Existing law requires a 3-part test, commonly known as the "ABC" test, to determine if workers are employees or independent contractors for purposes of the Labor Code, the Unemployment Insurance Code, and the wage orders of the Industrial Welfare Commission. Under the ABC test, a person providing labor or services for remuneration is considered an employee rather than an independent contractor unless the hiring entity demonstrates that the person is free from the control and direction of the hiring entity in connection with the performance of the work, the person performs work that is outside the usual course of the hiring entity's business, and the person is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, or business. Existing law charges the Labor Commissioner with the enforcement of labor laws, including worker classification. Existing law exempts specified occupations and business relationships from the application of the ABC test described above. Existing law, instead, provides that these exempt relationships are governed by the multifactor test previously established in the case of S. G. Borello & Sons, Inc. v. Department of Industrial Relations (1989) 48 Cal.3d 341. This bill would, until January 1, 2021, prohibit the application of the ABC test to determine the liability of a hiring entity for damages, injunctive relief, or civil penalties based upon the classification of workers as independent contractors, and instead would require that employer liability to be based upon the multifactor test set forth in the case of Borello. The bill would provide that its provisions apply retroactively, as specified.
Sponsored bills
The Personal Income Tax Law allows various credits against the taxes imposed by that law. Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives the tax expenditure will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill would allow a credit against those taxes for each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2021, and before January 1, 2026, in an amount that is equal to 50% of the amount incurred by a natural person or a small business, as defined, during the taxable year for the purchase, that does not exceed $7,000, of a backup generator for use in a residence or commercial property in a designated wildfire zone, as defined. The bill would also include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of an environmental impact report for a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. In an action or proceeding alleging the lead agency violated CEQA, CEQA requires the lead agency to prepare and certify the record of proceedings and requires the parties to pay any reasonable costs or fees imposed for the preparation of the record of proceedings, as specified. CEQA authorizes the plaintiff or petitioner to elect to prepare the record of proceedings or for the parties to agree to an alternative method of preparation of the record of proceedings, subject to certification of its accuracy by the public agency. This bill would make the above authorization for the plaintiff or petitioner to elect to prepare the record of proceedings or to agree to an alternative method of record preparation inapplicable in a proceeding challenging a project that will be exclusively located or implemented in a county with fewer than 1,000,000 residents and, if the project is located in a city within that county, the city has fewer than 500,000 residents.
Existing law establishes various energy and environmental goals for the state, including to (1) reduce emissions of greenhouse gases by 40% below 1990 levels by no later than December 31, 2030, (2) procure a minimum quantity of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources so that the total kilowatthours of those products sold to retail end-use customers in California achieves 44% of retail sales by December 31, 2024, 52% by December 31, 2027, and 60% by December 31, 2030, (3) supply 100% of all retail sales of electricity to California end-use customers and 100% of electricity procured to serve all state agencies by December 31, 2045, with eligible renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources, (4) employ statewide energy efficiency savings and demand reduction that will achieve a cumulative doubling of statewide energy efficiency savings in electricity and natural gas final end uses of retail customers by January 1, 2030, compared to those achieved by January 1, 2016, (5) reduce statewide emissions of methane by 40%, hydrofluorocarbon gases by 40%, and anthropogenic black carbon by 50% below 2013 levels by 2030, and (6) reduce the statewide level of disposal of organic waste from the 2014 level by 75% by 2025. This bill would establish the Energy, Environment, and Economy Council with 16 members, as specified. The bill would require the council to engage with stakeholders, subject matter experts, and state and local agencies with jurisdiction relevant to environmental protection and economic vitality in order to determine the policies can be implemented to meet the state's environmental goals, while avoiding harm to the state's economy and maintaining specified protections. The bill would require the council, by July 1, 2022, to submit a report to the Legislature that makes recommendations on appropriate policies to achieve the above-stated environmental goals, while maintaining specified protections, ensuring consumer choice is not compromised, and avoiding harm to the state's economy.
Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to develop a payment system for foster family agencies that provide treatment, intensive treatment, and therapeutic foster care programs. Existing law commencing July 1, 2019, requires that the rates paid to foster family agencies, except for the rate paid to a certified family home or resource family agency, be 4.15% higher than the rates paid to foster family agencies in the 2018–19 fiscal year. This bill would, commencing July 1, 2021, require that the rates paid to foster family agencies be adjusted annually by an amount equal to the California Necessities Index, rounded to the nearest dollar. The bill would require the department to convene a workgroup with concerned stakeholders to establish a foster family agency rate structure to provide adequate funding for foster family agency social workers in order to reduce foster family agency social worker turnover and to improve permanency outcomes for foster children and youth. The bill would require the department, based on the findings of the workgroup, to submit specific recommendations to the Legislature, on or before December 31, 2022, to establish a foster family agency rate structure that ensures that foster family agency social workers are adequately compensated. The bill would require the rate adjustment described above to remain in effect until the date that the department submits those recommendations to the Legislature and the department establishes a foster family agency rate structure to ensure that foster family agency social workers are adequately compensated.
Existing case law, as established in the case of Dynamex Operations W. v. Superior Court (2018) 4 Cal.5th 903 (Dynamex) , creates a presumption that a worker who performs services for a hirer is an employee for purposes of claims for wages and benefits arising under wage orders issued by the Industrial Welfare Commission. Existing law requires a 3-part test, commonly known as the "ABC" test, to determine if workers are employees or independent contractors for those purposes. Existing statutory law establishes that, for purposes of the Labor Code, the Unemployment Insurance Code, and the wage orders of the Industrial Welfare Commission, a person providing labor or services for remuneration is considered an employee rather than an independent contractor unless the hiring entity demonstrates that the person is not an employee under the "ABC" test. Existing law charges the Labor Commissioner with the enforcement of labor laws, including worker classification. Existing law exempts specified occupations and business relationships from the application of the "ABC" test, including a business-to-business contracting relationship, that meets specified requirements, including that a business is a "contracting business" if it demonstrates that it meets specified criteria. Existing law, instead, provides that these exempt relationships are governed by the multifactor test previously established in the case of S. G. Borello & Sons, Inc. v. Department of Industrial Relations (1989) 48 Cal.3d 341. This bill would also include as a "contracting business" for purposes of a business-to-business contracting relationship, or business that subject to specified tax provisions relating to sale proprietorships on limited partnerships.
Existing law, as established in the case of Dynamex Operations W. v. Superior Court (2018) 4 Cal.5th 903 (Dynamex) , creates a presumption that a worker who performs services for a hirer is an employee for purposes of claims for wages and benefits arising under wage orders issued by the Industrial Welfare Commission. Existing law requires a 3-part test, commonly known as the "ABC" test, to determine if workers are employees or independent contractors for those purposes. Existing law establishes that, for purposes of the Labor Code, the Unemployment Insurance Code, and the wage orders of the Industrial Welfare Commission, a person providing labor or services for remuneration is considered an employee rather than an independent contractor unless the hiring entity demonstrates that the person is free from the control and direction of the hiring entity in connection with the performance of the work, the person performs work that is outside the usual course of the hiring entity's business, and the person is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, or business. Existing law charges the Labor Commissioner with the enforcement of labor laws, including worker classification. Existing law exempts specified occupations and business relationships from the application of Dynamex and the provisions described above, including various professional services provided by graphic designers, grant writers, and fine artists, among others. This bill would also exempt certified shorthand reporters from the application of Dynamex and the above provisions.
This measure would declare March 5, 2020, as Family Justice Center Day in California and would recognize the lifesaving and hope-giving work of the California Family Justice Center Network and its member Family Justice Centers as they work with rape crisis centers, domestic violence shelters, human trafficking agencies, prosecutors' offices, law enforcement agencies, and other professionals and community-based organizations to ensure that adult and child survivors of trauma can access all of their services in one setting.