GOVERNMENT RELATIONS


in 2019 and will continue to work the legislative process to either stop or amend where possible.


AB 418 (D, Kalra) – Evidentiary privi- leges: union agent-represented worker privilege. Tis bill would establish a new privilege between a union agent and a represented employee to refuse to disclose any confidential communication made while the agent was acting in the union agent’s representative capacity.


For more information on AB 5, go to: http:// agc-ca.org/Member- Services/Legislative- Advocacy/AB-5-and-the- Dynamex-Decision/.


AB 457 (D, Quirk) – Occupational safety and health - lead: permissible exposure levels.Tis bill would require CalOSHA to complete a rulemaking process and adopt lead standards in the regulations no later than February 1, 2020. Te bill would authorize the adoption of emergency regulations by the standards board as necessary to implement these provisions. AGC is opposed to this measure because it would force emergency rule making and disrupts the collaborative process currently in place at CalOSHA.


AB 555 (D, Gonzalez) – Paid sick leave. Tis bill would modify the employer’s alternate sick leave accrual method to require that an employee have no less than 40 hours of accrued sick leave or paid time off by the 200th calendar day of employment or each calendar year, or in each 12-month


period. Te bill would also raise the employer’s authorized limitation on the employee’s use of carryover sick leave to 40 hours or 5 days.


AB 882 (D, McCarty) – Termination of employment: drug testing: medication- assisted treatment. Current law requires an employer who regularly employs 25 or more employees to reasonably accom- modate any employee who voluntarily


participates in an alcohol or drug rehabilitation program, provided the employer does not suffer undue hardship. Tis bill would prohibit an employer, regardless of the number of employees, from discharging an employee for testing positive for a drug that is being used as a medical-assisted treatment, under the care of a physician or licensed treatment program, as specified.


SB 171 (D, Jackson) – Employers: annual report: pay data. Tis bill requires, on or before March 31, 2021, and each year thereafter, a private employer that has 100 or more employees and who is required to file an annual Employer Information Report under federal law, to submit a pay data report to the Department of Fair Employment and Housing that contains specified wage information. It will authorize the department, if the department does not receive the required report from an employer, to seek an order requiring the employer to comply, as specified. Opposed by a large coalition of the employer community, this bill relies on job titles and classifications to compare jobs, which undermines the current law that allows the comparison of “substan- tially similar” positions. Tis likely will result in the false impression of wage discrimination when none may exist.


SB 522 (D, Hertzberg) – Taxation. Tis bill attempts to “flatten” the personal income tax by placing a tax on previ- ously untaxed business to business services. It will likely result in a tax on previously untaxed services for contractors between 3-8%.


AB 626 (D, Quirk-Silva) – Conflicts of interest. Tis bill would exclude engineer, geologist, architect, land surveyor, or planner from being deemed interested in a contract. AGC has concerns about the inherent conflicts that would arise from design firms bidding on a design-build project.


Legal experts. Trusted advisors. Constructing Legal Strategies


for 40 Years www.aalrr.com 6 January/February 2020


SB 749 (D, Durazo) – California Public Records Act: trade secrets. Tis bill would provide that records relating to wages, benefits, working hours, and other employment terms and conditions of employees working for a private industry employer pursuant to a contract with a state or local agency shall not be deemed to be trade secrets under the act. AGC is opposed to this measure as it makes a private enterprise subject to the public records request act – a records request could come from any person, competitor, or special interest. 


California Constructor


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