Capitol Update - Bills carried over from 2013

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The end of January 2014 marks the 2013 bill deadline. This means legislation that was introduced and held in its first house in 2013 must be moved into its next legislative house before the end of the month; otherwise, the bills will be considered dead for this session.  CLFP has been heavily engaged in the month of January on two measures from 2013.

Bill Exposing Manufactures to Product Liability Lawsuits Held in the Senate

CLFP, along with a large coalition of manufacturing organizations, was successful in defeating Senate Bill 747 (DeSaulnier), which would have created new product liability lawsuits against manufacturers of products that are arguably connected to public health epidemics. CLFP feared that this bill's requirement to submit a written risk assessment to the state's Department of Health could have been seen as acknowledgement by the manufacturer and provide a legal nexus that they exposed individuals to health risks, which would have certainly increased the likelihood of lawsuits. The bill was held on the Senate Appropriations Committee suspense file on Thursday, January 23 and will no longer be able to move this session.

However, Senator Hernandez, Chair of the Senate Health Committee, while opposed to SB 747, is sympathetic to the issue of obesity.  He has scheduled a hearing on "Obesity in California" on Wednesday, February 12, 2014 in the Capitol. CLFP and other food and beverage manufacturers will be there to listen and testify.

Bill Increasing Unwarranted Litigation over Meritless Wage Liens Dies in Assembly

CLFP is a part of a large employer coalition that was effective in stopping Assembly Bill 1164 (Lowenthal) from progressing forward to the Senate. AB 1164 was moved to the inactive file on Thursday, January 30; therefore, it is dead for this session. It was the subject of a major floor fight between union representatives and business organizations.

AB 1164 (Lowenthal) would have crippled California businesses by allowing any employee, employee representative, or the Labor Commissioner to file wage liens on an employer's real property, personal property or any property where an employee "bestowed labor" for unproven wage claims. At the time of filing the lien, the employee would have had no burden to provide any actual evidence that the employer violated any wage and hour law. Additionally, it would have allowed liens to be asserted against innocent third parties who owned property in which work was performed by another employer’s employee even though the third party was not responsible for the payment of wages. Property owners would have had to pursue civil litigation to have the lien removed from their property

CLFP will continue to work on your behalf to defend against such arduous legislation.

By Trudi Hughes, Government Affairs Director, California League of Food Processors

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