October 13, 2022

Last week, CSAC reported on the final outcomes of measures that were approved by the Legislature and delivered to Governor Newsom for action. To keep counties informed of new laws of interest and impact, CSAC will publish a series of articles to spotlight those laws in each policy area. This week, the Government Finance and Administration (GFA) policy area provides information on new laws impacting broadband, the Brown Act, labor, pensions, personnel, workers’ compensation, and more.

Broadband

AB 2256 (Quirk-Silva) Office of Broadband and Digital Literacy: reports

This bill, which was co-sponsored by CSAC, adds two local government officials to the Middle-Mile Advisory Committee – one appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly and one appointed by the Senate Rules Committee. Including representatives from local government is important to ensuring the success of a statewide middle-mile network, providing a perspective different from the many state representatives on the committee, and serving as a liaison between the committee and local officials around the state who know the needs and gaps within their communities. Governor Newsom signed AB 2256 on September 29, 2022, which will take effect on January 1, 2023.

Brown Act

AB 2449 (Rubio) Open meetings: local agencies: teleconferences

This bill, until January 1, 2026, authorizes members of a legislative body of a local agency to use teleconferencing without complying with the requirements that their teleconference location be identified in the agenda and that it be made accessible to the public. To qualify, at least a quorum of the members of the legislative body must participate in person from a single location that is open to the public and members of the public must also be allowed to participate remotely. The member would also need to provide just cause or be participating remotely due to emergency circumstances, which must be approved by the legislative body, among other requirements. This bill was signed by Governor Newsom on September 13, 2022, and will take effect on January 1, 2023.

AB 2647 (Levine) Local government: open meetings

A recent court decision held that posting meeting material online does not satisfy the Brown Act that local governments must place physical copies of the document in a designated office open to the public at the same time it is provided to members of a legislative body. This measure exempts local agencies from making materials available for public inspection at the time they distribute them to members of the legislative body less than 72 hours before the meeting if the agency meets specified requirements. CSAC supported this measure as part of a coalition with other government stakeholders. Governor Newsom signed AB 2647 on September 30, 2022, which will take effect on January 1, 2023.

SB 1100 (Cortese) Open meetings: orderly conduct

This bill, which was co-sponsored by CSAC, authorizes the presiding member of a legislative body conducting a meeting, or their designee, to remove an individual for actually disrupting the meeting, and defines “disrupting” for these purposes. This important change to the Brown Act will help local agencies ensure that public meetings are safe and accessible to all members of the public. This bill was signed by Governor Newsom on August 22, 2022, and takes effect on January 1, 2023.

General Government

AB 2463 (Lee) Public works: exemption

This bill extends, until January 1, 2031, the sunset date on the prevailing wage exemption for public works projects performed by volunteers, volunteer coordinators, and members of the California Conservation Corps or community conservation corps. CSAC and a coalition of local government stakeholders supported this measure, which was signed by Governor Newsom on August 29, 2022. AB 2463 takes effect on January 1, 2023.

AB 2887 (E. Garcia) Public resources: Sales and Use Tax Law: exclusions

This measure increases, from $100 million to $150 million, the limit on annual sales and use tax exclusions provided under the California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority. Governor Newsom signed this bill on September 6, 2022, which took effect immediately.

SB 1131 (Newman) Address confidentiality: public entity employees and contractors

This bill authorizes specified public entity employees who face threats of violence or harassment because of their work to apply for the California Secretary of State’s Safe at Home Program. Administered by the California Secretary of State, the Safe at Home Program provides a substitute mailing address that is accepted by California state, county, and city government agencies in lieu of a residential or other mailing address whereby a home address can be tracked down. This bill was signed by Governor Newsom on September 26, 2022, and took effect immediately.

SB 1439 (Glazer) Campaign contributions: agency officers

This bill prohibits local government agency officers from accepting, soliciting, or directing a contribution of more than $250 from anyone while a proceeding involving their license, permit, or other entitlement for use is pending before the agency, or for 12 months following such a decision. This bill also provides a process for the local government agency officer to cure the violation, subject to specified requirements. Governor Newsom signed SB 1439 on September 29, 2022, which takes effect on January 1, 2023.

Labor, Pensions, and Personnel

AB 551 (Rodriguez) Disability retirement: COVID-19: presumption

This bill extends the sunset date from January 1, 2023, to January 1, 2024, relating to the disability retirement presumption applicable to members of various public employee retirement systems who are employed in certain firefighter, public safety officer, and health care job classifications, among others, who test positive for COVID-19, and retire for disability on that basis. Governor Newsom signed this bill on September 29, 2022, which will take effect on January 1, 2023.

AB 1041 (Wicks) Employment: leave

This bill adds a “designated person” to the list of individuals for whom an employee may take leave to care for under the California Family Rights Act. Under this measure, a designated person is defined as any individual related by blood or whose association with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship and authorizes designated person to be identified at the time the employee requests the leave. The bill authorizes an employer to limit an employee to one designated person per 12-month period. Governor Newsom signed this bill on September 29, 2022, which will take effect on January 1, 2023.

AB 1925 (Santiago) County and district offices: qualifications

This bill removes the requirement for an individual to be a registered voter in order to be eligible for an appointed county or district office. This bill was signed by Governor Newsom on September 30, 2022, and will take effect on January 1, 2023.

AB 1971 (Cooper) County Employees Retirement Law of 1937

This bill authorizes 1937 Act county retirement systems to provide service credit buyback for family leave, continued service credit for periods a member is subject to mandatory furloughs, exemption from post-retirement working restrictions for volunteer service in a non-salaried part-time position on boards and commissions with an employer covered under the same retirement system, and retroactive adjustments to members’ allowances when a member retirees for service but subsequently files for a disability retirement which the system approves. This bill was signed by Governor Newsom on September 25, 2022, and takes effect on January 1, 2023.

AB 2188 (Quirk) Discrimination in employment: use of cannabis

This measure makes it unlawful for an employer to discriminate against a person in hiring or any term or condition of employment, if the discrimination is based upon the person’s use of cannabis off the job and away from the workplace or an employer-required drug screening test that has found the person to have non-psychoactive cannabis metabolites in their urine, hair, or bodily fluids. After CSAC and a coalition of public and private employers lobbied to mitigate impacts, aiming to make cannabis treated like alcohol in workplace – the legislation made amendments including that this bill does not prohibit an employer from pre-employment screening through methods that do not screen for non-psychoactive cannabis metabolites, that the bill does not preempt state or federal laws requiring employees to be tested for controlled substances as a condition of employment, and that certain applicants and employees are exempted from this bill’s provisions, including individuals requiring a federal background investigation or clearance or those in the building and construction trades, as specified. Governor Newsom signed this bill on September 18, 2022, which will take effect on January 1, 2024.

AB 2243 (E. Garcia) Occupational safety and health standards: heat illness: wildfire smoke

This bill requires the Division of Occupational Safety and Health to revise and submit heat illness prevention and wildfire smoke standards to the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board by December 1, 2025. This measure also reduces the air quality index level at which respiratory protective equipment becomes mandatory to increase protections of outdoor workers exposed to wildfire smoke and requires employers to distribute prevention plan materials. CSAC and a coalition of private and public stakeholders withdrew opposition after engaging with the author and securing amendments aimed to mitigate impacts to employers while balancing the importance of employee health. Governor Newsom signed this bill on September 29, 2022, which will take effect on January 1, 2023.

AB 2556 (O’Donnell) Local public employee organizations

This bill authorizes a union to charge a local public employee firefighter who is a conscientious objector or who declines membership in the union for reasonable costs of representation if the firefighter requests representation by the union, as specified. This bill also requires a public agency to wait 15 days instead of 10 days before the public agency can implement its last, best, and final offer, after completing impasse procedures. Governor Newsom signed this bill on September 18, 2022, which will take effect on January 1, 2023.

AB 2693 (Reyes) COVID-19: exposure

This bill extends the sunset date by one year (until January 1, 2024), on COVID-19 related workplace reporting requirements and for the Division of Occupational Safety and Health’s authority to disable an operation or process at a place of employment when the risk of COVID-19 infection creates an imminent hazard. This bill revises COVID-19 exposure reporting provisions to require employers to display a notice with information on confirmed COVID-19 cases at the worksite and authorizes employers to post this information on an employer portal or continue to provide it in writing or email. CSAC and a broad coalition of public and private stakeholders worked to secure amendments including shortening the sunset date and to ameliorate the administrative impacts that were included in prior versions of this measure. Governor Newsom signed this bill on September 29, 2022, which will take effect on January 1, 2023.

SB 931 (Leyva) Deterring union membership: violations

This bill requires the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) to impose civil penalties of up to $1,000 for each affected employee, not to exceed $100,000 in total, on public employers if it finds the employers deterred or discouraged employees from exercising collective bargaining rights. PERB is required to take into account the public employer’s annual budget, the severity of the violation, and any history of violations in assessing penalties. Additionally, this measure requires employers to pay attorney’s fees unless PERB finds the claim to be frivolous, unreasonable, or groundless. SB 931 was signed by Governor Newsom on September 29, 2022, which will take effect on January 1, 2023.

SB 960 (Skinner) Public employment: peace officers: citizenship

This bill removes provisions of existing law requiring peace officers to either be a citizen of the United States or be a permanent resident who is eligible for and has applied for citizenship. This bill was signed by Governor Newsom on September 29, 2022, and takes effect on January 1, 2023.

SB 1044 (Durazo) Employers: emergency condition: retaliation

This bill prohibits an employer, in the event of an emergency condition (does not include a health pandemic), as defined, from taking or threatening an adverse action against any employee (except for specified emergency response workers, including disaster service workers, first responders, private entities that contract with public employers, among others) for refusing to report to, or leaving, a workplace within the affected area because the employee has a reasonable belief that the workplace is unsafe. This bill also prohibits an employer from preventing an employee, with some exceptions, from accessing the employee’s mobile device or other communications device to seek emergency assistance, assessing the safety of the situation, or communicating with a person to verify their safety. This bill was signed by Governor Newsom on September 29, 2022, and take effect on January 1, 2023.

SB 1162 (Limón) Employment: Salaries and Wages

This bill expands state pay data reporting requirements to cover contracted employees (for private employers) and requires employers to make pay scale information for positions available to employees and included in job postings (both private and public). This bill was signed by Governor Newsom on September 27, 2022, and takes effect on January 1, 2023.

Publics Works and Prevailing Wages

AB 1851 (Rivas) Public works: prevailing wage: hauling

This bill expands the definition of public works, for the purpose of the payment of prevailing wages, to also include the on-hauling of materials used for paving, grading, and fill onto a public works site. This bill was signed by Governor Newsom on September 29, 2022, and takes effect on January 1, 2023.

AB 2463 (Lee) Public works: exemption

This bill extends the public works exemption sunset date for volunteer work performed by the  California Conservation Corps or a community conservation corps to January 1, 2031. This bill was signed by Governor Newsom on August 29, 2022, and will take effect on January 1, 2023.

Workers’ Compensation

AB 1751 (Daly) Workers’ compensation: COVID-19: critical workers

This bill extends the sunset date of the workers’ compensation COVID-19 presumptions by one year, until January 1, 2024. CSAC and a broad coalition of public and private employer organizations worked diligently with the author to secure amendments that reduced the extension by one year (previous versions of the measure would have extended the sunset until January 1, 2025). Governor Newsom signed AB 1751 on September 29, 2022, which takes effect on January 1, 2023.

SB 1127 (Atkins) Workers’ compensation: liability presumptions

This bill reduces the timeframe for employers to investigate workers’ compensation claims, increases penalties on employers for “unreasonably” denying claims, and significantly increases the duration of temporary disability for cancer presumption claims. CSAC will continue to engage in efforts to mitigate any potential financial burden and liability that is placed on counties. Governor Newsom signed SB 1127 on September 29, 2022, which takes effect on January 1, 2023.