POLITICO California Playbook PM: It’s live-or-die week for California labor agenda

Your afternoon must-read briefing on politics and government in the Golden State

Aug 09, 2022 View in browser   By Alexander Nieves and Blake Jones BRACE YOURSELVES: Are you ready for suspense day, the Legislature's secretive, biannual culling of bills for ostensibly financial reasons? If not, we've got you covered. A slew of major labor and business measures are among the hundreds of bills that will be quickly passed or killed Thursday in both houses' appropriations committees. The most closely watched of those is SB 1162, a proposal from Sen. Monique Limón (D-Santa Barbara) that would require the state to publish a range of pay data — broken down by gender, race and ethnicity — collected from large companies. That legislation would apply to the in-state workforces of businesses with 250 or more employees, including those headquartered outside of California. The threat of having internal salary data exposed to the public has unsurprisingly drawn the ire of business groups like the California Chamber of Commerce, which is hoping SB 1162 will be stopped in its tracks. Another bill facing heavy opposition is SB 1044 , which would prohibit companies from retaliating against an employee who refuses to work because they feel unsafe during an emergency. That proposal would apply to situations where a state of emergency is declared; an order to evacuate is issued at a worker's home or school where their child is enrolled; or if an event poses an immediate danger to a workplace or a worker's safety. The bill's backers say these protections are needed after stories of agricultural and domestic workers staying on the job during wildfires, and a December incident where six Amazon workers were killed when a warehouse was hit by a tornado in Illinois. CalChamber, however, argues the measure is far too broad and that employers already have a legal duty to maintain safe workplaces. Other bills we're watching this week would: Allow legislative staff to unionize. (SB 1577) Ban employers from using urine tests to look for traces of cannabis in current employees or potential hires. (AB 2188) Give workers five days of bereavement leave after a family member's death. (AB 1949) Prevent businesses from charging women more than men for similar products. (AB 1287) Follow POLITICO California on Thursday as we report on the fate of these and other bills across our beats. HAPPY TUESDAY AFTERNOON! Welcome to California Playbook PM, a POLITICO newsletter that serves as an afternoon temperature check of California politics and a look at what our policy reporters are watching. Got tips or suggestions? Shoot an email to anieves@politico.com or send a shout on Twitter. DMs are open! WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY GRID FUTURE REMAINS SHAKY — The Capitol is abuzz with talk of new spending to fight climate change, but the outlook was grim at a Senate subcommittee hearing this morning. Despite the state's efforts to bring more energy projects online, it is projected to fall short of rising energy demand in the coming years, Mark Rothleder , Chief Operating Officer at the California Independent System Operator, told committee members. The electrical grid, already producing 1,700 megawatts below its ideal capacity, could fall 1,800-2,000 megawatts short of California's needs by 2025, Rothleder said. That forecast comes as the state prepares to close the Diablo Canyon Power Plant — a nuclear facility that provides nearly a tenth of California's power — along with several gas-powered plants, and as lawmakers negotiate how to allocate an additional $3.8 billion in energy spending before the end of the month. The state is working to phase out fossil fuels. But climate change has heightened power demand, with heat waves and drought causing more stress on the grid sooner than officials anticipated. And renewable energy projects have been delayed by supply chain issues. — Lara Korte  ON THE BEATS MONKEYPOX RESPONSE: Federal officials today announced a new strategy designed to stretch out the limited supply of monkeypox vaccines to help protect up to five times as many people against the rapidly spreading disease. That news came just as a group of California senators gathered for an oversight committee hearing to discuss the state and federal response to the outbreak. "Honestly, it's a little bit like the Hunger Games when it comes to accessing the vaccination," Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), chair of the Senate select committee, said in his opening remarks. State Epidemiologist Erica Pan told the committee she was encouraged by the federal government's dose-sparing plan, which involves administering smaller doses of the vaccine just under the skin rather than deeper in the tissue. California, which has received just 109,000 doses of the Jynneos vaccine, has requested 600,000 to 800,000 doses. The disease has infected about 1,310 Californians as of last week, according to state numbers that are expected to be updated later today . — Victoria Colliver UC STRIFE: The University of California's governing board will meet publicly next week to discuss a report on UCLA's move to the Big Ten athletic conference, marking its first joint discussion of the contentious move. The UC Regents last month asked UC President Michael V. Drake's office to probe the impact that UCLA's unilateral conference shift will have on student-athletes and other UC campuses. The biggest hit will land on UC Berkeley, which is expected to lose significant media revenue as it's left behind in the Pac-12. Public discussion, paired with a closed-door session on "legal issues" surrounding the move, were newly scheduled in a meeting agenda released today. Since UCLA and USC announced they'd leave the Pac-12 for the Big Ten, Gov. Gavin Newsom, who as governor sits on the Board of Regents, has demanded that UCLA explain its decision . The board last month discussed "litigation" surrounding the move during a closed-door session, though any such litigation has yet to be reported. The conference exodus reportedly caught the regents, UC Berkeley officials and the Pac-12 off guard. Drake was aware talks between the Big Ten and UCLA were happening, but his office has maintained he wasn't involved. AROUND CALIFORNIA " California's cliffs are falling into the sea. This map shows the spots where they're eroding the fastest ," by the San Francisco Chronicle's Tara Duggan: Between the wildfires, drought and lightning storms, another one of nature's forces impacting California is erosion. A study from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego shows that cliffs at California's farthest northern coastlines are eroding faster than anywhere else in the state. "'This finding is counter-intuitive, because wide beaches can protect cliffs from wave action. However, waves can also use beach sand as an abrasive to erode the lower cliff,' read the study, which was published in the journal Geomorphology." " LA City Council Passes Ban On Homeless Encampments Near Schools And Daycares ," by LAist's Phoenix Tso: "The Los Angeles City Council has voted to ban homeless encampments within 500 feet of schools and daycares. The vote Tuesday was 11 to 3. Before the vote, a group of advocates for the unhoused disrupted the meeting; two people were taken away in handcuffs." Compiled by Sakura Cannestra. MIXTAPE — " Search intensifies for 16-year-old girl missing from Truckee campground ," by the San Francisco Chronicle's Rachel Swan. — " The Big Ten's media deal, ESPN's exclusion, the competition factor and what it all means for Pac-12 survival ," by the Mercury News' Jon Wilner. — " L.A. residents saving more water but face bigger test as heat intensifies ," by the Los Angeles Times' Hayley Smith.   Follow us on Twitter Katy Murphy @katymurphy POLITICO California @politicoca   Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook  |  Playbook PM  |  California Playbook  |  Florida Playbook  |  Illinois Playbook  |  Massachusetts Playbook  |  New Jersey Playbook  |  New York Playbook  |  Ottawa Playbook  |  Brussels Playbook  |  London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters Follow us

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