One of the Capitol's spring rituals is publication of a list of "job killer" bills by the state Chamber of Commerce.
The newest list was published this week, 23 bills that the chamber and other business groups say will discourage investment and hiring by private employers. And not surprisingly, every one of the targeted measures is carried by a Democrat, including the majority party's two leaders, Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg.
Pérez's Assembly Bill 1532 is one of four on the list that would tap into revenues from the state's new "cap-and-trade" program of marketing carbon emissions, which the chamber calls an "illegal tax increase."
Steinberg's Senate Bill 1528, meanwhile, is sponsored by personal injury attorneys to overturn a state Supreme Court decision limiting recovery of medical costs in liability lawsuits.
Other measures on the list deal with regulatory costs, fuel price increases and workplace mandates.
Publication of the list, history indicates, is more than a rhetorical exercise. In past years, despite Democrats' control of the Legislature and their close ties to labor unions, environmental groups, attorneys and other sponsors of the bills, few of those labeled as "job killers" have reached the governor's desk and most of those that do are vetoed.
Last year, just five of 30 job-killers reached Gov. Jerry Brown's desk, and he vetoed four of them.
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