CLFP Continues Work on Measures as Legislature Takes Summer Recess

July 1 was the deadline for California Legislative Policy Committees to hear bills in their second house and marked the beginning of the Legislative summer recess. Several key labor, water, energy and recycling bills that CLFP has been actively engaged on have either advanced from or been held in these policy committees.

The Legislature will return from its summer recess on August 1 and has until August 12 to move bills out of fiscal committees and to the floors of the Assembly and Senate. The deadline for the Legislature to pass bills and send them to Governor Brown is midnight on August 31, after which the Legislature will adjourn its two-year 2015-16 legislative session.

CLFP will continue to work on those measures that are still moving through the legislative process, as well as new measures that will inevitably arise as "gut and amended" bills as the end of session draws closer.

On June 22, the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee met and failed to pass SB 1166 (Jackson; D-Santa Barbara), a CLFP-opposed bill that would have unduly burdened and increased costs to employers by requiring 12 weeks of protected employee leave for maternity or paternity leave. Unfortunately, the Committee also rejected a CLFP-supported bill, SB 985 (Berryhill; R-Twain Harte), which would have allowed employees to request a voluntary, flexible work week agreement.

A CLFP-opposed bill, SB 1317 (Wolk; D-Davis), was pulled from the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee calendar on June 28 by the author due to the mounting opposition by agriculture, cities and counties. This bill would have substantially interfered with the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act by mandating a city or county overlying a high or medium priority water basin to establish a process by January 1, 2018, for issuing a groundwater extraction permit and would have restricted permits for probationary basins and those in critical overdraft. Senator Wolk has not given any indication that she will move the bill later in the session.

On June 14, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed AB 1520 (Assembly Committee on Judiciary) relating to water and energy use disclosure. This CLFP-opposed measure would remove protections that safeguard production capacity and other sensitive production data from disclosure to competitors by requiring commercial, industrial, and institutional water and energy users to publicly disclose usage, supposedly to enforce compliance with water and energy conservation goals.

On June 29, the Senate Environmental Quality Committee passed CLFP-opposed AB 2530 (Gordon; D-Menlo Park), which would require beverage manufacturers to annually report to CalRecycle the amount of virgin and post consumer recycled content in their plastic beverage containers under penalty of perjury.

The Assembly Natural Resources Committee passed SB 32 (Pavley, D-Agoura Hills). This bill establishes new emission reduction goals for the state, setting the target at 40% below 1990 levels by 2030. Recent amendments removed language that would have increased legislative oversight over the California Air Resources Board. A watered-down version of the oversight language was amended into AB 197 (Garcia; D-Bell Gardens) and joined with SB 32. Both bills must pass the Legislature in order to become law. CLFP opposes these bills.

SB 512 (Hill; D-San Mateo) was passed by the Assembly Utilities & Commerce Committee and is headed for Assembly Appropriations Committee. CLFP supports this California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) reform bill as it will increase transparency and lower costs for stakeholders and parties involved in CPUC proceedings.

The hearing on Assembly Constitutional Amendment (ACA) 11 (Gatto; D-Los Angeles) was postponed at the author’s request. The reason may be a pending deal between Governor Jerry Brown and lawmakers announced the morning of the hearing, which may bring major changes to the oft-criticized California Public Utilities Commission. A series of crises have beset the commission, from its response to a massive Southern California gas leak to the ouster of its former leader after revelations of back-channel dealings related to a deadly San Bruno pipeline explosion, and legislators have agitated for changes. Calling the commission overburdened and ineffective, Assemblyman Gatto had advanced ACA 11 to dissolve the body and let lawmakers reconstitute it. However, Gatto has indicated he will drop his measure in light of the reform deal.

Written by Trudi Hughes and John Larrea, CLFP Government Affairs Directors

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