September 12, 2016

Climate Change mandates and farm labor overtime after 8 hours

Governor Brown took action on a number of bills that Farm Bureau worked on this legislative session. He has until September 30th to make a final decision on the nearly 800 bills that the legislature put on his desk.

Climate Change:

As expected after announcing a couple weeks ago he would sign them, Governor Brown approved the two bills that will extend the state’s climate change policy to 2030. Current law gives the state until 2020 to reduce GHG emissions to 1990 levels. SB 32 (Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills), will establish a new target of greenhouse emission reductions to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030 to be implemented by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). AB 197 (Eduardo Garcia, D-Coachella) was joined with SB 32 and was created to provide a semblance of regulatory accountability and legislative oversight regarding the state’s climate change program. AB 197 creates a six-member Joint Legislative Committee on Climate Change Policies that has no authority except to make recommendations to the legislature regarding climate change policy. The measure also adds two legislators as non-voting ex officio members to CARB which provides no further oversight as any interested legislator can now attend a CARB meeting or workshop and make comments but cannot vote. It also creates pseudo term limits of six years, but allows the appointing authority to renew the appointment. Farm Bureau and many in the business community opposed both bills.

Labor:

On September 12, Governor Brown announced his signing of AB 1066 (Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego) which changes the current 10 hours per day overtime threshold for agricultural workers replacing it with overtime pay after 8 hours in a work day or 40 hours in a work week over a four-year phase-in period beginning January 1, 2019; employers of 25 or fewer employees would have an additional three years to comply at each phase-in stage. AB 1066 had been defeated in the Assembly in June, passed the Senate by a single-vote margin in September, and garnered bipartisan opposition in the Legislature. Farm Bureau opposed

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