High-stakes deal-making on CA budget and ballot

It’s possible that the final big deals on both the state budget and November ballot measures could be hammered out on the same day next week, or in the days leading up to it.

Thursday, June 27 is the deadline for the Legislature to put measures on the Nov. 5 ballot or pull them off in agreements with proponents. That day is also the final day for Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign or veto the budget the Legislature passed last week — though realistically, he will likely come up with a compromise with legislative leaders before the new fiscal year starts July 1.

And the budget and ballot measures are intertwined: It’s possible, for instance, that cuts in climate programs proposed by Newsom and opposed by the Legislature could be made up in money in a climate bond issue in November.

The deal-making is largely being done behind closed doors. But the public and the press could get a peek by Monday: Bills have to be in print 72 hours before they’re approved.

One deal to pull a ballot measure was made public Tuesday: CalMatters Capitol reporter Jeanne Kuang writes that the California Chamber of Commerce struck a deal with the California Labor Federation to remove a business-backed measure to repeal the Private Attorneys General Act. The 2004 law allows workers to sue their employers for labor violations in a manner similar to a class action lawsuit. Newsom’s office, which mediated the compromise, said in a statement that the agreement “avoids a contentious ballot measure campaign.”

• Newsom: “This proposal maintains strong protections for workers, provides incentives for businesses to comply with labor laws and reduces litigation.”

The deal calls for lawmakers to amend the law to reduce the fines employers pay if they agree to fix the problems, while increasing the amount paid to workers. It also calls for the state’s labor agencies to chip away at their backlog of wage theft claims by granting the Department of Industrial Relations greater hiring authority.

The California Chamber of Commerce said the new policies limit frivolous lawsuits that “cost employers billions,” while the California Labor Federation said the changes ensure “abusive practices by employers are cured and … workers are made whole, quicker.”

Learn more about the PAGA deal in Jeanne’s story.

Crime measure: Another ballot measure up in the air is the one to roll back Proposition 47, which some blame for the state’s rising crime rates. Democratic legislative leaders who oppose unwinding Prop. 47 are pushing a crime bill package instead. But some Democrats are breaking ranks with leadership — either by pulling their bills from consideration or removing their names from the bills — because of “poison pill” amendments that would repeal these bills if they become law and the ballot measure passes. 

Leaked emails obtained by CBS Sacramento also suggest a breakdown in negotiations between Newsom’s office and the coalition behind the Prop. 47 measure. The exchange shows the governor’s chief of staff declining to talk about both the crime bill package and the ballot initiative unless the coalition considers delaying the measure to 2026.

Tax measure: And a third is a business-backed anti-tax proposal that would require the Legislature to seek approval from voters for any new state tax and raise the voting requirement for local special taxes. Newsom and Democratic officials are suing to kick this measure off the ballot; the state Supreme Court announced it will issue a ruling on Thursday.

From CalMatters’ Jeanne Kuang: 

California workplace regulators are fining Amazon $6 million over alleged violations of a recent warehouse labor law at two of the company’s Inland Empire warehouses. 

Labor Commissioner Lilia García-Brower’s office said Tuesday that the e-commerce giant failed to notify employees at the ONT8 warehouse in Moreno Valley and ONT9 in Redlands of any productivity quotas they were required to meet, leading workers to be disciplined without knowing why.

• Carrie Stone, an ONT8 worker, at a press conference: “I didn’t even know what the target was for the day. I could lose my job if I get a certain number of write-ups.”

The company has contested the citations; the appeals are likely to take years. Maureen Lynch Vogel, a spokesperson for Amazon, said the company does not use fixed quotas, that “individual performance is evaluated over a long period of time, in relation to how the entire site’s team is performing,” and that workers can always see how they’re performing. 

• Vogel: “Critics make it sound very black-and-white, but it really isn’t at all.”

The citations against Amazon, the leading employer of warehouse workers and the nation’s second-largest private employer, are the state’s most prominent use of a 2021 law that aimed to curb the pace of work required in warehouses, then booming in California from the rise of online shopping. 

The law passed after several news investigations and advocacy reports highlighted how demands for speed and production drove a higher-than-average injury rate at some Amazon warehouses. The law doesn’t ban the use of quotas in warehouses, but requires employers to notify workers of them in writing when they are hired, and prohibits imposing quotas that are so stringent they don’t allow workers enough time to take breaks or use the bathroom.

García-Brower said the office has conducted sweeping investigations of California warehouses since 2022, including nearly 100 on-site visits and warnings to employers to correct quota policies. Since last fall the office has cited four other employers under the law, including a Sysco warehouse in Riverside and a Dollar General warehouse in Lebec.

Read more on the citations in the story.

Over the course of three weeks in 2022, 81-year-old Alice Lin of Alhambra drained her entire life savings. A stranger who texted her out of the blue on the messaging platform WeChat persuaded her to send $720,000 to a cryptocurrency app, and then disappeared.

Since the incident, Lin said she has contemplated suicide. But now — in hopes to prevent other elderly people from being scammed — she’s backing a bill that would require banks to step in if they suspect financial fraud, explains CalMatters Digital Democracy reporter Ryan Sabalow.

The measure would require banks to delay transactions of more than $5,000 by at least three days if they suspect an elderly customer is a victim of fraud. Banks would also need to train their employees to spot fraud and take steps to inform an elderly person’s designated “emergency financial contact” or joint account holder of a suspicious transaction. Lin is working with Consumer Attorneys of California and recounted her story Monday at an Assembly Committee on Banking and Finance hearing.

• Lin: “I went to the bank to ask them to wire the funds. When I went over there, no question was asked, no hesitation. … Despite many red flags, my bank failed to consider that I might be a victim of elder fraud.” 

Every major California senior advocacy group, including the AARP, supports the measure. But the bill faced intense pushback at first from financial and business groups. Banks argued that they’d be forced into a kind of conservatorship that granted them too much authority over an elderly customer’s finances. The bill has been amended to limit the liability banks could face, and their opposition has eased.

Learn more about the bill in Ryan’s story.

This is the first week for Gov. Newsom’s edict that state workers return to the office at least two days a week. That’s proving problematic for employees in several state buildings. Find out why from CalMatters politics reporter Yue Stella Yu.

Speaking of state workers: While today is a holiday at many workplaces in California, Juneteenth, marking the end of slavery, is still not an official paid state holiday. Here’s a reminder of why not.