Shortly after midnight on Friday, the Legislature gaveled down on the 2017-18 legislative session. When all was said and done, Legislative leaders had pushed through high profile legislation such as ending cash bail, wildfire legislation, net neutrality, and a 100% renewable energy requirement, to name a few.

 

While the Governor has until the end of September to officially act on legislation, several pieces of legislation that directly affect trucking were sent to Governor Brown’s desk along with several other pieces being stopped or significantly amended before session ended.

 

Highlights for the trucking industry include:

 

AB 2564 (Rodriguez) CTA’s sponsored legislation, which levels the playing field for compliant truckers by increasing penalties for operators of non-compliant glider vehicles, passed the legislature and is on the Governor’s desk awaiting his signature.

AB 2564 coverage in the Los Angeles Times.  

 

SB 210 (Leyva) This bill would have authorized the creation of a smog check program for heavy duty vehicles and granted the Air Resources Board unlimited authority to levy fees against the industry. SB 210 was pulled from Assembly Transportation Committee after it was expected to fail due to the CTA’s opposition.

 

SB 1402 (Lara) This bill initially began the year as a very broad attack port drayage operators, creating joint liability for cargo owners who contracted with truckers who had adverse "Berman Hearing" decisions. Accordingly, CTA took an "oppose unless amended" position. CTA’s Intermodal Conference approved amendments which created extensive due process for accused motor carriers. The bill’s author ultimately accepted all of CTA’s amendments, resulting in CTA moving to a "neutral" position. SB 1402 is on the Governor’s desk awaiting his signature.

 

AB 321 (Gipson) This bill sought to provide the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) authority to promulgate CARB-style private fleet rules. CTA killed a similar measure last year. This year, the Assemblymember’s office and SCAQMD worked with CTA to amend the bill prior to its introduction to carve out private fleets from the bill. CTA staff engaged in several days of negotiation to ensure this occurred. Accordingly, at its introduction this year, CTA was neutral on AB 321. Ultimately, AB 321 failed at Senate Transportation due to continued opposition from local governments impacted by the bill.

 

Dynamex Pause Most disappointingly, the Legislature refused to act on a California Chamber of Commerce led effort to pause the Dynamex decision that threatens to upend nearly a century of independent contractor law. Unfortunately, due to heavy labor opposition, Assembly and Senate leadership refused to take up the issue in the final month of the legislative session. On the other hand, the mobilization of a coalition of nearly 100 businesses and associations undoubtably prevented labor from moving to codify the Dynamex decision in statute as they had intended to do this session. Actions by CTA to support this effort included:

 

•CTA financial support of the Chamber’s public relations effort, the "I’m Independent" coalition (https://imindependent.co/). This effort will remain active during recess. CTA’s own public relations contractor is also working on another round of owner-operator videos we will post at our public facing PR site (https://www.truckingdrivesca.com/).    

•CTA’s grassroots activities to push the Chamber’s proposed "pause" of the Dynamex decision included 1,162 petition signatures, 159 emails generated to legislators, and a legislative tour with Assemblymember Blanca Rubio at KKW’s terminal in Fontana.

The business coalition will soon regroup to discuss strategies for the legislative recess leading into the start of the 2019 session in January. CTA will continue to pursue an aggressive legal strategy.

AB 2511 (Chau) This bill initially set a new precedent by going against established Supreme Court Case law, requiring an ID to be presented for the delivery of anything prohibited for sale to a minor under 18. Under Rowe v. New Hampshire Motor Carrier Assoc those registered as motor carriers cannot be subjected to enforcing policing powers. CTA worked with the author to ensure that the established practice was upheld and AB 2511 did not create new liabilities or enforcement duties for our members.

AB 2061 (Frazier) This bill will increase the weight limit by 2,000 pounds for near zero-emission vehicles (NZEV) and zero-emission vehicles (ZEV). Working with a coalition businesses from around the state, CTA was able to help pass and send AB 2061 to the Governor’s desk where it is waiting for his signature.

Privacy Legislation In June the Legislature quickly passed a landmark privacy bill in AB 375 (Chau) establishing the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). Unfortunately this legislation created several problematic issues for doing business in California, including a private right of action for data breaches and fines for each record lost. CTA worked with a coalition of businesses to ensure several of those concerns were addressed in SB 1121 (Dodd). While there is still work to be done to fix the CCPA, staff will continue to work on these issues with the coalition as we enter the new legislative cycle.

Chamber Job Killers The annual list of bills that the California Chamber of Commerce puts out that will have a negative effect on businesses and job growth in California originally consisted of 29 bills. CTA, working with the Chamber and a coalition of other business groups were able to amend or kill all but one of those bills before the end of session. Only AB 3080 (Gonzalez Fletcher) passed the legislature with the Job-Killer label.

 

CTA will provide a full recap of the legislative year after the Governor’s signing deadline on September 30. If you have any questions on specific legislation or issues that may of have come up, you can email Matt Roman at mroman@caltrux.com.