News You Need to Know in Two Minutes

A bill introduced late in the legislative session this year resurrects an idea to pay unemployment benefits to workers on strike. The CRA and other business organizations are fighting the bill because, among other reasons, all California employers pay into the state’s unemployment insurance fund – whether or not those employers are in unionized industries or the subject of a strike.

See the full list of Hot Bills.  

The minimum wage will rise in 2024 to $16 per hour. In this week’s News You Need to Know, Sabrina tells us how state officials determined that amount. Also, the CRA is working with lawmakers on a bill that would clarify how you can make your website accessible to users with disabilities. Without state law around these standardized guidelines, this process is rife with legal pitfalls. 

Legal experts are anticipating a steady increase in PAGA claims against employers after the California Supreme Court ruled in favor of a claimant, ignoring guidance from the U.S. Supreme Court. In this week’s News You Need to Know, Sabrina explains how that occurred and why meaningful steps have to be taken – outside the court system – to reform this harmful law.

Learn more about what the CRA is doing.

The state legislature has quickly passed a bill that will bring back California’s Industrial Welfare Commission (IWC), a body that will make labor regulations targeting certain industries including quick-service restaurants. In this week’s News You Need to Know, Sabrina tells us the history of the IWC and why bringing it back will lead to the same results intended by the so-called Fast Act. A referendum on the Fast Act has already qualified for the ballot in 2024.

CRA members went to Washington, D.C. last week to join restaurateurs from all over the country at the National Restaurant Association’s Public Affairs Conference. In this week’s News You Need to Know, Sabrina details what we’re fighting for, which includes a plan for fairness in credit card swipe fees.

If you didn’t get to attend, you can still make your voice heard at this link.

In this edition of the News You Need to Know, hear about key bills that face votes in the coming days. Sabrina breaks them down into two categories – the ones opposed by the CRA, and the ones we support. Each and every one of these bills will impact California restaurants. CRA members, for our handy, updated “Hot Bills” list that you can print out and refer back to, click here.

Remember to click ‘Log in CRA Content’ at the top right of our website to access that document.

Without any action this year by the state legislature, your low-cost, no red-tape ability to serve alcoholic drinks in your expanded outdoor dining area will end next February. That’s because the relief we fought for during the pandemic was temporary. Now, we are reintroducing this conversation in the legislature through a new bill, AB 1217, authored by Assembly member Jesse Gabriel, (D-Encino). The bill would extend the time period that this relief is available to restaurants, so that you can keep serving your guests fully in expanded outdoor spaces.

More than a decade ago, when a state bill required food handler training, the proposal remained silent on who should pay for the training – the restaurant, or the trainee. Two bills introduced this year would change that: one requires restaurants to pay for food handler training; the other requires all employers to pay for mandated training specific to their industries. 

These bills are among 2,600 new bills the CRA Government Affairs Team has reviewed over the last few weeks. 

The state legislature is back in session- and lawmakers are busy crafting their new legislative ideas- and we expect nearly 1,500 pieces of newly proposed legislation to surface by mid-February. Meanwhile, the state and some local governments are beginning to peel back their respective “state of emergency” as it relates to the COVID-19 pandemic, triggering the end of some emergency authority and temporary laws. Speaking of laws, last week a Sacramento Superior Court judge- again- halted AB 257 from being enacted. Sabrina tells us more in this week’s News You Need to Know.

A referendum on a controversial California law, AB 257, appears poised to go before voters, after a coalition including the National Restaurant Association gathered more than the needed number of signatures to qualify the measure. The signatures will first have to be verified by the Secretary of State. In today’s News You Need to Know, Sabrina reminds us why AB 257 is so damaging to California restaurants.

You would think elected officials would slow tax hike proposals during a time when the state has had enormous sums of unanticipated tax revenue, but that wasn’t the case in 2022. State lawmakers proposed tax increases and proposed ways to make it easier to pass these increases in the future. The CRA, along with other state business groups, opposed these measures. Sabrina tells us more in this week’s “News You Need to Know.”

You would think elected officials would slow tax hike proposals during a time when the state has had enormous sums of unanticipated tax revenue, but that wasn’t the case in 2022. State lawmakers proposed tax increases and proposed ways to make it easier to pass these increases in the future. The CRA, along with other state business groups, opposed these measures. Sabrina tells us more in this week’s “News You Need to Know.”

Lawmakers have voted for a three-month extension to the state’s requirement that employers provide supplemental, COVID-related paid sick leave. Governor Newsom is expected to sign this bill into law, and it will come with a grant program to help offset some of these costs for smaller employers. The CRA is advocating for this relief to be extended to larger employers as well.