Legislature Gavels Down and Sends Gov. Brown a Plethora of Bills
California State Capitol
Before the final gavel struck down signaling adjournment of the California State Legislature on August 31, legislators passed a plethora of bills including a 100 percent renewable energy mandate for electricity, several measures relating to sexual harassment and discrimination, and a bill to address wildfire liability and management.
Over 900 measures passed the Legislature this year and many are pending on Governor Jerry Brown’s desk where he has until September 30 to make decisions on the measures. In 2017, Governor Brown only vetoed 12 percent of the bills before him, so it is clear the vast majority of measures approved by legislators are signed into law.
A summary of some of the key end-of-session bills is below, including Ag Council’s position and the status of those measures.
In case you missed it last week, Ag Council’s statement on the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund is included in a separate article below.
Energy
SB 100 (De Leon) Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS)
Mandates a 100 percent renewable and zero carbon energy goal for electricity in California by December 31, 2045, which increases both costs and uncertainty.
Position: OPPOSED & VETO REQUEST UNDERWAY
Status: Approved by the Legislature and awaiting the governor’s review.
Food Packaging
AB 2632 (Santiago) Food packaging/slack fill
In order to clarify intent and reduce unnecessary lawsuits, AB 2632 specifies three additional reasons packaging and containers subject to the Sherman Food, Drug and Cosmetic Law may contain slack fill without violating the nonfunctional slack fill prohibition.
Position: SUPPORT
Status: AB 2632 passed the Legislature and awaits the governor’s consideration.
Labor
SB 1402 (Lara) Labor contracting: customer liability
Imposes joint and several liability onto a third-party business contracting with a port drayage carrier for wage and hour violations and workers compensation costs despite the lack of any control by the third party. An amendment supported by Ag Council was added to allow a third-party customer to prevent liability if the customer terminates the freight agreement within 90 days of a port drayage motor carrier being listed by the state for wage and other violations.
Position: OPPOSED & VETO REQUEST UNDERWAY
Status: Passed the Legislature and awaiting the governor’s consideration.
SB 1284 (Jackson) Disclosure of Pay Data
Requires private employers with 100 or more employees in the state to collect data regarding gender, ethnicity, and race pay differentials and report that information annually to the state by September 30, 2019 and each year thereafter. Penalties for noncompliance include $500 for first time violators and $5,000 for subsequent violations.
Position: OPPOSED
Status: Ag Council is pleased SB 1284 was HELD in the Assembly Committee on Appropriations and did not move forward.
AB 3081 (Gonzalez Fletcher) Labor Contractor Joint Liability
Adds duplicative sexual harassment protections and training requirements to the labor code. AB 3081 expands joint liability against labor contractors for any employment harassment claims.
Position: OPPOSED & VETO REQUEST UNDERWAY
Status: Passed the Legislature and awaiting the governor’s review.
SB 1300 (Jackson) Expands Liability on Employers for Harassment
Will increase litigation by: lowering the legal standard for actionable harassment claims, restricting the ability of employers to use non-disparagement agreements, imposing personal liability on supervisors making management decisions, and limiting the ability to summarily adjudicate harassment claims. Amendments to SB 1300 removed a private right of action for failure to prevent harassment or discrimination.
Position: OPPOSED & VETO REQUEST UNDERWAY
Status: Passed the Legislature and awaiting the governor’s consideration.
Water
SB 844 and SB 845 (Monning) – Drinking water fund
Establishes the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund within the State Water Resources Control Board to assist those without access to safe and affordable drinking water through grants, loans, or services via a modest voluntary fee while safeguarding farmers from being subject to specific nitrate related regulatory enforcement actions by the Board, provided farmers have met other regulatory requirements.
Position: SUPPORT
Status: Despite a tremendous effort by the coalition in support, Speaker Rendon did not move forward with the measures because he did not want to put his caucus up on a tax/fee vote in an election year. The bills stalled in the Assembly as a result. Ag Council will continue to pursue passage of the legislation in 2019.
Wildfire
SB 901 (Dodd) California Wildfire Management and Liability
Measure contains significant policy changes for wildland and watershed management including regulatory streamlining in addition to $1 billion in funding for vegetation management over five years along with local authority to allow landowners to better manage property and reduce fire exposure. The bill requires utilities to meet new infrastructure standards, develop wildfire prevention and response plans and doubles the fines if utilities do not comply.
For the 2017 fires, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) would conduct a stress test to govern the maximum amount of damages a utility could withstand without harming ratepayers or leading to bankruptcy of the utility.
With respect to liability and future fires, the bill sets a basis for the PUC to determine whether a utility acts reasonably considering certain factors such as extreme weather. Costs could be passed along to ratepayers and securitized if the PUC determines the utility acted reasonably. The principle of “inverse condemnation” remains unchanged.
Position: NEUTRAL
Status: Approved by the Legislature and pending the governor’s review.
Food Production Investment Program Application Deadline Nearing on Sept. 14
The California Energy Commission is accepting applications for the newly created Food Production Investment Program (FPIP), which is a recently formed competitive grant program allowing food processors to compete for funds to adopt commercially available and advanced technologies to lower greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs).
Ag Council and others successfully advocated for the creation of this grant program during negotiations to extend the cap and trade program in 2017 and FPIP is the outcome of that work.
FPIP is a first of its kind grant program for food processors to utilize funds to install advanced efficiency energy efficiency technologies or cutting edge, emerging technologies to reduce GHGs.
Ag Council President Emily Rooney and several Ag Council members actively participated in a the food processing task force with other agricultural and food processing representatives to assist in the development of the FPIP grant program guidelines with state regulatory officials and Governor Jerry Brown’s staff.
The deadline to apply is September 14, 2018 by 5 p.m. Interested applicants are encouraged to click the link HERE to learn more.
Statement on the Safe & Affordable Drinking Water Fund
Ag Council released the following statement on August 31 at the conclusion of the legislative session.
Despite a tremendous effort on the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund – SB 844 and SB 845 – the legislation did not move forward this session. It is clear Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood) was not comfortable putting his caucus up on a tax/fee vote during an election year.
We thank SB 844 and SB 845 author Sen. Bill Monning (D-Carmel) and principal coauthor Sen. Andy Vidak (R-Hanford) for their leadership on this important issue.
To say we are disappointed is an understatement. There were strong political undercurrents working against our bills despite the fact that communities continue to suffer from the lack of clean drinking water. However, had the Speaker let the bills proceed, we were confident we had the votes, and that gives us optimism for next year.
Ag Council is now in conversations with our large and diverse coalition on strategies for next year and creating the expectation that this package will be voted on early in 2019. Asm. Heath Flora (R-Ripon) offered his leadership to work on this endeavor in the Assembly, along with his colleague Asm. Eduardo Garcia (D-Coachella Valley).
We are proud of the work we accomplished and the coalition we built. With over 140 organizations in support, this is the furthest any effort has gone regarding drinking water or protections for agriculture from the State Water Resources Control Board. And, almost every editorial board across the state was in support of our movement, from the LA Times to the Sacramento Bee.
We are not deterred — not even close. Ag Council has already participated in meetings with legislators today in the Capitol to work on the path forward.
Thank you to all of our members for your unwavering support of this effort. It helped create the movement. Now, there is more work to be done.
We will relentlessly continue to pursue passage of this legislation because it is the right thing to do. As Sen. John McCain said in his farewell statement to Americans recently, “We never surrender. We never hide from history. We make history.”
Click HERE to read Speaker Rendon’s statement on this issue.