With the new year comes extensive legislative change for the state of California. Throughout the beginning of 2022, California legislators have created several laws from bills through a close partnership with Gavin Newsom, the California State Governor. The state Assembly and Senate have amended existing laws and created new ones for California citizens to abide by in 2022. The recently passed laws fall into six primary categories: labor, housing, law enforcement and amendment, culture, elections, environment, health care & education, and business & finance.
New 2022 Laws for Labor
New laws on labor standards guarantee greater care for workers’ health, safety, and emotional well-being in capital America. With the passage of AB 701, SB 62, SB 41, AB 1003, and SB 639, state law has developed a more substantial base for workers’ rights. Each law establishes a mandatory quota of disclosures for companies, abolishes piece-rate compensation in the fast fashion industry, outlaws confidentiality in settlement agreements in workplace harassment or discrimination cases, defines wage theft, and modifies minimum wages for workers with disabilities.
Assembly Bill 701
AB 701 marks a significant reformation in the quota system of distribution warehouse centers, or systems that set a standard production rate for each employee. With this new law, employees may request that they cannot meet the quota because it interferes with their ability to take adequate lunch, snack breaks, use the restroom, and drink water during their work shift. This law allows employees to submit these requests as violations of the Private Attorney General Act and subjects employers to penalties based upon complaints from their employees. Additionally, AB 701 prohibits using algorithms to assess employee performance, effectively removing the quantification of human productivity in the workforce.
State Bill 62
SB 62 modifies the fast fashion industry by lowering the overworking of employees in this industry. This law prohibits piece-rate compensation and combats unpaid wages by increasing liability for employers who do not pay their employees their entitled hourly rate. Piece-rate compensation or payment based on the number of individual products the employee produces and lack of hourly wage was standard in the fast fashion industry. With SB 62, the law guarantees fast fashion workers are entitled to an hourly wage, congruent with the time they commit to their jobs rather than the speed or quantity of output.
State Bill 41
SB 41 enacts restrictions on what an employer may deem confidential information when reviewing required information for workplace harassment and discrimination lawsuits. This law brings a greater variety of essential information to light when an employee sues for harassment or discrimination against their employer or workplace.
Assembly Bill 1003
AB 1003 Provides further restrictions on employers’ abilities to underpay their employees. This new law defines “theft of wages” as an intentional deprivation of wages, gratuities, benefits, or other compensation by unlawful means while knowing they are due to the employee under the law. Thus, depriving employees of their entitled wages is now considered theft.
State Bill 639
SB 639 enforces economic equality amongst all workers. This law ensures that workers with disabilities earn minimum wage in their jobs. Before the passage of SB 639law, workers with disabilities were not always protected from poverty by the California minimum wage. To confront this inequality amongst workers, SB 634 requires that all employees enjoy the same minimum wage, regardless of disability status.
New 2022 Laws for Housing
The California government passed several Senate Bills and Assembly Bills to help streamline new housing projects. These include SB 8, SB 9, SB 10, AB 215, AB 977, and AB 1220. The laws, as mentioned earlier, help create more housing faster, facilitate the ability for homeowners to alter their property, and outline new violations for planning housing facilities. Additionally, these laws have created or developed a Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) and established a California Interagency Council on Homelessness (CA ICH).
Senate Bill 8
SB 8 allows residents in California properties to return to their properties at their initial rental rate if the landlord evicts the tenant and demolition of their property is unsuccessful. The law helps to save individuals from possible homelessness.
Senate Bill 9
SB 9 is also known as the California Housing Opportunity and More Efficiency Act. The act aids homeowners in their pursuit of dividing their property to form one separate living space for a single-dwelling unit.
Senate Bill 10
SB 10 allows local governments to build up to ten residential units per parcel at their discretion. In other words, governments or agencies may opt to convert a single dwelling unit into one that fits up to ten residential units.
Assembly Bill 215
AB 215 modifies the statute of limitations for the state to report possible housing violations for three years. Additionally, the new law allows the HCD to independently seek council from another department to enforce housing violations if the Attorney General decides not to enforce the law.
Assembly Bill 977
AB 977 reforms the Homeless Management Information System by requiring the information disclosure rate to be accessible. In other words, information displayed by the Homeless Management Information System must also contain the rate that the information is updated.
Assembly Bill 1220
AB 1220 enacts several amendments to the Homeless Coordinating and Financial Council. First, the new law renames the council to read “California Interagency on Homelessness.” Additionally, this new law removes authorization for the Secretary of Business, consumer services, and housing designee as council chairs. AB 1220 replaces them with Secretary of the Business, Consumer Services, Housing Agency, and Secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency to serve as council co-chairs.
New 2022 Laws in Law Enforcement and Amendments
SB 2, SB 16, and SB 352 provide additional guidelines for handling misconduct in police behavior and sexual assault in the military.
Senate Bill 2
SB 2 establishes police Decertification Process and Expanding Civil Liability Exposure, which provides a process for police officers to be removed from the force if their behavior warrants it. Under the new Senate Bill 2 law, several immunities and legal protections are stripped from police officers if they exhibit serious misconduct.
Senate Bill 16
SB 16 facilitates greater access to knowledge of police officer conduct history. The passage of this law releases the conduct records Of all officers involved in the floors, including instances where they have discharged a firearm, sexually assaulted a civilian, committed perjury, or exhibited misconduct.
Senate Bill 352
SB 352 tightens the grip on sexual assault by allowing military officers to be punished by specific military proceedings or by a court-martial in the event of a sexual assault charge. Additionally, members of the military who are found guilty of sexual assault must have their misconduct displayed on the department’s official internet website.
New 2022 Laws in Culture
AB 338, AB 855, AB 600, AB 1084, and AB 245 are significant modifications of multicultural and multi-gender representation, hate crime penalties, and processes for student records to reflect an individual’s preferred name and gender.
Assembly Bill 338
AB 338 allows the state government to remove a statue of Junipero Serra and replace it with a statue of Bay Area Native American tribes. The changing of this statue is a significant step towards a more significant cultural representation of all of the new laws enacted in 2022.
Assembly Bill 855
AB 855 establishes a new paid holiday to honor Native American culture, titled “California Native American Day.” The passage of this bill allows for greater awareness of Native American cultural history as millions of Californians can now devote a day to the honor of Native American history, significance, and life.
Assembly Bill 600
AB 600 defines greater injustices against a targeted race, immigration status, or minority as hate crimes. Under this law, targeting individuals for their immigration status is deemed a hate crime and will be penalized by California law.
Assembly Bill 1084
AB 1084 provides protections for non-binary persons through gender-neutral consumer sections in the children’s toy market. This law requires that commercial businesses selling toys and other child care products maintain a gender-neutral section in their store.
Assembly Bill 245
The main agenda of this law is to provide undergraduate and postgraduate students with the opportunity for their Student Records to reflect the name and gender of their choice. Thus, this new law facilitates students’ transition to different official names and genders of their choice.
New Laws for 2022 Elections
Though there is only one new law in this category, Assembly Bill 37 is an adjustment of election laws on voting methods for the citizen population
Assembly Bill 37
AB 37 requires that the County Elections Offices send all registered voters a mail-in ballot, regardless of their preference when submitting their vote. All eligible voters are encouraged to vote with a mail-in ballot in their mailbox with this law. Additionally, a mail tracking system for mail-in ballots is established and accessible to disabled voters.
New Environmental Laws 2022
SB 1, SB 109, SB 343, and SB 552 are newly enacted environmental laws in California. These laws improve the effectiveness and allocate funds to improve environmental protection and the quality of public roads.
Senate Bill 1
Sb 1 creates new taxes on fuel and raises vehicle fees to provide funding for road maintenance, safety improvements, and general street improvements for bicycles and pedestrians. Thus, this new law creates new funding for public transportation and Road Improvement, rather than allocating existing funds.
Senate Bill 109
SB 109 amends the Office of Wildfire Technology Research and Development duties. The passage of this law places the Office of Wildfire Technology Research and Development under the supervision of the Board and requires this Board to meet at least four times per year. The law’s purpose is to facilitate greater effectiveness for the Office of Wildfire Technology Research to fight wildfires.
Senate Bill 343
SB 343 tightens restrictions on false advertising, mainly on products claiming to be recyclable. Under this law, the term “truth in labeling” refers to a business’s obligation to advertise only factual statements. Thus, Sb 343 prohibits the display of the chasing arrows recycling symbol on products that are not recyclable.
Senate Bill 552
SB 552 subjects a more significant population of water companies to mandatory drought planning procedures and plans. Under Sb 552, water suppliers with fewer than 1,000 service connections must implement drought readiness plans and procedures.
New Laws in Health Care and Education
SB 221, SB 224, Sb 395, AB 118, and SB 510 are all amendments to existing health care and education laws. Under these new laws, California citizens can access health care promptly for non-emergency cases, electronic cigarettes are taxed more heavily, and health care agencies must provide coverage for COVID cases.
Senate Bill 221
SB 221, under the enforcement of the Department of Managed Health Care and the Department of Insurance, sets standards that insurance companies must abide by to allow timely user access to health care plans. This law shortens the waiting of individuals seeking health care coverage while their coverage plan is determined.
Senate Bill 224
SB 224 enacts a state requirement for all students to receive mental health education. The enactment of this law allows free and unavoidable access to mental health resources and fosters a greater understanding of mental health among youth.
Senate Bill 395
SB 395 requires that e-cigarettes and other tobacco products be subject to an increased tax rate of 12.55 of the original product price. This law financially discourages the purchase of nicotine or tobacco products on the open market.
Assembly Bill 118
AB 118 enacts the Community Response Initiative to Strengthen Emergency Systems (CRISES) – a pilot program designed to offer grants for eligible department programs. Under this law, state, city, and tribal departments may receive a minimum of $250,000 in grants for their social services, disability services, health services, public health, or behavioral health subdepartments.
Senate Bill 510
SB 510 is the most influential in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The new bill, SB 510, requires health insurance companies and agencies to provide coverage for COVID-related health crises for their users.
New Laws in Business, Finance, and Consumerism
SB 389, AB 652, AB 1200, AB 286, AB 1405, and SB 331 introduce various laws for the broad categories of business, finance, and consumerism. The laws alter the rights of food industry businesses, reform restrictions on materials in children’s toys, add additional requirements for food delivery platforms and their return of tips to the deliverers, and set standards for genetic testing companies. In addition, the laws clarify what information must be present in a settlement or nondisparagement agreement.
Senate Bill 389
SB 389 allows food and beverage restaurants or establishments to provide to-go cups for alcoholic beverages. However, the consumer must be outside of company property.
Assembly Bill 652
AB 652 enacts further regulation on bisphenol A in the production of children’s bottles and cups. This law prohibits the integration of bisphenol A in making children’s products at a detectable level above 0.1 parts per billion. Research links bisphenol A to an increased risk of cardiovascular problems as children mature. AB 652 lowers the risk of products with a high bisphenol A concentration greater than 0.01 ppb entering the market.
Assembly Bill 1200
AB 1200 is an extension of AB 652. It provides similar restrictions on the use of bisphenol A in children’s toys, feeding devices, or items that have the possibility of entering a child’s mouth.
Assembly Bill 286
AB 286 establishes a requirement that food delivery platforms return service tips to those delivering the food.
Assembly Bill 1405
AB 1405 designates a “debt settlement provider” as someone in charge of providing debt settlement services to or for consumers.
Senate Bill 331
SB 331 requires genetic testing companies to honor the privacy of voluntary participants if they choose to opt-out of genetic testing processes. Under this law, genetic testing companies must destroy the samples of individuals within 30 days of their request to opt-out of genetic testing.
Contact Pride Legal
If you or a loved one need assistance with the new laws passed in 2022 or other legal matters, we invite you to contact us at Pride Legal for legal counseling or any further questions. To protect your rights, hire someone who understands them.