As CALmatters columnist Dan Walters notes in his Sept. 10 analysis, the California Chamber of Commerce quite often prevails in getting the Legislature to kill or quietly abandon bills that the pro-business lobby deems “job killers.”
But in the recently concluded legislative cycle, the chamber was even more effective than usual, Walters writes, “killing or watering down all but one of the 29 bills that it targeted. … Most vanished without leaving the political DNA of rollcall votes.”
Here is the link to the chamber’s job killer list.
The one exception?
Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher (D-San Diego) continued her track record of maneuvering pro-labor legislation through the Capitol labyrinth.
“Her victory this year was a biggie. Assembly Bill 3080 bars employers from imposing arbitration agreements as a condition of hiring employees,” Walters opined.
Pushing Back Against Liberal Agenda
Despite that setback for the chamber, it again demonstrated considerable clout — especially when you consider the increasingly liberal bent of the Capitol’s ruling Democrats.
Their chamber’s biggest victory, perhaps, was the blocking in the Assembly of a universal healthcare plan that had passed the Senate.
Under pressure from liberal groups to adopt universal healthcare, the Legislature then kicked that can down the road by creating a “blue ribbon” panel to study the issue for three years.
You can read the Walters column at this link.
You can read the chamber’s analysis of California’s business and labor legislation at this link.
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