The California Chamber of Commerce -- well known for its ability to scuttle bills it deems "job killers" -- has released its wish list of legislation, the 2009 "job creator" bills.
The chamber has identified 14 such bills. "If ever there was a time to pass legislation that will result in the immediate hiring of people, it is now," said its president, Allan Zaremberg, in a prepared statement.
Nine of the 14 bills are authored by Republicans. A couple of the notable bills include former Senate GOP leader Dave Cogdill's water bond legislation (SB 371) and a bill by Republican Sen. Bob Dutton to expand the $10,000 homebuyer's credit for new home purchases that was included in the February budget deal.
A couple of the bills are likely to go nowhere in the Democratic-controlled Legislature, especially those targeting the 40-hour work week and required meal and rest periods.
With that, here's the CalChamber's list (with its clearly favorable description of each bill):
AB 1107 (Blakeslee; R-San Luis Obispo) Economic Review of Regulations -- Reduces the likelihood that overly burdensome regulations will be adopted by ensuring that accurate, science-based assessments are conducted, revealing the true cost to California businesses and the economy. (Bill Last Amended 4/13/09)
SB 356 (Wright; D-Inglewood) Small Business Impact Analysis -- Improves climate for small business by reforming the regulatory development process to include a specific small business economic impact analysis and other provisions that mitigate the cost of regulation to small business.AB 765 (Caballero; D-Salinas) Research and Development Credit -- Encourages investment and jobs in research and development by increasing the research and development tax credit rate from 15% to 20%, in conformity with federal law, beginning in 2011.
SB 699 (Alquist; D-Santa Clara) Manufacturing Investment Incentive -- Encourages investment and jobs in manufacturing by establishing a sales and use tax exemption for manufacturing equipment, beginning in 2013. (Bill Last Amended 4/2/09)
SB 287 (Calderon; D-Montebello) Comprehensive Meal Period Solution -- Reduces unnecessary litigation costs for all employers by providing clarity and guidance for complying with and enforcing meal period laws so employees have the opportunity to take meal breaks, enter into on-duty meal period agreements in appropriate situations, and collectively bargain for meal periods.
SB 380 (Dutton; R-Rancho Cucamonga) Meal Period Clarification -- Reduces unnecessary litigation costs for employers by providing clarity and guidance for complying with meal period laws by clarifying how employees take meal breaks, enter into on-duty meal period agreements, and revising the timeframe for recovering penalties.
SB 393 (Harman; R-Huntington Beach) Court Awards -- Improves fairness and equity of court awards by tying the interest rate on judgments to more closely follow the prime rate.
SB 807 (Benoit; R-Palm Desert) Meal Period Clarification -- Reduces unnecessary litigation costs for employers by providing clarity and guidance for complying with meal period laws by clarifying how employees take meal breaks, enter into on-duty meal period agreements, and revising the timeframe for recovering penalties. (Bill Last Amended 4/2/09)
AB 333 (Fuentes; D-Sylmar) New Home Construction -- Ensures a smooth and seamless recovery of the residential housing market and that the necessary entitlements are in place by extending expiring subdivision maps for a period of 5 years.
SB 49 (Dutton; R-Rancho Cucamonga) Homebuyer Tax Credit -- Encourages recovery in the residential housing market by raising the funding cap on an already-successful economic stimulus program that offers homebuyers a $10,000 personal income tax credit for new home purchases. (Bill Last Amended 4/14/09)
SB 371 (Cogdill; R-Modesto) Water Supply Bond -- Creates a multitude of high-paying construction jobs and an array of other jobs in restoration and clean-up projects and provides long-term stability to the business climate by authorizing a $9.98 billion general obligation bond for water infrastructure needs.
AB 141 (Tran; R-Garden Grove) Flexible Work Schedules -- Helps employees and employers achieve greater flexibility in work schedules by allowing workers to request and employers to mutually agree to a four-day 40-hour workweek without the payment of overtime.
AB 816 (Hagman; R-Chino Hills) Employment Training -- Helps California workers and companies stay competitive by ensuring that employer-generated funds are available to train employees for businesses that are locating or expanding in California, as well as those that are retraining employees to make California operations more viable.
SB 187 (Benoit; R-Palm Desert) Flexible Work Schedules -- Helps employees and employers achieve greater flexibility in work schedules by allowing workers to request and employers to mutually agree to a four-day 40-hour workweek without the payment of overtime.
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