News from CalChamber:

On his final day to act on legislation, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. vetoed the last surviving California Chamber of Commerce-opposed job killer bill.

AB 3080 (Gonzalez Fletcher; D-San Diego) would have banned arbitration agreements beneficial to employees, employers and the courts.

“We are grateful to the Governor for vetoing this bill and recognizing that, had it become law, AB 3080 would have been preempted by federal law,” said CalChamber President and CEO Allan Zaremberg. “The Governor’s veto saved California employers from a significant amount of unnecessary litigation.”
In his September 30 veto message, the Governor stated: “Since this bill plainly violates federal law, I cannot sign this measure.”

“We are pleased the Governor recognized the significant flaws of AB 3080,” said Jennifer Barrera, CalChamber senior vice president of policy. “Employment arbitration agreements have proven to provide a beneficial forum to resolve disputes for both employers and employees for decades, and are even routinely utilized by unions in their collective bargaining agreements.

“Arbitration agreements expedite the resolution of claims in a less costly environment than sending all claims through an overburdened court system. At the end of the day, had this bill become law, the winners would have been trial lawyers, not workers.”

“With the Governor’s veto of AB 3080, CalChamber has now successfully stopped every piece of job killing legislation proposed this session from becoming law,” said Zaremberg.

“We know many of these job killing proposals will return next session, but legislators need to understand that California employers have reached their limit with respect to new laws and regulations that increase costs through threat of litigation and additional burdens that stop them from making future investments in our state’s economy,” he added.

To see the final status of the 2018 job killer bills, visit www.calchamber.com/jobkillers.