Bills From Legislature Could Raise Costs For California Businesses
By Jim Wasserman, Associated Press Writer - June 1, 2004SACRAMENTO (AP) _ As Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger crusades to make California more business friendly, Democrat lawmakers passed an array of bills last week that would impose a variety of fees and higher costs on businesses operating in the Golden State.
In a weeklong blur of activity, the houses of the Democrat-controlled Legislature passed bills that would raise the minimum wage to one of the nation's highest levels; hit chemical companies with a fee to pay for new programs; keep it easy for employees to sue their bosses for workplace violations; and require the recycling of cell phones and fluorescent lamps.
All, business interests said, make it harder to do business in a state that's already one of the nation's most expensive, while Democratic Party leaders called that just "the same old misinformation."
While many of the bills could die in the other chamber or amended to the liking of business, their passage shows the Democrats in Legislature still at odds with the governor on a variety of economic issues. Unless Schwarzenegger and lawmakers compromise on the bills before the Aug. 31 end of the legislative session, there could be a collision of interests resulting in a string of vetoes from the governor.
Often with slim one-vote margins, legislators voted for rules to ban state contracts with companies that move jobs overseas, bar teens from tanning salons and make companies tell their workers if they monitor their e-mail. Rental car agencies, Wal-Mart, fishermen, and car dealers also came under the lawmaking microscope.
Business groups, still analyzing the outcome of Friday's legislative deadline to pass hundreds of bills from their house of origin, said the Legislature hasn't changed despite an October recall that dumped Democratic former Gov. Gray Davis for Schwarzenegger, Republican actor and businessman.
"It seems like they don't get the message," said Alan Zaremberg, president of the California Chamber of Commerce, which represents most of the state's small businesses. Zaremberg described many business bills passed in recent days as "barriers to our economic recovery" and "clearly out of step with the public's attitude."
That's also been Schwarzenegger's theme since he announced a bid last Aug. 6 to sweep Davis from office and change the Capitol's political culture. Since assuming the governor's office on Nov. 17, Schwarzenegger has appeared at groundbreaking ceremonies for hotels and biotech manufacturing facilities, rallied travel agents and tour operators and journeyed to Israel to make deals with business leaders. He worked with the Legislature to lower employers' costs for workers' compensation and has resisted new taxes and closing corporate tax loopholes for fear of running off businesses and scaring away new ones.
With new trade trips planned to China, Japan, Mexico and elsewhere, the governor frequently calls himself a salesman for "jobs, jobs, jobs" and a "business-friendly" state.
Schwarzenegger spokesman Vince Sollitto wouldn't comment Friday on specific bills passed last week, but implied that those counter to the governor's pro-business agenda won't survive.
"Should those bills complete the legislative process and come to the governor's desk, he'll have an opportunity to speak at that time," Sollitto said. "But no one should doubt the governor's commitment to improving the state's business climate and increasing employment for Californians."
Assemblywoman Judy Chu, D-Monterey Park, discounted many of those arguments as she debated one of the bills last week. Last year, she said, Republicans made the same claims about one of her bills, which offered tax cheats a chance to pay up without penalties. So far, it's brought $1.3 billion to the state treasury this year. "The California Chamber of Commerce called it a job killer bill," Chu said.
For Democrats who have largely ruled the Legislature for more than 40 years, 2004 is the first since 1998 to see bills judged by a Republican governor. That's heartening to business leaders in California, and those nationally who often see California's pioneering laws take root in other states.
"The Legislature in the past week has not helped us much, but we're hoping Gov. Schwarzenegger will take care of that," said Gino DeCaro, spokesman for the California Manufacturers and Technology Association, a political arm for 700 companies in the state.
But many Democrats, though cooperative with the governor this year to reform the workers' compensation insurance system, said California businesses are exaggerating.
"Here in San Francisco, they increased the minimum wage and the restaurateurs are doing just fine because they pass the cost onto the consumer," said Art Torres, chairman of California's Democratic Party.
Torres said California's "business community" still enjoys numerous tax breaks and tax credits, with many paying 1978-era property taxes on their commercial property. In the meantime, taxable sales have risen six straight quarters in California, residential construction is setting a record pace and exports of California-made computers and electronics were up 10 percent late last year over the same time in 2002, according to the state Department of Finance.
"I'm talking about multibillion dollar corporations crying all the time they're going to the bank," Torres said. "Those corporate citizens continuing to cry foul should examine their checkbooks," he said, "and see how much they're saving at the expense of the average man and woman out there."
___
| 
__May11th2017.gif)
.gif)