Back from its summer recess this week, the California Legislature is tanned, rested and unfortunately ready to pass more unneeded bills.
Here are two of the worst ones:
Senate Bill 1116 is by state Sen. Anthony Portantino, D-Burbank, who is termed out and was formerly running for Congress. It would allow striking workers to collect unemployment insurance benefits.
The unemployment insurance system exists to help workers who lost their jobs, not those who choose not to go to work. The bill is an obvious favor to the state’s powerful unions and a final political stunt by Portantino. It will encourage them to go on strike instead of hashing out deals with employers and amounts to nothing more than a subsidy for unions.
The state still owes $21 billion to the federal government it borrowed to handle the massive unemployment — and fraud — during the COVID lockdowns. A $550 million interest payment is due Sept. 30 from the general fund. Despite this, SB 1116 was approved by the Senate and is awaiting action in the Assembly.
Another terrible bill is Senate Bill 399 by state Sen. Aisha Wahab, D-Fremont.
Among other things, it would prohibit an employer from requiring a worker to “attend an employer-sponsored meeting” or “receive, or listen to any communications … the purpose of which is to communicate the employer’s opinion about religious or political matters.”
Basically, an employer could not discuss laws that might affect the company, such as unionization.
The National Labor Relations Act already prohibits discrimination based on race, religion and political affiliation. CalChamber contends the bill would be “a content-based restriction on speech” and likely violate the First Amendment. And it’s “clear that the motive” behind the bill is to impede company efforts to discuss “the downsides of unionization.” SB 399 passed the Senate and now is in the Assembly.
The Legislature should drop these bills, or Gov. Gavin Newsom ought to veto them.
California cannot afford further attacks on employers and job-creators. It might be good for politicians, but it’s no good for workers. At least the bill-passing frenzy must end by law on Aug. 31.
