Bills We’re Watching by Richard Markuson, Lobbyist, CAPHCC

CEO@caphcc.org Legislative, News for PHCC Members - All

AB 5 (Gonzales-Fletcher – D) would require employers with 10 or more employees to offer additional hours of work to an existing nonexempt employee before hiring an additional employee or subcontractor.

AB 73 (Chiu and Caballero, Mullin, Santiago, and Ting – D) would authorize a city, county, including a charter city, charter county, or charter city and county, to establish by ordinance a housing sustainability district that meets specified requirements. The bill would authorize the city, or county, to apply to the Office of Planning and Research for approval for a zoning incentive payment and require the city, or county to provide specified information about the proposed housing sustainability district ordinance. The bill would also require that prevailing wages be paid, and a skilled workforce employed, in connection with all projects within the housing sustainability district. The bill would exempt from CEQA housing projects undertaken in the housing sustainability districts that meet specified requirements.

AB 199 (Chu – D) Amends §1720 of the Labor Code to require private residential projects built on private property that are built pursuant to an agreement with the state or a political subdivision to meet the requirements for projects that are defined as “public works.” Under existing law §1720 applies to state agency, redevelopment agency, or local public housing authority.

SB 3 (Beall – D) would enact the Affordable Housing Bond Act of 2018, which, if adopted by voters, would authorize the issuance of $3,000,000,000 State General Obligation bonds to finance various existing housing programs, as well as infill infrastructure financing and affordable housing matching grant programs. While the bill is silent on PW (bond funded programs would generally be public works under §1720) it is likely that a future iteration will include a skilled workforce mandate.

SB 35 (Wiener – D) spot bill to streamline and incentivize the creation of affordable housing projects, to remove local barriers to creating affordable housing in all communities, to streamline, incentivize, and remove local barriers to housing creation in jurisdictions failing to meet their regional housing needs contained in their housing element, and to ensure the payment of prevailing rate of wages in the creation of this housing.

SB 62 (Jackson –D) will significantly expand the type of individuals for which employees can take leave under the California Family Rights Act (CFRA), allowing California employees to take up to 24 weeks/6 months of protected leave in a 12-month period.  Governor Brown vetoed a similar proposal in 2015.

SB 63 (Jackson –D) targets small employers with as few as 20 employees within a 75-mile radius and requires those employers to provide 12 weeks of leave, in addition to the other leaves of absence California already imposes.