Nothing Stops the Legislative Members From Doing Their Job
After a tumultuous day, the California State Legislature finally adjourned for the year in the wee hours of Saturday morning taking final action on hundreds of bills on numerous topics. Although a protester shut down the Senate floor temporarily, the final stretch went smoothly for the major fights over issues such as gig economy or rent hikes had already been settled.
This first year under the tenure of Governor Gavin Newsom will likely be remembered for legislative activity on privacy, independent contractors, and wildfire liability.
Governor Newsom now has 30 days from the time he receives a bill from the Legislature to sign or veto the legislation or let it become law without his signature. Bills go through an enrollment process so it can take several days to complete before the 30-day timeline for signature or veto begins.
Governor Newsom Issues Statement on End of Legislative Session
Governor Gavin Newsom issued the following statement on the end of the legislative session.
"I want to thank the Legislature for all their work this session - our legislative leaders Senate President pro Tempore Toni Atkins and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon - and all the chairs, members and staff.
"Working together in partnership, we have accomplished so much over these last 9 months to help California families tackle the challenges of affordability and fortify our state's future.
"Just this week, California passed the strongest package of renter protections in the nation - putting a cap on rent increases, creating protections against evictions, and establishing a legal fund to help Californians fight evictions and foreclosures.
"California, faced with catastrophic wildfires fueled by climate change, invested $1 billion to prevent, mitigate and recover from wildfires, disasters and emergencies. And in July, our state enacted something that few people thought could be done - wildfire legislation that moved California closer to a safe, reliable and affordable energy future.
"While the Trump Administration tried to destroy health care, California fortified the Affordable Care Act, took on rising prescription drug prices, expanded subsidies for the middle class, and brought our state one step closer to truly universal coverage.
"In the face of the housing and cost-of-living crisis, California acted decisively and strengthened penalties when local governments shirk their responsibility on housing. We unleashed a historic $1.75 billion in new housing construction funding and $1 billion to fight homelessness. This year, our state created a number of new tools to help combat the crisis and incentivize production.
"Through the budget, we put $1 billion back in the pockets of working families through an expanded tax credit. Making good on a commitment years in the making, California created a permanent fund to help more than one million Californians who lack access to clean drinking water.
"On education, we invested more money in our K-14 system than any other time in our state's history. For the first time in decades, California now offers two years of tuition-free community college for students. And most notably, our state brought charter schools and public teachers together at the negotiating table and found agreement - not just on transparency but new rules around charter schools.
"For the first time in over a century, community activists and law enforcement came to agreement on historic new use of force standards - creating one of the strongest sets of provisions in the nation.
"And California did all of this while living within our means: creating the largest rainy day fund in California history, paying down pension liabilities and eliminating our state's wall of debt.
"There's still much work to be done to address the challenges families face - from continuing to tackle the cost-of-living crisis in this state to creating new paths for workers to collectively bargain to passing a wildfire resiliency bond. I look forward to continuing this work with the Legislature as we close out the year and start anew."
Commissioner Lara Appoints Members to Insurance Diversity Task Force
Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara announced the newest members of the 2019-2020 Insurance Diversity Task Force, which makes recommendations to the Insurance Commissioner regarding innovative ways to increase diversity within the insurance industry. The Task Force was formed in 2012 as a component of the Department’s Insurance Diversity Initiative to encourage insurers to increase procurement contracts with diverse business owners, such as a woman-owned, veteran-/disabled veteran-owned, minority-owned or LGBT-owned businesses. The Task Force is also responsible for advancing diversity of insurance company corporate boards.
The newest members include the Task Force’s first female representative of the veteran/disabled veteran-owned business enterprise seat and the first woman and Latina CEO of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce in its 130 years, among other exceptional new members and trailblazers.
Task Force members propose ideas and actions to the commissioner and the Department to encourage insurance companies to utilize diverse suppliers and to increase diversity amongst their governing boards. The transparency achieved through this initiative has helped demonstrate the progress of increased procurement between insurers contracting with California’s diverse-owned businesses which significantly increased by 93% over a five-year period, from $930 million in 2012 to $1.8 billion in 2017. However, diversifying insurer governing boards to reflect a broader set of backgrounds and perspectives remains a challenge. In 2017, insurers reported nearly 80% of governing board seats were held by men and only 12% of board seats were held by persons of color.
These appointments to the Task Force come on the heels of the timely signature of Senate Bill 534 by Governor Gavin Newsom, a bill sponsored by Commissioner Lara and authored by Senator Steven Bradford, which will continue the great strides achieved under this initiative. Among its provisions, SB 534 would (1) require insurance companies to report on their supplier diversity and governing board diversity efforts; (2) expand the diverse supplier categories to include LGBT and veteran-owned businesses; and, 3) codify the Insurance Diversity Task Force in law. Governor Newsom’s signature on SB 534 provides critical support for the Insurance Diversity Initiative to continue to fulfill its mission to increase supplier diversity and advance diversity on insurer governing boards.
Legislative Update
Last week, the California Legislature closed out the 2019 year of the two-year session. List below our tracked priority bills.
We will be providing to all our clients an extensive year-end report after the Governor has taken required action on all bills this year.
Labor-related
AB 5 (Gonzalez) Worker status: employees and independent contractors.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
AB 9 (Reyes) Employment discrimination: limitation of actions.
Status: Enrolled and presented to the Governor.
AB 51 (Gonzalez) Employment discrimination: enforcement.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
AB 170 (Gonzalez) Worker status: employees and independent contractors.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
AB 171 (Gonzalez) Employment: sexual harassment.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
AB 403 (Kalra) Division of Labor Standards Enforcement: complaint.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
AB 406 (Limón) Disability compensation: paid family leave: application in non-English languages.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
AB 547 (Gonzalez) Janitorial workers: sexual violence and harassment prevention training.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
AB 589 (Gonzalez) Employment: unfair immigration-related practices.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
AB 749 (Stone) Settlement agreements: restraints in trade.
Status: Enrolled and presented to the Governor.
AB 1066 (Gonzalez) Unemployment insurance: trade disputes: eligibility for benefits.
Status: Read third time in Senate. Refused passage. Reconsideration granted.
AB 1607 (Boerner Horvath) Gender discrimination: notification.
Status: Approved by the Governor. Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 293, Statutes of 2019.
AB 1677 (Weber) Call centers: protections.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
SB 142 (Wiener) Employees: lactation accommodation.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
SB 188 (Mitchell) Discrimination: hairstyles.
Status: Approved by the Governor. Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 58, Statutes of 2019.
SB 649 (Galgiani) Division of Labor Standards Enforcement: employee records.
Status: In Senate. Referred to Committee on Rules.
SB 688 (Monning) Failure to pay wages: penalties.
Status: Enrolled and presented to the Governor.
SB 734 (Borgeas) Working hours.
Status: In Senate. Referred to Committee on Rules.
SB 755 (Rubio) Employment agencies.
Status: In Senate. Referred to Committee on Rules.
SB 760 (Durazo) Employment.
Status: In Senate. Referred to Committee on Rules.
Privacy-related
AB 25 (Chau) California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
AB 874 (Irwin) California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
AB 1130 (Levine) Personal information: data breaches.
Status: Enrolled and presented to the Governor.
AB 1202 (Chau) Privacy: data brokers.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
AB 1355 (Chau) Personal information.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
AB 1564 (Berman) Consumer privacy: consumer request for disclosure methods.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
SB 180 (Chang) Gene therapy kits: advisory notice and labels.
Status: Approved by the Governor. Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 140, Statutes of 2019.
Cannabis-related
AB 37 (Jones-Sawyer) Personal income taxes: deductions: business expenses: commercial cannabis activity.
Status: Enrolled and presented to the Governor.
AB 1356 (Ting) Cannabis: local jurisdictions: retail commercial cannabis activity.
Status: In Assembly. Inactive File.
SB 51 (Hertzberg) Financial institutions: cannabis.
Status: In Assembly. Inactive File.
SB 475 (Skinner) Cannabis: trade samples.
Status: Author canceled first hearing in Assembly.
Insurance-related
AB 47 (Daly) Driver records: points: distracted driving.
Status: Enrolled and presented to the Governor.
AB 188 (Daly) Fire insurance: valuation of loss.
Status: Approved by the Governor. Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 59, Statutes of 2019.
AB 295 (Daly) Insurance: underwritten title companies.
Status: Vetoed by Governor. Consideration of Governor's veto pending.
AB 740 (Burke) Property insurance: fire hazard severity zones.
Status: In Senate. Inactive File.
AB 1065 (Berman) Insurance transactions: notice: electronic transmission.
Status: Approved by the Governor. Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 235, Statutes of 2019.
AB 1535 (Carrillo) Pet insurance: disclosures.
Status: Approved by the Governor. Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 166, Statutes of 2019.
AB 1591 (Cooley) Insurance Commissioner: legislative reporting.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
SB 534 (Bradford) Insurers: minority, women, LGBT, veteran, and disabled veteran business enterprises.
Status: Approved by the Governor. Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 249, Statutes of 2019.
SB 537 (Hill) Workers’ compensation: treatment and disability.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
SB 740 (Mitchell) Insurance: unclaimed life insurance.
Status: Approved by the Governor. Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 286, Statutes of 2019.
Wildfire-related
AB 38 (Wood) Fire safety: low-cost retrofits: regional capacity review: wildfire mitigation.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
AB 235 (Mayes) Electrical corporations: wildfire victim recovery bonds.
Status: In Senate. Read second time, amended and re-referred to Committee on Energy, Utilities & Communications.
SB 182 (Jackson) Local government: planning and zoning: wildfires.
Status: Held at Assembly Desk.
SB 190 (Dodd) Fire safety: building standards: defensible space program.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
SB 209 (Dodd) Office of Emergency Services: Wildfire Forecast and Threat Intelligence Integration Center.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
SB 247 (Dodd) Wildland fire prevention: vegetation management.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
Governance-related
AB 68 (Ting) Land use: accessory dwelling units.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
AB 587 (Friedman) Accessory dwelling units: sale or separate conveyance.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
AB 881 (Bloom) Accessory dwelling units.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
AB 1486 (Ting) Surplus land.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
SB 13 (Wieckowski) Accessory dwelling units.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
Health-related
AB 138 (Bloom) California Community Health Fund.
Status: Author canceled first hearing in Assembly.
AB 174 (Wood) Health care.
Status: Enrolled and presented to the Governor.
AB 290 (Wood) Health care service plans and health insurance: third-party payments.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
AB 414 (Bonta) Health care coverage: minimum essential coverage.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
AB 528 (Low) Controlled substances: CURES database.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
AB 731 (Kalra) Health care coverage: rate review.
Status: Enrolled and presented to the Governor.
AB 744 (Aguiar-Curry) Health care coverage: telehealth.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
AB 824 (Wood) Business: preserving access to affordable drugs.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
AB 922 (Burke) Reproductive health and research: oocyte procurement.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
AB 929 (L. Rivas) California Health Benefit Exchange: data collection.
Status: Enrolled and presented to the Governor.
AB 973 (Irwin) Pharmacies: compounding.
Status: Approved by the Governor. Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 184, Statutes of 2019.
AB 1063 (Petrie-Norris) Healthcare coverage: waivers.
Status: In Senate. Inactive File.
AB 1088 (Wood) Medi-Cal: eligibility.
Status: Enrolled and presented to the Governor.
AB 1175 (Wood) Medi-Cal: mental health services.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
AB 1642 (Wood) Medi-Cal: managed care plans.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
AB 1723 (Wood) Pharmacy: clinics: purchasing drugs at wholesale.
Status: Enrolled and presented to the Governor.
SB 29 (Durazo) Medi-Cal: eligibility.
Status: Ordered to third reading in Assembly.
SB 39 (Hill) Tobacco products.
Status: Enrolled and presented to the Governor.
SB 129 (Pan) Health care coverage reporting.
Status: Approved by the Governor. Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 241, Statutes of 2019.
SB 260 (Hurtado) Automatic health care coverage enrollment.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
SB 276 (Pan) Immunizations: medical exemptions.
Status: Approved by the Governor. Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 278, Statutes of 2019.
SB 343 (Pan) Health care data disclosure.
Status: Approved by the Governor. Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 247, Statutes of 2019.
SB 377 (McGuire) Juveniles: psychotropic medications: medical information.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
SB 382 (Nielsen) Medi-Cal: managed care health plan.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
SB 407 (Monning) Medicare supplement benefit coverage.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
SB 503 (Pan) Medi-Cal: managed care plan: subcontracts.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
SB 583 (Jackson) Clinical trials.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
SB 642 (Stone) Pharmacy benefit management: Prescription Acquisition and Adjudication Agency.
Status: In Senate. Re-referred to Committee on Health.
SB 655 (Roth) Pharmacy.
Status: Approved by the Governor. Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 213, Statutes of 2019.
SB 714 (Pan) Immunizations.
Status: Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 281, Statutes of 2019.
Tax-related
AB 176 (Cervantes) California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority:
sales and use taxes: exclusions.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
AB 263 (Burke) Taxation: tax expenditures: information.
Status: Enrolled and presented to the Governor.
SB 522 (Hertzberg) Taxation.
Status: In Senate. Referred to Committee on Rules.
Judiciary-related
AB 218 (Gonzalez) Damages: childhood sexual assault: statute of limitations.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
SB 707 (Wieckowski) Arbitration agreements: enforcement.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
Animal-related
AB 273 (Gonzalez) Fur-bearing and nongame mammals: recreational and commercial fur trapping: prohibition.
Status: Approved by the Governor. Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 216, Statutes of 2019.
AB 1553 (Fong) Animal impoundment.
Status: Approved by the Governor. Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 7, Statutes of 2019.
SB 202 (Wilk) Animal blood donors.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
SB 327 (Borgeas) Food and Agriculture: diseased animals and poultry.
Status: In Senate. Referred to Committee on Rules.
Environment-related
AB 292 (Quirk) Recycled water: raw water and groundwater augmentation.
Status: In Senate. Inactive File.
AB 417 (Arambula) Agriculture and Rural Prosperity Act.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
AB 657 (Eggman) Agriculture: commercial feed.
Status: Enrolled and presented to the Governor.
AB 755 (Holden) California tire fee: Stormwater Permit Compliance Fund.
Status: In Assembly. Inactive File.
AB 756 (C. Garcia) Public water systems: perfluoroalkyl substances and polyfluoroalkyl
substances.
Status: Approved by the Governor. Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 162, Statutes of 2019.
AB 834 (Quirk) Freshwater and Estuarine Harmful Algal Bloom Program.
Status: Enrolled and presented to the Governor.
AB 1080 (Gonzalez) Solid waste: packaging and products.
Status: In Senate. Inactive File.
AB 1093 (Rubio) Municipal separate storm sewer systems: financial capability analysis.
Status: Enrolled and presented to the Governor.
AB 1180 (Friedman) Water: recycled water.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
AB 1511 (Bloom) Coastal resources: Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
AB 1583 (Eggman) The California Recycling Market Development Act.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
SB 54 (Allen) Solid waste: packaging and products.
Status: In Assembly. Third Reading.
SB 372 (Wieckowski) Single-use plastic products: extended producer responsibility.
Status: In Senate. Referred to Committee on Rules.
SB 457 (Hueso) Biomethane: gas corporations.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
SB 720 (Stone) Food safety: processed food registration.
Status: In Senate. Referred to Committee on Rules.
SB 726 (Caballero) Hazardous waste: public agencies: materials exchange program.
Status: To Engrossing and Enrolling.
