California is starting to push businesses out with a slew of progressive laws that infringe on business freedom and give employers more responsibility.
The Golden State has led the way in promoting progressive employment proposals that, according to Bloomberg, are scaring businesses away because employers claim they cannot endure more legal uncertainty while they are still recovering from the aftermath of covid-19.
Governor Gavin Newsom’s flurry of bill signings includes SB 1162, a rule that catches the attention of businesses. It is a wage transparency measure that specialists say is likely to strongly impact California employers.
The law will require nearly 200,000 California businesses with 15 or more employees to disclose salary ranges in their job postings starting next year. Previously, employers only had to do so upon reasonable request.
Failure to comply with the publication provision may result in a civil penalty of $100 to $10,000 per violation.
The new law could also reveal wage discrepancies in companies that could be grounds for bias lawsuits.
Employers must share pay data from contractors, such as staffing agencies, and disclose hourly wages for workers disaggregated by job category, race, and gender.
In California, cannabis users will now have protection despite the fact that it is known that such use can affect work performance during the workday.
The National Federation of Independent Business and other business groups opposed the measure, objecting to protections for cannabis users as if it were a civil right.
“Cannabis use is not the same as protecting workers against discrimination based on race or national origin. It shouldn’t be this protected class in FEHA,” said John Kabateck, California state director of the National Federation of Independent Business.
California companies also flee from insecurity
Numerous businesses have fled Los Angeles and San Francisco in the past two years, not only because of closures in the wake of the pandemic, but also because of increased crime and poverty.
A report by the international media outlet La Gaceta notes that three booming businesses, Citadel, Caterpillar and Boeing, moved their headquarters out of Chicago as crime rises.
Crime and insecurity have increased in California thanks to progressive laws that have turned the state into a location that benefits criminals.
Progressive laws benefit criminals
California’s criminal laws are so permissive and blatantly infringe on private property that they allow theft with minimal penalties.
California Republican Rep. Young Kim told El American that California’s retail theft problem “is a direct result of zero bail policies and Proposition 47.”
Under Proposition 47, theft of an item with a value less than $950 is a misdemeanor, meaning many offenders are immediately released after being processed. In cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco where retail theft is rampant, prosecutors under the direction of District Attorneys turn a blind eye and downgrade felony theft charges to misdemeanors, he denounced.
“Further, because the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office continues a zero-bail policy, people participate in smash-and-grab retail theft, get processed and get put right back out on the street having faced little to no consequences. Small businesses and retailers are hurting as a direct result of these failed policies,” he said.
Kim noted that he is working to “find ways to support law enforcement, promote public safety and address this rise in smash and grab crimes.”
“I will keep fighting against efforts to defund the police or hinder their ability to effectively operate, and I’ll continue working on the House Small Business Committee to support the small businesses and retailers struggling to operate because of this surge in retail theft,” he added.
As Kim discussed, in addition to Proposition 47 passed in 2014, there is also Jerry Brown‘s Proposition 57 passed in 2016; these are two laws that so far soften criminal penalties and become a wink in favor of criminality.
Proposition 57 was passed in 2016 and allows for parole consideration for non-violent offenders; it also authorizes sentence reductions for rehabilitation, good behavior and education programs, while juveniles charged with a crime who are 14 to 17 years old would not be tried in adult courts unless decided by a juvenile court judge.
Also, in 2018, under the Brown administration, California eliminated the finance system allowing offenders to await their trials at liberty without having to pay any money.