T The California legislative and regulatory environment often places Western Growers members at a competitive disadvantage relative to other states and countries, which is why we are relentless in our pursuit of common sense legislation and sound public policy in the state capital. Although the headlines seem to suggest otherwise, Western Growers and our industry allies demonstrated a collective and effective show of strength in 2019, helping several bills critical to our members become law, including: AB 658 (Arambula) Authorizes a groundwater sustainability agency or local agency to apply for, and the State Water Resources Control Board to issue, an expedited conditional temporary permit for diversion of surface water to underground storage for beneficial use. SB 200 (Monning) Establishes the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund to help water systems provide an adequate and affordable supply of safe drinking water. However, with an extremely active legislative body that introduces nearly 5000 new bills every two-year session, success in the California legislature can often be measured by the number of bad bills that do not become law. In 2019, Western Growers fought alongside our coalition partners to block the following bills: California Fighting for Common Sense Legislation
SB 1 (Atkins) Would have blanketed federal laws that were in effect under the Obama Administration onto California state agencies without a case-by-case analysis on the merits. AB 589 (Gonzalez) Would have required that a “Worker’s Bill of Rights” document be provided to each employee; of particular concern was a provision within this document regarding employer-provided housing that would have likely impacted H-2A housing options and choices for employees. AB 916 (Muratsuchi) Would have placed a ban on the use of glyphosate by a local agency. -
AB 555 (Gonzalez) Would have expanded California’s paid sick leave program from 3 days to 5 days (40 hours).
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