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By Grace Gedye
CalMatters Economy Reporter
The California Legislature, with its Democratic supermajority, is known for passing first-in-the-nation laws that ramp up labor and consumer protections — often in the face of intense opposition from business groups.
At the same time, the California Chamber of Commerce, a powerful business lobbying group, has honed a specific strategy with a high success rate — labeling bills it deems most burdensome “job-killers” and tracking them on an annual list.
In March, the chamber announced its initial list for 2023. Among the bills are:
• A new tax on total wealth for individuals with a net worth of $50 million or more, introduced by Assemblymember Alex Lee, a Milpitas Democrat. Unlike an income tax, a tax on overall wealth is unprecedented in the U.S.
Lee argues that ultra-wealthy people are able to avoid paying much in income taxes by holding assets, like stocks and property, and borrowing against them. The revenue raised by the tax would be used to invest in “schools, tackle homelessness, maintain and expand needed services, and much more.”
The chamber argues the new tax would drive “high net-worth earners” to leave the state and “discourage other entrepreneurs from investing in California innovation, jobs and our economy.”
• A $25 minimum wage for workers at health care facilities, introduced by Sen. María Elena Durazo, a Los Angeles Democrat.
Durazo says that women and workers of color are the “backbone” of our health care system and they “are working multiple shifts only to take home poverty wages in understaffed facilities.”
The chamber argues this measure would raise costs at health care facilities, “jeopardizing access to affordable health care for Californians and threatening jobs.”
• A proposal to increase the number of paid sick days an employer has to offer from three to seven a year, introduced by Sen. Lena Gonzalez, a Long Beach Democrat, and backed by the California Labor Federation.
Gonzalez points to research showing expansions of paid leave during the pandemic reduced the spread of COVID-19, and said that without adequate paid leave, workers either have to show up to their jobs while sick, risking the health of their coworkers, or forgo wages, putting their finances at risk.
The chamber argues that some businesses can’t afford to offer more paid sick leave, and that ”increased labor costs will inevitably either be passed on to consumers as higher prices for goods and services, or force employers to reduce jobs or cut wages or other benefits.”
13 Bills Tagged
The chamber initially tagged 13 bills as “job killers,” but says it expects that number to grow in the coming weeks.
By the business group’s own accounting, the list is a remarkably successful lobbying tool. Last year, it dubbed 19 bills ‘job killers’ and two were signed into law. In 2021, it put the label on 25 bills and one was signed into law. But not all “job killers” are truly killed, to borrow the group’s phrase. The chamber also takes bills off the list when they are amended in a way that the group supports.
Out of the 824 bills that the group labeled “job killers” between 1997 and 2022, only 58 have been signed into law. Translation: Just about 7% of bills the chamber puts on the list make it across the finish line without significant amendments that the business community favors.
Lobbying against bills isn’t the only way the business group tries to influence policy — there are also campaign donations. Out of the 11 legislators behind the bills already on this year’s list, eight haven’t taken any money from the chamber while they’ve been in public office, according to data from the Secretary of State, analyzed by CalMatters data journalist Jeremia Kimelman.
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