AB 168 (Aquiar-Curry) requires a pre-consultation process with a California Native American tribe prior to the submission of an SB 35 (Wiener), Chapter 366, Statutes of 2017, permit, which entitles a developer to a streamlined housing approval process, in order to identify and protect tribal cultural resources (TCRs).
Status: Governor's Desk
AB 685 (Reyes) establishes COVID-19 notification requirements that deviate from local public health orders and CDC guidelines. The bill would require employers to notify ALL employees that they may have “potentially been exposed” to COVID-19 on a jobsite if a single person tests positive, regardless of whether or not an employee ever came in contact with the employee who tested positive. Because construction is a multi-employer industry, once a single employer notifies their employees, the obligation would trickle down to all employers.
Status: Governor's Desk
AB 828 (Ting) Forcing landlords to reduce rents even if a tenant cannot demonstrate a hardship or need. Allowing judges and the court system to set rents and change the rental agreements already in place, thus disincentivizing the construction or TIs of multifamily projects.
Status: Dead
AB 841 (Ting) requires EV charging equipment funded by the CPUC, CEC, or CARB to be installed by at least one electrician (but not less than 25% of the work crew) who has passed the EV Infrastructure Training Program (EVITP).
Status: Governor's Desk
AB 1436 (Chiu) This bill would force housing providers to defer unpaid rent for 15 months after the state and local emergency declarations have been lifted; this means landlords could go years without collecting the rents they deferred during the pandemic.
Status: Dead
AB 1561 (Garcia) extends, by 18 months, the time frame for the expiration, effectuation, or utilization of a housing entitlement for any housing entitlement that was issued prior to, and was in effect on, March 4, 2020, and will expire prior to December 31, 2021.
Status: Governor's Desk
AB 1867 took effect immediately upon being signed, which was September 9, 2020. That bill expands supplemental paid sick leave for COVID-19-related reasons for certain employers not already covered by the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). That law will expire when the FFCRA does (currently set to expire on December 31, 2020).
AB 1947 (Kalra) Doubles, from 6 months to one year, the time in which a person who believes that they have been discharged or otherwise discriminated against to file a complaint with the DLSE. Also, AB 1947 overturns the existing balance by prohibiting an employer from recovering its attorney’s fees, which could create an incentive for more potentially frivolous litigation.
AB 2210 (Aguiar-Curry) extends the time from 180 days to 18 months for CSLB to commence an action based upon a Cal-OSHA complaint. (CSLB-sponsored bill)
Status: Governor's Desk
AB 2231 (Kalra) Defines a public subsidy as de minimis for the purpose of paying the prevailing wage in private projects if it is both less than $500,000 and less than 2% of the total project cost for bids advertised or contracts awarded after July 1, 2021.
Status: Governor's Desk
AB 2232 (Grayson) Contractors: Renewal of Licenses - would require the registrar to grant the retroactive renewal of a license if within 90 days of the expiration of the license.
Status: Dead
AB 2257 amends AB 5 (Independent Contractors), but not the underlying framework of AB 5, rather it makes some revisions and clarifications to some of the existing exceptions and added new ones. AB 2257 went into effect when it was signed on September 4, 2020.
AB 2311 Low requires a public entity to include in all documents and contracts a notice that a project is subject to the skilled-and-trained workforce requirement.
Status: Governor's Desk
AB 2471 (Maienschein) Senior citizens: rescission of contracts - This bill would extend the period of time to cancel the contracts or offers described above from 3 to 5 business days if the buyer or property owner is a senior citizen.
Status: Governor's Desk
AB 2765 (O’Donnell) – Requires prevailing wages be paid to construction workers performing work with Public or Conduit Revenue Bonds on Charter School facilities.
Status: Governor's Desk
AB 3074 (Friedman) wildfire risk: defensible space: ember-resistant zones.
Stats: Governor's Desk
AB 3075 (Gonzalez) Requires that articles of incorporation include an attestation that the filer is not affiliated with an employer that has an outstanding judgment issued by the DLSE or a court of law for violation of any wage order or provision of the Labor Code. The bill interferes with corporate formation based on unclear and unfair standards and the bill will result in chaotic and inconsistent enforcement of wage and hour laws by local jurisdictions.
Status: Governor's Desk
AB 3087 (Brough) Professions and Vocations - This bill would authorize the registrar to contract with a public or private organization to administer the examination and to provide materials and services for the examination.
Status: Governor's Desk
AB 3164 (Friedman) Fire prevention: wildland-urban interface wildfire risk model: model use guidelines.
Status: Governor's Desk
AB 3216 (Kalra) New COVID-19 Employment Leave Mandate. Provides for unlimited job protected leave for all employees of employers of any size for family and medical leave due to COVID-19. This new mandate is in addition to numerous COVID-19 leave requirements recently enacted at the federal, state and local levels, and will further burden California employers at a time they can least afford it.
Status: Governor's Desk
AB 3279 (Friedman) Revises California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) litigation procedures by (1) reducing the deadline for a court to commence hearings from one year to 270 days, (2) providing that a lead agency may decide whether a plaintiff prepares the administrative record, and (3) authorizing a court to issue an interlocutory remand. AB 3279 addresses common delays in litigation over CEQA actions to promote swifter and more efficient resolution of lawsuits regarding all projects.
Status: Dead
SB 281 (Wiener) This bill would extend the period for the expiration 0r utilization of a housing entitlement, that had not expired as of March 4, 2020, by 24 months. The bill would toll this 24-month extension during any time that the housing entitlement is the subject of a legal challenge.
Status: Dead
SB 288 (Wiener) This bill would exempt from the requirements of CEQA certain projects, including projects for the institution or increase of new bus rapid transit, bus, or light rail services on public rail or highway rights-of-way, as specified, whether or not the right-of-way is in use for public mass transit, as specified, and projects for the designation and conversion of general purpose lanes, high-occupancy toll lanes, high-occupancy vehicle lanes, or highway shoulders, as specified.
Status: Governor's Desk
SB 474 (Stern) This bill would prohibit any residential or commercial construction in either Very High Fire Severity Zones or State Responsibility Areas (SRA’s).
Status: Dead
SB 795 (Beall) SB 795 allocates $10 billion over five years to several existing housing, homelessness, and pre-apprenticeship programs, as well as creating two new infrastructure financing programs at the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (Go-Biz). It allocates $5 million each year for five years to the California Workforce Development Board for distribution to local agencies to participate in, invest in, or partner with new or existing pre-apprenticeship training programs. The $5 million for pre-apprenticeship training programs must be “established pursuant to subdivision (e) of Section 14230 of the Unemployment Insurance Code” that requires that the pre-apprenticeship training in the building and construction trades fund programs and services that follow the Multi-Craft Core Curriculum.
Status: Dead
S.B.No. 899 (Wiener) Planning and zoning: housing development: higher education institutions, nonprofit hospitals, or religious institutions.
Status: Dead
S.B.No. 902 (Wiener) Planning and zoning: neighborhood multifamily project: use by right: density.
Status: Dead
SB 973 requires a private employer that has 100 or more employees and is required to file an annual Employer Information Report (EEO-1) under federal law, to submit a pay data report to the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) that contains information about employees’ race, ethnicity and gender in various job categories on or before March 31, 2021. The DFEH is given related enforcement authority. This essentially creates California’s version of the federal EEO-1 information that some employers must submit to the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
SB 974 (Hurtado) Exempts from CEQA specific water infrastructure projects for small disadvantaged community water systems that improve the water system’s water quality, water supply, or water reliability. These will surely make it easier and more affordable to provide clean water for small disadvantaged communities.
Status: Governor's Desk
SB 995 (Atkins) – This bill would expand the application of streamlining the CEQA process to smaller housing projects that include at least 15 percent affordable housing. It also would broaden application and utilization of the Master Environmental Impact Report (MEIR) process, which allows cities to do upfront planning that streamlines housing approvals on an individual project level. The bill would extend and expand a program that has generated 10,573 housing units and created nearly 47,000 jobs since 2011.
Status: Dead
S.B.No. 1085 (Skinner) Density Bonus Law: qualifications for incentives or concessions: student housing for lower income students: moderate-income persons and families: local government constraints.
Status: Dead
SB 1120 (Atkins) – This bill would encourage small-scale neighborhood development by streamlining the process for a homeowner to create a duplex or subdivide an existing lot in all residential areas. Such applications would be required to meet a list of qualifications that ensure protection of local zoning and design standards, historic districts, environmental quality, and existing tenants vulnerable to displacement.
Status: Dead
S.B.No. 1138 (Wiener) Housing element: emergency shelters: rezoning of sites.
Status: Dead
SB 1159 establishes a rebuttable workers’ compensation presumption for workers that contract COVID-19 under certain conditions and requires employers to report COVID-19 cases to their workers’ compensation carriers. The bill went into effect immediately upon signing and remains in effect until January 1, 2023.
SB 1189 (McGuire) this CSLB sponsored bill creates a new residential remodeling license (B-2) that would prohibit a B-2 from “contracting to make structural changes to load bearing portions of an existing structure and from contracting to install, replace, or extend electrical or plumbing systems or their component parts, or the mechanisms or devices that are part of those systems” but would allow them to make “minor alterations to existing electrical or plumbing systems to effectuate the purpose of installing, repairing, or replacing electrical and plumbing fixtures.”
Status: Governor's Desk
SB-1238 (Hueso) – Study the feasibility and affordability of introducing recycled plastic in asphalt used as paving material in highway and road projects. If found to be feasible, CDOT will establish specifications for including recycled plastics in their projects.
Status: Dead
S.B.No. 1299 (Portantino) Housing development: incentives: rezoning of idle retail sites.
Status: Dead
SB 1383 significantly expands the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) beginning January 1, 2021. Notably, this bill expands employer coverage to include all employers with five or more employees, which is much fewer than the previous 50 or more employees requirement. This is a major development. Small businesses will need to quickly get up to speed on CFRA’s requirements in order to be ready by January 1.
SB 1383 also expands the definition of “family members” beyond what is covered under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which will affect larger employers who will have to administer CFRA and FMLA separately in some cases.
For example, an employee can take 12 weeks of leave to care for a sibling under the CFRA and then another separate 12 weeks to cover an illness under the FMLA for total of 24 weeks of protected leave. Employers, big and small, should become familiar with the law’s details and be prepared to revise or implement compliant policies and practices by 2021.
SB 1385 (Caballero) – This bill would unlock existing land zoned for office and retail use and allow housing to become an eligible use on those sites. It also would extend the state’s streamlined ministerial housing approval process to office and retail sites that have been vacant or underutilized for at least three years.
Status: Dead
SB 1348 (Stern) enhance fire prevention efforts by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention (CAL FIRE), including, among other things, improved vegetation management and expanding the area where fire safety building standards apply.
Status: Dead
SB 1474 (Senate Business, Professions & Economic Development) Committee Bill - This bill moves the provisions related to the Letter of Admonishment into a separate code section.
Status: Governor's Desk
# # #
Status: Governor's Desk
AB 685 (Reyes) establishes COVID-19 notification requirements that deviate from local public health orders and CDC guidelines. The bill would require employers to notify ALL employees that they may have “potentially been exposed” to COVID-19 on a jobsite if a single person tests positive, regardless of whether or not an employee ever came in contact with the employee who tested positive. Because construction is a multi-employer industry, once a single employer notifies their employees, the obligation would trickle down to all employers.
Status: Governor's Desk
AB 828 (Ting) Forcing landlords to reduce rents even if a tenant cannot demonstrate a hardship or need. Allowing judges and the court system to set rents and change the rental agreements already in place, thus disincentivizing the construction or TIs of multifamily projects.
Status: Dead
AB 841 (Ting) requires EV charging equipment funded by the CPUC, CEC, or CARB to be installed by at least one electrician (but not less than 25% of the work crew) who has passed the EV Infrastructure Training Program (EVITP).
Status: Governor's Desk
AB 1436 (Chiu) This bill would force housing providers to defer unpaid rent for 15 months after the state and local emergency declarations have been lifted; this means landlords could go years without collecting the rents they deferred during the pandemic.
Status: Dead
AB 1561 (Garcia) extends, by 18 months, the time frame for the expiration, effectuation, or utilization of a housing entitlement for any housing entitlement that was issued prior to, and was in effect on, March 4, 2020, and will expire prior to December 31, 2021.
Status: Governor's Desk
AB 1867 took effect immediately upon being signed, which was September 9, 2020. That bill expands supplemental paid sick leave for COVID-19-related reasons for certain employers not already covered by the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). That law will expire when the FFCRA does (currently set to expire on December 31, 2020).
AB 1947 (Kalra) Doubles, from 6 months to one year, the time in which a person who believes that they have been discharged or otherwise discriminated against to file a complaint with the DLSE. Also, AB 1947 overturns the existing balance by prohibiting an employer from recovering its attorney’s fees, which could create an incentive for more potentially frivolous litigation.
AB 2210 (Aguiar-Curry) extends the time from 180 days to 18 months for CSLB to commence an action based upon a Cal-OSHA complaint. (CSLB-sponsored bill)
Status: Governor's Desk
AB 2231 (Kalra) Defines a public subsidy as de minimis for the purpose of paying the prevailing wage in private projects if it is both less than $500,000 and less than 2% of the total project cost for bids advertised or contracts awarded after July 1, 2021.
Status: Governor's Desk
AB 2232 (Grayson) Contractors: Renewal of Licenses - would require the registrar to grant the retroactive renewal of a license if within 90 days of the expiration of the license.
Status: Dead
AB 2257 amends AB 5 (Independent Contractors), but not the underlying framework of AB 5, rather it makes some revisions and clarifications to some of the existing exceptions and added new ones. AB 2257 went into effect when it was signed on September 4, 2020.
AB 2311 Low requires a public entity to include in all documents and contracts a notice that a project is subject to the skilled-and-trained workforce requirement.
Status: Governor's Desk
AB 2471 (Maienschein) Senior citizens: rescission of contracts - This bill would extend the period of time to cancel the contracts or offers described above from 3 to 5 business days if the buyer or property owner is a senior citizen.
Status: Governor's Desk
AB 2765 (O’Donnell) – Requires prevailing wages be paid to construction workers performing work with Public or Conduit Revenue Bonds on Charter School facilities.
Status: Governor's Desk
AB 3074 (Friedman) wildfire risk: defensible space: ember-resistant zones.
Stats: Governor's Desk
AB 3075 (Gonzalez) Requires that articles of incorporation include an attestation that the filer is not affiliated with an employer that has an outstanding judgment issued by the DLSE or a court of law for violation of any wage order or provision of the Labor Code. The bill interferes with corporate formation based on unclear and unfair standards and the bill will result in chaotic and inconsistent enforcement of wage and hour laws by local jurisdictions.
Status: Governor's Desk
AB 3087 (Brough) Professions and Vocations - This bill would authorize the registrar to contract with a public or private organization to administer the examination and to provide materials and services for the examination.
Status: Governor's Desk
AB 3164 (Friedman) Fire prevention: wildland-urban interface wildfire risk model: model use guidelines.
Status: Governor's Desk
AB 3216 (Kalra) New COVID-19 Employment Leave Mandate. Provides for unlimited job protected leave for all employees of employers of any size for family and medical leave due to COVID-19. This new mandate is in addition to numerous COVID-19 leave requirements recently enacted at the federal, state and local levels, and will further burden California employers at a time they can least afford it.
Status: Governor's Desk
AB 3279 (Friedman) Revises California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) litigation procedures by (1) reducing the deadline for a court to commence hearings from one year to 270 days, (2) providing that a lead agency may decide whether a plaintiff prepares the administrative record, and (3) authorizing a court to issue an interlocutory remand. AB 3279 addresses common delays in litigation over CEQA actions to promote swifter and more efficient resolution of lawsuits regarding all projects.
Status: Dead
SB 281 (Wiener) This bill would extend the period for the expiration 0r utilization of a housing entitlement, that had not expired as of March 4, 2020, by 24 months. The bill would toll this 24-month extension during any time that the housing entitlement is the subject of a legal challenge.
Status: Dead
SB 288 (Wiener) This bill would exempt from the requirements of CEQA certain projects, including projects for the institution or increase of new bus rapid transit, bus, or light rail services on public rail or highway rights-of-way, as specified, whether or not the right-of-way is in use for public mass transit, as specified, and projects for the designation and conversion of general purpose lanes, high-occupancy toll lanes, high-occupancy vehicle lanes, or highway shoulders, as specified.
Status: Governor's Desk
SB 474 (Stern) This bill would prohibit any residential or commercial construction in either Very High Fire Severity Zones or State Responsibility Areas (SRA’s).
Status: Dead
SB 795 (Beall) SB 795 allocates $10 billion over five years to several existing housing, homelessness, and pre-apprenticeship programs, as well as creating two new infrastructure financing programs at the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (Go-Biz). It allocates $5 million each year for five years to the California Workforce Development Board for distribution to local agencies to participate in, invest in, or partner with new or existing pre-apprenticeship training programs. The $5 million for pre-apprenticeship training programs must be “established pursuant to subdivision (e) of Section 14230 of the Unemployment Insurance Code” that requires that the pre-apprenticeship training in the building and construction trades fund programs and services that follow the Multi-Craft Core Curriculum.
Status: Dead
S.B.No. 899 (Wiener) Planning and zoning: housing development: higher education institutions, nonprofit hospitals, or religious institutions.
Status: Dead
S.B.No. 902 (Wiener) Planning and zoning: neighborhood multifamily project: use by right: density.
Status: Dead
SB 973 requires a private employer that has 100 or more employees and is required to file an annual Employer Information Report (EEO-1) under federal law, to submit a pay data report to the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) that contains information about employees’ race, ethnicity and gender in various job categories on or before March 31, 2021. The DFEH is given related enforcement authority. This essentially creates California’s version of the federal EEO-1 information that some employers must submit to the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
SB 974 (Hurtado) Exempts from CEQA specific water infrastructure projects for small disadvantaged community water systems that improve the water system’s water quality, water supply, or water reliability. These will surely make it easier and more affordable to provide clean water for small disadvantaged communities.
Status: Governor's Desk
SB 995 (Atkins) – This bill would expand the application of streamlining the CEQA process to smaller housing projects that include at least 15 percent affordable housing. It also would broaden application and utilization of the Master Environmental Impact Report (MEIR) process, which allows cities to do upfront planning that streamlines housing approvals on an individual project level. The bill would extend and expand a program that has generated 10,573 housing units and created nearly 47,000 jobs since 2011.
Status: Dead
S.B.No. 1085 (Skinner) Density Bonus Law: qualifications for incentives or concessions: student housing for lower income students: moderate-income persons and families: local government constraints.
Status: Dead
SB 1120 (Atkins) – This bill would encourage small-scale neighborhood development by streamlining the process for a homeowner to create a duplex or subdivide an existing lot in all residential areas. Such applications would be required to meet a list of qualifications that ensure protection of local zoning and design standards, historic districts, environmental quality, and existing tenants vulnerable to displacement.
Status: Dead
S.B.No. 1138 (Wiener) Housing element: emergency shelters: rezoning of sites.
Status: Dead
SB 1159 establishes a rebuttable workers’ compensation presumption for workers that contract COVID-19 under certain conditions and requires employers to report COVID-19 cases to their workers’ compensation carriers. The bill went into effect immediately upon signing and remains in effect until January 1, 2023.
SB 1189 (McGuire) this CSLB sponsored bill creates a new residential remodeling license (B-2) that would prohibit a B-2 from “contracting to make structural changes to load bearing portions of an existing structure and from contracting to install, replace, or extend electrical or plumbing systems or their component parts, or the mechanisms or devices that are part of those systems” but would allow them to make “minor alterations to existing electrical or plumbing systems to effectuate the purpose of installing, repairing, or replacing electrical and plumbing fixtures.”
Status: Governor's Desk
SB-1238 (Hueso) – Study the feasibility and affordability of introducing recycled plastic in asphalt used as paving material in highway and road projects. If found to be feasible, CDOT will establish specifications for including recycled plastics in their projects.
Status: Dead
S.B.No. 1299 (Portantino) Housing development: incentives: rezoning of idle retail sites.
Status: Dead
SB 1383 significantly expands the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) beginning January 1, 2021. Notably, this bill expands employer coverage to include all employers with five or more employees, which is much fewer than the previous 50 or more employees requirement. This is a major development. Small businesses will need to quickly get up to speed on CFRA’s requirements in order to be ready by January 1.
SB 1383 also expands the definition of “family members” beyond what is covered under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which will affect larger employers who will have to administer CFRA and FMLA separately in some cases.
For example, an employee can take 12 weeks of leave to care for a sibling under the CFRA and then another separate 12 weeks to cover an illness under the FMLA for total of 24 weeks of protected leave. Employers, big and small, should become familiar with the law’s details and be prepared to revise or implement compliant policies and practices by 2021.
SB 1385 (Caballero) – This bill would unlock existing land zoned for office and retail use and allow housing to become an eligible use on those sites. It also would extend the state’s streamlined ministerial housing approval process to office and retail sites that have been vacant or underutilized for at least three years.
Status: Dead
SB 1348 (Stern) enhance fire prevention efforts by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention (CAL FIRE), including, among other things, improved vegetation management and expanding the area where fire safety building standards apply.
Status: Dead
SB 1474 (Senate Business, Professions & Economic Development) Committee Bill - This bill moves the provisions related to the Letter of Admonishment into a separate code section.
Status: Governor's Desk
# # #