Governor Schwarzenegger has vetoed A.B. 48, which would have boosted the
minimum wage for California workers to $7.75 an hour by July 2007. In a veto
message, the governor stated that he supports an increase in the minimum
wage–which hasn’t been boosted since 2002–but that he isn’t in favor of
legislation, like A.B. 48, that contains automatic increases linked to inflation. The governor also vetoed these measures of interest to employers:
–A.B. 169, increasing damages for victims of gender pay
bias
–A.B. 391, permitting employees locked out in a labor dispute to receive unemployment benefits
–A.B. 849, allowing same-sex
marriage
–A.B. 875, authorizing the state Labor and Workforce
Development Agency and Franchise Tax Board to share information to
trigger employer audits
–A.B. 985, requiring an employer to
pay six month’s pay to an employee whose job is outsourced while the
employee is on military leave
–A.B. 1310, requiring an
employer to provide certain disclosures when severance packages are
offered to a group of employees in exchange for their voluntary
resignation
–S.B. 174, relaxing class action certification requirements
for certain wage and hour actions
–S.B. 1023, increasing
penalties for an employer’s failure to comply with a workers’
compensation order
The governor’s deadline to sign or veto bills still on
his desk is October 9, 2005. In the meantime, you can access legislation online.