June 2nd brought the first major deadline for the Legislative year, the House of Origin deadline, when all bills from their original house must be passed to the next.  This deadline culminates in the Legislature acting on 700 bills in three days.  

So far this year, the CTA reached this deadline with one of the most successful sessions in quite some time.  To start, CTA’s sponsored legislation AB 301 by our Legislator of the Year, Assemblyman Freddie Rodriguez, passed the Assembly Floor despite opposition from one of the most powerful unions in Sacramento, the Service Employee International Union 1000 (SEIU).  AB 301 will finally move California closer to the federally recommended 7 day wait time for a CDL skills test, despite many areas of the state struggling with wait times of up to 65 days.

In addition, AB 378 (Garcia) which would have expanded the controversial Cap and Trade program at the California Air Resource Board was soundly defeated in the final minutes before the deadline.  Unlike prior compromise measures, like AB 158 (Burke) that worked with the business community on a compromise, AB 378 would have dramatically increased regulations and stunted job growth in California.

While the year is far from over and our industry has had important victories, it is important to remember that this year is far from over with plenty of anti-business legislation still moving.  The worst of these, SB 562 (Lara), would create a single payer health care program in California.  The Senate Appropriations staff has estimated that the state would need an additional $200 billion in new taxes to pay for it, an amount equal to a 15% payroll tax.

CTA will continue to fight for the trucking industry in California and ensure that your voice is heard and for the hundreds of thousands of jobs this industry brings to California.