Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Thai Fighter Jet Bombs Cambodian Targets as Border Battle Escalates

22 hours ago

California Cannot Require Background Checks to Buy Ammunition, US Appeals Court Rules

1 day ago

Wrestling Legend Hulk Hogan Dies at 71, TMZ Reports

1 day ago

TikTok Will Go Dark in US Without Chinese Approval of Sale Deal, Lutnick Says

1 day ago

Meme Stock Surge Underlines Market Froth, Mostly Centered on Retail Investors

1 day ago

Fresno County Authorities Still Searching for Missing Mother and Infant

1 day ago

California Releases Teacher Data. It Shows Big Rise in Hispanic Teachers

1 day ago

Biting a Bat and 5 Other Wild Moments From Ozzy Osbourne’s Life

1 day ago

Henry Thompson Did Wonders for Fresno Airport, Leaves ‘Incredibly Big Shoes to Fill’

2 days ago
Walters : California ‘Job Killer’ List Reignites Old Conflict
dan_walters
By Dan Walters, CalMatters Commentary
Published 4 years ago on
April 12, 2021

Share

Annually, the California Chamber of Commerce chooses a relative handful of the hundreds of bills pending in the Legislature and labels them “job killers” that would impose new regulatory or taxation burdens.

The publication of the chamber’s list of measures it considers most onerous has become an important ritual because it defines the current parameters of a perpetual Capitol conflict, pitting business and employer interests against a quartet of rival groups —unions, environmentalists, consumer advocates and personal injury lawyers.

Dan Walters

Opinion

The targeted bills tend to be the highest priorities of the four and the annual jousting is a rough test of the Capitol’s ideological orientation.The “job killer” exercise has been underway for more than two decades and the chamber and its allies have racked up a rather amazing record of success, given the Legislature’s continued drift to the left and its domination by Democrats who generally support what the four groups want to accomplish.

Roughly 90% of the designated bills have fallen by the wayside during that period, either failing to make it through the legislative grinder, being amended sufficiently to satisfy business lobbyists or, in some cases, being vetoed by the governor of the moment.

The 2020 legislative session typified the two-decade-long record. Nineteen bills were tabbed as “job killers” and just one made it into law, Senate Bill 1383. It expanded the obligation of employers to provide workers with family leave.

Most of the measures on this year’s 22-bill list generally fall into two categories —higher personal or corporate taxes and new mandates on employers.

Higher Personal or Corporate Taxes

The tax measures are probably dead on arrival because Gov. Gavin Newsom has publicly declared that he would reject any that reach his desk. While the governor endorses expensive expansions of services, including universal pre-kindergarten and single-payer health care, he is opposed —at least at the moment —to new taxes to pay for them.

That opposition may reflect some concern about facing voters later this year in a recall election, or a fear that new taxes might accelerate an exodus of corporations and wealthy individuals upon whom the state depends for much of its revenue.

The obligatory single-payer health care bill on the list, Assembly Bill 1400, is also very unlikely to move because of the taxes that would be required to pay for it —at least $100 billion a year.

New Mandates on Employees

The employer mandates —similar in thrust to the one bill that made it through last year —have the best chances of success. Most are being sponsored by unions as a backdoor way of securing benefits that ordinarily would be obtained through collective bargaining —if only the unions were more successful in obtaining private sector members.

Speaking of which, one of the bills on the chamber’s list is the latest effort, stretching back a half-century, to help the United Farm Workers Union expand its small membership. Assembly Bill 616 would modify the requirement of an election for the UFW to represent workers, and allow signatures on cards by more than 50% of a farm’s employees to qualify.

Some of the disputes overrepresentation election outcomes have been raging for years without resolution. The union and its supporters say that employers have undermined representation elections while employers say a “card check” would allow workers to be coerced into signing and undermine secret ballots.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court is now weighing the constitutionality of a state law granting the UFW access to farmers’ property to talk to workers —one of the Legislature’s many previous pro-union acts.

About the Author

CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters. For more stories by Dan Walters, go to calmatters.org/commentary.

[activecampaign form=19]

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Trump: Strong Dollar Sounds Good but ‘You Make a Hell of a Lot More’ With a Weaker One

DON'T MISS

US Appeals Court Rejects Challenge to Washington Laws Concerning Transgender Minors

DON'T MISS

Tesla to Roll out Bay Area Robotaxis With Safety Drivers, Report Says

DON'T MISS

Trump Says He Has Not Considered Clemency for Ghislaine Maxwell

DON'T MISS

Fresno Police Arrest Felon in Connection With Drive-by Shooting

DON'T MISS

US Clears Way for $8 Billion Paramount-Skydance Merger

DON'T MISS

Thailand and Cambodia Exchange Heavy Artillery Fire as Border Battle Expands

DON'T MISS

Trump Says US May Not Have a Negotiated Trade Deal With Canada

DON'T MISS

Netanyahu, Trump Appear to Abandon Gaza Ceasefire Negotiations With Hamas

DON'T MISS

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Julian Jay Haymon

UP NEXT

US Appeals Court Rejects Challenge to Washington Laws Concerning Transgender Minors

UP NEXT

Tesla to Roll out Bay Area Robotaxis With Safety Drivers, Report Says

UP NEXT

Trump Says He Has Not Considered Clemency for Ghislaine Maxwell

UP NEXT

Fresno Police Arrest Felon in Connection With Drive-by Shooting

UP NEXT

US Clears Way for $8 Billion Paramount-Skydance Merger

UP NEXT

Thailand and Cambodia Exchange Heavy Artillery Fire as Border Battle Expands

UP NEXT

Trump Says US May Not Have a Negotiated Trade Deal With Canada

UP NEXT

Netanyahu, Trump Appear to Abandon Gaza Ceasefire Negotiations With Hamas

UP NEXT

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Julian Jay Haymon

UP NEXT

Trump Says There Is a 50-50 Chance of Trade Deal With EU

Trump Says He Has Not Considered Clemency for Ghislaine Maxwell

40 minutes ago

Fresno Police Arrest Felon in Connection With Drive-by Shooting

48 minutes ago

US Clears Way for $8 Billion Paramount-Skydance Merger

1 hour ago

Thailand and Cambodia Exchange Heavy Artillery Fire as Border Battle Expands

1 hour ago

Trump Says US May Not Have a Negotiated Trade Deal With Canada

1 hour ago

Netanyahu, Trump Appear to Abandon Gaza Ceasefire Negotiations With Hamas

2 hours ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Julian Jay Haymon

2 hours ago

Trump Says There Is a 50-50 Chance of Trade Deal With EU

2 hours ago

Amid Epstein Furor, Ghislaine Maxwell Seeks Relief From US Supreme Court

2 hours ago

Tater Is One Hot Potato When It Comes to Adoptable Kittens

2 hours ago

Trump: Strong Dollar Sounds Good but ‘You Make a Hell of a Lot More’ With a Weaker One

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said on Friday he liked a strong dollar but “you make a hell of a lot more money” with a wea...

4 minutes ago

President Donald Trump speaks after disembarking Marine One, as he departs for Scotland, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, U.S., July 25, 2025. (Reuters/Evelyn Hockstein)
4 minutes ago

Trump: Strong Dollar Sounds Good but ‘You Make a Hell of a Lot More’ With a Weaker One

Family members and advocates gather inside the Lutheran Church of the Reformation near the U.S. Supreme Court after justices supported a Republican-backed ban in Tennessee on gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors, during a rally in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 18, 2025. (Reuters File)
16 minutes ago

US Appeals Court Rejects Challenge to Washington Laws Concerning Transgender Minors

A Tesla robotaxi drives on the street along South Congress Avenue in Austin, Texas, U.S., June 22, 2025. (Reuters File)
27 minutes ago

Tesla to Roll out Bay Area Robotaxis With Safety Drivers, Report Says

Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell stands at the podium to address Judge Alison Nathan during her sentencing in a courtroom sketch in New York City, U.S. June 28, 2022. (Reuters File)
40 minutes ago

Trump Says He Has Not Considered Clemency for Ghislaine Maxwell

48 minutes ago

Fresno Police Arrest Felon in Connection With Drive-by Shooting

Paramount Global logo is seen in this illustration taken December 17, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
1 hour ago

US Clears Way for $8 Billion Paramount-Skydance Merger

A Thailand's mobile artillery unit fires towards Cambodia's side after Thailand and Cambodia exchanged heavy artillery on Friday as their worst fighting in more than a decade stretched for a second day, in Surin, Thailand, July 25, 2025. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha
1 hour ago

Thailand and Cambodia Exchange Heavy Artillery Fire as Border Battle Expands

A 3D-printed miniature model of U.S. President Donald Trump, the Canada flag and the word "Tariffs" are seen in this illustration taken July 23, 2025. (Reuters/Dado Ruvic/Illustration)
1 hour ago

Trump Says US May Not Have a Negotiated Trade Deal With Canada

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend