Senator Andreas Borgeas (R-Fresno), Senator Anna Caballero (D-Salinas), and Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris (D-Laguna Beach) unveiled new coalition support and legislative details of the Keep California Working Act earlier this morning during a virtual press conference.
The Keep California Working Act, otherwise known as Senate Bill 74, is a bipartisan small business relief package spearheaded by Senators Andreas Borgeas and Anna Caballero, and Assembly Member Cottie Petrie-Norris. The bill invests $2.6 billion (or 10% of California’s projected windfall) in grants for small businesses and non-profits impacted by COVID-19.
The Keep California Working Act has garnered significant momentum in the Legislature with new co-authors signing on to the bill in recent weeks. A total of forty-one legislators, or more than one-third of the entire California Legislature, are now supporting the measure. This milestone signifies an opportunity for the Legislature to work together on small bus
Health experts, advocates say pandemic has highlighted need for paid sick leave
Health experts, advocates say pandemic has highlighted need for paid sick leave
and last updated 2021-01-05 18:34:45-05
RICHMOND, Va. The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the need for mandatory paid sick days for workers in Virginia, according to a coalition of advocates pushing the Virginia General Assembly to require companies to provide them.
Currently, many businesses voluntarily provide sick leave.
Advocates said more than 1.2 million Virginia workers do not have access to paid sick leave, and a Harvard University study from November found that just one-third of Virginia workers at private service sector businesses can access paid sick leave.
NH Business Review
In BIA-led effort, lawmakers urged to provide liability protections
January 6, 2021
Some 35 business organizations are behind a Business and Industry Association of New Hampshire effort to push state lawmakers and the governor to back Covid-19 liability protections for companies.
The effort comes before the language of the bill, to be introduced by Sen. Bob Giuda, R-Warren, has been finalized. But it would provide a safe harbor, meaning that a business couldn’t be sued as long as it is following guidelines, he said, but “bad actors” would not be protected.
“The wording will get some massaging,” Giuda told NH Business Review. “But the last thing businesses need now is a frivolous lawsuit that will cost someone 40 or 50 grand just to defend against it. Businesses are doing their part. The least we can do is provide them a safe harbor.”
California’s new workplace laws: COVID-19 safety, family leave and more [Los Angeles Times :: BC-WRK-REGS-CALIF:LA]
Sweeping new laws ramping up in 2021 will force California businesses to offer employees more help to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, including measures on disclosure of workplace infections, on healthcare and wage replacement, and on job-protected leave to care for sick family members.
For state lawmakers, 2020 “was a year that started out with lots of aspirational plans,” said Ken Jacobs, chair of the UC Berkeley Labor Center. “But it became a year about saving lives.”
What with legislators’ personal COVID-19 scares and Capitol shutdowns, “leadership basically asked us to kill any bill that wasn’t COVID-related,” said Heath Flora, R-Ripon, vice chair of the Assembly’s Labor and Employment Committee.