aid in the development of California’s infrastructure needs.


• AB 786 (Cervantes D) California Transportation Commission (CTC): Executive Director. Current law requires the CTC to appoint an executive director for the commission who serves at the pleasure of the Commission. This bill would instead require the executive di- rector of the Commission to be appointed by the Governor, subject to confirmation by the Senate, and subject to removal at the discretion of the Governor. AGC opposes this measure as it stands to politicize the selection of this very im- portant position; the executive director of the CTC should be accountable to body it serves and not to the Governor.


• AB 995 (Gonzalez D) Paid Sick Days: Accrual and Use. Current law authorizes an employer to use a different accrual method if an employee has no less than 24 hours of accrued sick leave or paid time off by the 120th calendar day of employ- ment or each calendar year, or in each 12-month period. 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. Paid sick leave, and other related fringe


benefits, are best negotiated between employers and our labor partners with whom we have master labor agreements. Tis measure would upend that process with a “one sizes fit all approach.”


• AB 1041 (Wicks D) Employment: Leave. Tis bill would expand the popu- lation that an employee can take leave to care for to include a designated person. It would define “designated person” to mean a person identified by the employ-


The 2022 session will


likely be again hamstrung by the nagging


COVID protocols and uncertainty brought on by the Omicron variant.


ee at the time the employee requests family care and medical leave. Te bill would authorize an employer to limit designation of a person, as prescribed. Tis measure expands employer lia- bility, and as such AGC is opposed.


• AB 1119 (Wicks D) Employment Discrimination. The California Fair Employment and Housing Act protects the right to seek, obtain, and hold employ- ment without discrimination because of prescribed characteristics. Tis bill would expand the protected characteristics to include family responsibilities, defined to mean the obligations of an employee to provide direct and ongoing care for a minor child or a care recipient. Tis measure expands employer lia- bility, and as such AGC is opposed.


• AB 1192 (Kalra D) Employment Infor- mation: Worker Metrics. Tis bill would establish a program in the Department of


Industrial Relations that would require employers with more than 1,000 em- ployees in California to submit various statistics regarding those employees to the agency. Te bill would further require the agency to collect the worker-related statistics annually and, after collection, to assign each employer to one of the 24 industries in the Global Industry Classi- fication Standard system. Tis measure attempts to shoehorn all


industries and employers into a system that ultimately has been designed to demonstrate disparity among service sector workers; the measure ignores the complexities and excellent benefits provided by construction jobs.


• AB 1400 (Kalra D) Guaranteed Health Care for All. Current law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-in- come individuals receive health care ser- vices. Tis bill would create the California Guaranteed Health Care for All program, or CalCare, to provide comprehensive universal single-payer health care coverage and a health care cost control system for the benefit of all residents of the state. AGC is opposed to this measure as it unfairly burdens all construction em- ployers with increased costs for health care; this measure stands to shift costs to employers that already provide quality health coverage. Te Legislative committee will meet


in March to discuss the progress of the bills mentioned above as well as review all the new bills introduced this year. Stay tuned!


Felipe Fuentes


CALIFORNIA CONSTRUCTOR JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022


5


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32