from Kevin Pedrotti, Legislative Advocate for the Golden State Builders Exchanges
Half-Way Mark
Today marks the half-way point of the legislative year with completion of house of origin deadline. Starting next week, the Assembly and Senate will begin to hear bills passed from the other house. With the number of bills held by each respective Appropriations Committee and a number of bills made two-year bills, the target list of active key bills becomes much more manageable.
Both the Senate and Assembly are poised to lock-down next Wednesday and attempt to pass a budget by June 15. The Governor and legislative democrats are still trying to find the magic two republican votes in each house to extend the current temporary taxes on sales, income and cars. The voters provided the legislature the ability to pass a budget on a majority vote, but the two-thirds requirement is still necessary for taxes. The Governor and democrats want the tax extensions so no further cuts in public services are needed to balance the budget. As with recent budget votes, there will be drama and it will be pushed to the last possible minute. Both legislative leaders have promised an on-time budget.
The list of key issues has been narrowed substantially in the past several weeks. At the introduction deadline for legislation there were close to 70 bills seeking various forms of regulatory reform. What remains of that list is less than 10 and those that industry believed to be substantial have been defeated or held in committee. The Assembly Appropriations Committee held AB 10 (Alejo) that would have increased the minimum wage by $.50 and AB 400 (Ma) which would have required mandatory sick leave after a short period of employment. The Committee also held AB 1308 (Miller) that would have provided a continuous appropriation from the highway fund should there be a budget delay. SB 129 (Leno) that would prohibit an employer from employment action for an employee who test positive for marijuana if the person holds a valid medical marijuana card was placed on the Senate Inactive file. The Assembly passed AB 780 (Calderon) which reinstates relief for fixed-priced construction contracts should an increase if the state sales tax be imposed. Efforts are on-going to make this part of the budget as well. The Assembly also passed AB 720 (Hall) that sets forth when force accounts can be used by county road commissioners. A bill that is getting some attention from the construction industry is AB 1210 (Garrick) which was passed by the Assembly. This bill has received few no votes. Currently, the state requires construction contractors to develop SWPPPs in order to prevent the contamination of local waterways from a construction site's storm water runoff. This requirement also requires that only qualified individuals prepare and inspect the SWPPP. QSDs and QSPs are required to attend a state-sponsored or approved training course by September 2, 2011, and also must meet one of several prerequisite qualifications. AB 1210 completely supplants these qualifications except one - the registered civil engineer. Under AB 1210, no longer could a registered professional hydrologist, for example, be qualified as a QSF. AB 1210 only authorizes registered civil engineers to be either a QSD or QSP. SB 474 (Evans) was passed by the Senate and will continue to be a contentious issue between GC’s and sub-contractors. The proponents contend the measure ensures that everyone, including the General Contractors (GC’s), are held responsible for their own active negligence and any harm they cause to project owners or workers. Currently, GCs use contractual clauses known as “Type 1” indemnity to shift for an injury, damage or defect. Lastly, the Senate passed SB 469 (Vargas) which addresses a San Diego issue over development of "superstores" by Wal-Mart and other big retailers. The bill takes the side of grocery store unions and Wal-Mart's competitors who were losing at the local level. The measure would require such stores to undergo economic impact analyses, giving opponents more clout in stopping the development of these retail businesses. The bill is very selectively since it would apply to Wal-Mart but exempt Costco and similar stores.
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