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IL House Passes ‘Junk Fee’ Bill The Illinois House passed a bill ( HB 228 ) that would amend the state’s Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act to prohibit businesses from...
Anthropic Not Releasing New AI Model to Public The artificial intelligence company Anthropic—recently in the headlines for demanding that the Pentagon agree to certain limitations on the use of...
CT Lawmakers Target AI in Employment A bill (SB 435) before Connecticut’s legislature would require employers to disclose to job applicants when they are communicating with artificial intelligence...
On March 11, Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson (D) signed HB 2303 . The law, which takes effect June 11, bars employers from requesting, requiring or coercing workers or job applicants to accept a subcutaneous...
ND Regulators Approve Bank-to-Bank Stablecoin Use North Dakota’s Industrial Commission approved the use of the state bank’s planned stablecoin, the Roughrider Coin, for bank-to-bank transactions...
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed measures last week that give Golden State workers greater access to paid and disability leave benefits.
Newsom signed SB 951, which extends increased wage replacement rates for state disability insurance and paid family leave that were set to sunset at the end of the year. The law will phase in the benefits over the next three years, with workers earning less than the state’s average wage eventually receiving up to 90 percent of their regular wages while taking leave.
The governor also signed measures that allow workers to take paid sick or family leave to care for any person the employee chooses, including non-family members (AB 1041); allow workers to take job-protected bereavement leave (AB 1949); and make it illegal for employers to retaliate against workers who refuse to attend or remain at work during an emergency (SB 1044).
Newsom also signed AB 2183, a measure that allows farm workers to vote by mail in determining whether to unionize. The bill had drawn strong support from labor leaders to President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The California Chamber of Commerce and Western States Growers Association fiercely opposed it, as did the California Farm Bureau.
The governor had vetoed similar legislation last year, and hinted he might do so again this time around as well. But he relented after he and labor leaders agreed to legislation to come next year that will do away with mail-in elections altogether within five years in favor of the more standard card check system. (CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR’S OFFICE, LOS ANGELES TIMES)
--Compiled by Rich Ehisen