records and establish new employer liability.

SB 180 (Migden) – Damaging to Ag Business

Fresno Chamber Position: OPPOSE

SB 180 would hurt competitiveness of California agriculture producers, driving businesses out of state, killing jobs and increasing loss of farmland, by increasing labor costs for California producers who must compete in a global market with lower average operating costs.

SB 549 (Corbett) – New Bereavement Leave for Employees

Fresno Chamber Position: OPPOSE
 

SB 549 would unreasonably expand employer’s liability for a new protected bereavement leave for employees.

SB 622 (Padilla) - New Penalties for Independent Contractors

Fresno Chamber Position: OPPOSE
 

SB 622 creates a new excuse to sue employers and exposes them to excessive new penalties for "willful misclassification" of independent contractors without providing clear roadmap for employers to comply. Instead of new violation provisions, penalties and civil lawsuits, contractors, the business community, employees and employers alike would be better served by creating clear and consistent application of factors that define independent contractor.

AB 70 (Jones)- Flood Liability

Fresno Chamber Position: OPPOSE
 

AB 70 asks local governments to accept liability for a problem not of their own making. Local governments do not own or control the state’s levees. They do not have the power to repair or improve them. They do not have the responsibility to operate or maintain them.

SB 788 (Cogdill) – Audits

Fresno Chamber Position: SUPPORT
 

SB 788 would permit the Franchise Tax Board (FTB) to conduct audits of taxpayers with water’s-edge elections on a discretionary rather than mandatory basis.

AB 435 (Brownley) - Extends the Statute of Limitations to File Wage Discrimination

Fresno Chamber Position: OPPOSE
AB 435 unreasonably extends the statute of limitations to file wage discrimination claims and requirements for maintaining paperwork, increasing employer exposure to untimely lawsuits.

AB 338 (Coto) – Temporary Disability Benefits

Fresno Chamber Position: SUPPORT
 

AB 338 would resolve a problem in current law relating to the 104 week cap on temporary disability benefits by amending the “window” in which injured workers are eligible for benefits. AB 338 (Coto) represents a balanced approach to resolving a real and tangible problem in the workers’ compensation system.

AB 812 (Hernandez)- Combat Fraud in Worker’s Compensation- SUPPORT
 

AB 812 would help combat premium fraud in workers’ compensation insurance by giving insurance companies statutory authority to impose a financial penalty on employers who do not submit to required payroll audits for the purposes of verifying premium.

AB 1636 (Mendoza)- Supplemental Job Displacement Vouchers

Fresno Chamber Position: OPPOSE
 

AB 1636 would require employers to provide some injured workers with supplemental job displacement vouchers (SJDV) prior to verification that the injured worker is actually eligible for that benefit under the law.

SB 650 (Migden) - Labor Representatives- Elections
Fresno Chamber Position: OPPOSE

This bill authorizes agricultural employees to select collective bargaining representation through a specified "majority signup election" process, in addition to the existing representation election process provided for under current law.
 

Contact Amy Huerta, the Chamber's Government Affairs Manager for more information at (559) 495-4818 or ahuerta@fresnochamber.com