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2021-2022 Priority Bill List
The California Association of Winegrape Growers is advocating in Sacramento during the deliberation on these proposed changes in law. As a strong voice for California winegrape growers, CAWG helps make lawmakers aware of the potential effects of the legislation they are considering. In many cases this includes unintended, but devastating, consequences.
CAWG sponsors and supports legislation that positively impacts grape growing in California and opposes legislation that can have a negative impact on the industry, our workers and our communities.
As the legislature has adjourned until January 2023, below are some of the wins and losses in the 2022 legislative year:
WINS:
AB 2201 (Bennett, D-Ventura) – Water Wells – Failed passage
This bill would have created new regulatory hurdles in getting new water well permits
AB 364 (Rodriguez, D-Pomona) – Foreign labor contractor registration – Vetoed
This bill would have created a new state program regulating employers who hire H-2A workers.
AB 857 (Kalra, D-San Jose) – H-2A Employee Notice – Vetoed
This bill would have created a new notice to H-2A employees listing their rights under state and federal law. This report would have been duplicative and is unnecessary.
AB 1751 (Daly, D-Anaheim) – Workers’ Comp: COVID-19 – Signed into Law
Extends the January 1, 2023, sunset date for the existing COVID-19 workers' compensation presumptions until January 1, 2024. Previous objectionable provisions were all deleted from the bill.
AB 2133 (Quirk, D-Hayward) – CA Global Warming Solutions Act – Failed Passage
This bill would have required CARB to ensure that statewide greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to at least 55% below the 1990 level by no later than December 31, 2030.
AB 2146 (Bauer-Kahan, D-Orinda) – Neonicotinoid Pesticides – Vetoed
This bill would have created new restrictions on use of neonics in non-ag settings even in suburban settings like Fairfield where the glassy winged sharpshooter was found.
AB 2693 (Reyes, D-Colton) – COVID-19 Notices – Signed into law
This bill extends by one year the required notices to employees who may have been exposed to COVID-19 at work. In recognizing that California is no longer in a pandemic response to COVID-19, the bill was substantially amended late in the process to greatly scale back requirements.
AB 2836 (E. Garcia, D-Coachella) – Carl Moyer Program – Signed into law
This bill extends the sunset provisions of the Carl Moyer Program until January 1, 2034.
SB 846 (Dodd, D-Napa) – Diablo Canyon powerplant – Signed into law
This bill keeps the powerplant open for five more years creating the potential for a water desalination plant at the same location.
SB 856 (Dodd, D-Napa) – Wild Pigs – Signed into law
This bill makes it easier to deal with wild pigs in vineyards and on other ag lands.
SB 1084 (Hurtado, D-Sanger) – Ag land: foreign government ownership – Vetoed
This bill would have unintentionally restricted use of investment dollars in agriculture from various funds that include public pension moneys and other foreign investment.
SB 1162 (Limόn, D-Santa Barbara) – Pay Disparity reports – Signed into law
This bill was substantially amended to provide that the wage reports are NOT public and to provide that reports submitted by growers who are contracting with FLC’s may rely on information provided by the FLC.
LOSSES:
AB 2183 (Stone, D-Santa Cruz) – Card Check –Signed into law
*See prior eNews and eAlerts about this awful bill and why the signing of this bill was so unprecedented.
AB 2213 (Aguiar-Curry, D-Winters) – Smoke Research – Failed Passage
This bill would have created a program within CDFA to do research on measurement of smoke compounds in winegrapes and wine, methods to mitigate the damage to winegrapes and wine that can occur from exposure to smoke, and methods to prevent smoke damage to winegrapes and wine.
AB 152 (Budget Committee) – COVID-19 Leave – Signed into law
There is good and bad in this bill. This bill needlessly extends supplemental leave from the current expiration of September 30, 2022 to December 31, 2022. However, this bill also establishes a program to assist qualified small businesses and nonprofits, with between 26 to 49 employees, for incurring costs for COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave.
AB 1041 (Wicks, D-Richmond) – Employment: leave – Signed into law
This bill expands the definition of family members for which an employee could claim paid family leave.
AB 1279 (Muratsuchi, D-Torrance) & (C. Garcia, D-Bell Gardens) – Statewide Carbon Neutrality Goal – Signed into law
This will result in proposed future restrictive regulations and policies relative to air quality, climate change, land use and much more.
AB 1949 (Low, D-San Jose) – Bereavement Leave – Signed into law
This bill requires private employers with five or more employees and public sector employers to provide employees with at least 30 days of service up to five unpaid days of bereavement leave upon the death of a family member.
AB 2108 (R. Rivas, D-Salinas) – Waste Water Discharge – Signed into law
This bill is intended to add environmental justice, tribal impact, and racial equity considerations in determining policies for waste discharge requirements and other programs. Much of this is already underway and the bill is not needed. However, to the extent it increases costs, there is no provision in the bill for paying those costs.
AB 2243 (E. Garcia, D-Coachella) – Workplace Safety – Signed into Law
This bill requires enhanced regulations related to exposure to wildfire smoke and heat illness in the workplace. This is entirely unnecessary as the wildfire smoke regulation was adopted only a few years ago and the proposed indoor heat illness regulation is already well underway.
AB 2613 (R. Rivas, D-Salinas) – Clean Up Grants to Farmers – Failed Passage
This bill would have established a pilot project within the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) to provide grants to farmers and ranchers to clean up illegal solid waste disposal sites on farm and ranch property.
SB 951 (Durazo, D-Los Angeles) – SDI Benefits – Signed into law.
This bill increases State Disability Insurance benefits for the lowest-wage earners.
SB 1044 (Durazo, D-Los Angeles) – Declared Emergency – Signed into law
This bill effectively prohibits employers from replacing employees who don’t want to work due to declared emergencies. This is because this action in the workplace could be seen as retaliation.
SB 1127 (Atkins, D-San Diego) – Workers’ compensation – Signed into law
This bill reduces the time-period an employer has to deny liability for a workers’ compensation claim from 90 to 75 days for a workers’ compensation claim for specified presumptive injuries.