California Automotive Business Coalition

Summary: Would increase the minimum wage, as of January 1, 2012, to not less than $8.50 per hour. This bill contains other related provisions.

Summary: Would prohibit an employer, with the exception of certain financial institutions, from obtaining a consumer credit report , as defined, for employment purposes unless the information is (1) substantially job-related, meaning that the position of the person for whom the report is sought has access to money, other assets, or confidential information, and (2) the position of the person for whom the report is sought is a position in the state Department of Justice, a managerial position, as defined, that of a sworn peace officer or other law enforcement position, or a position for which the information contained in the report is required to be disclosed by law or to be obtained by the employer. This bill contains other existing laws.

Summary: Would increase the circumstances under which an employee is entitled to protected leave pursuant to the Family Rights Act by (1) eliminating the age and dependency elements from the definition of "child," thereby permitting an employee to take protected leave to care for his or her independent adult child suffering from a serious health condition, (2) expanding the definition of "parent" to include an employee's parent-in-law, and (3) permitting an employee to also take leave to care for a seriously ill grandparent, sibling, grandchild, or domestic partner, as defined.

Summary: Would rename GAP insurance as guaranteed asset protection insurance and would define GAP insurance to also cover the difference between money received from the purchaser's or lessee's automobile insurer and some or all of the amount owed on the vehicle at the time of the unrecovered theft or total loss. This bill contains other related provisions and other existing laws.

Summary: Would also make various technical, nonsubstantive changes. This bill contains other related provisions.

Summary: Would increase the amount of liquidated damages that may be awarded to an employee to twice the amount of the wages unlawfully unpaid, plus interest. This bill contains other related provisions.

Summary: Would permit an employee to recover liquidated damages pursuant to a complaint brought before the Labor Commissioner alleging payment of less than the minimum wage fixed by an order of the Industrial Welfare Commission or by statute. This bill contains other related provisions and other existing laws.

Summary: Would prohibit an employer from refusing to grant a request by any employee to take up to 3 days of bereavement leave or to interfere with or restrain an employee from doing so. The provisions of the bill would not apply to an employee who is covered by a valid collective bargaining agreement that provides for bereavement leave and other specified working conditions.

Summary: Would provide that an employee who works in California for 7 or more days in a calendar year is entitled to paid sick days, as defined, which shall be accrued at a rate of no less than one hour for every 30 hours worked. An employee would be entitled to use accrued sick days beginning on the 90th calendar day of employment. The bill would require employers to provide paid sick days, upon the request of the employee, for diagnosis, care, or treatment of health conditions of the employee or an employee's family member, or for leave related to domestic violence or sexual assault. An employer would be prohibited from discriminating or retaliating against an employee who requests paid sick days. The bill would require employers to satisfy specified posting and notice and recordkeeping requirements. The bill would also make conforming changes. This bill contains other related provisions.

Summary: Existing law, for purposes of defining material damage sustained by a motor vehicle in order to comply with damage disclosure requirements set forth in the Vehicle Code, specifies that the damage is material under specified circumstances relating to the cost of repairs and whether the damage was to the frame or drive train of the motor vehicle, occurred in connection with a theft of the entire vehicle, or was to the suspension of the vehicle requiring repairs other than wheel balancing or alignment. This bill would make a technical, nonsubtantive change in those provisions.

Summary: Would delete the reference to an owner or operator of a tow truck and would instead provide that a tow truck driver who violates these prohibitions is, in addition to being guilty of a misdemeanor, subject to punishment by having the tow truck impounded for a period of 30 days and a $2,500 fine. This bill contains other related provisions and other existing laws.

Summary: Would expand the scope of the family temporary disability program to include time off to care for a seriously ill grandparent, grandchild, sibling, or parent-in-law, as defined. The bill would make conforming and clarifying changes in provisions relating to family temporary disability compensation. This bill contains other related provisions and other existing laws.

Summary: Would delete those specified limitations periods for each board and would instead impose a specified limitations period on all boards within the Department of Consumer Affairs.

Summary: Would define "linked learning programs," and would authorize the commission to convene a workgroup consisting of specified members to develop program standards for the issuance of a recognition of study in linked learning, as defined, for linked learning competence for holders of a single subject teaching credential who will be teaching pupils enrolled in linked learning programs, as specified. The bill would authorize the commission to work with the Superintendent of Public Instruction to gather and post, on an appropriate Internet Web site, best practices from school districts and schools on curriculum development and professional development relating to implementing and sustaining multiple pathway programs. The bill would also provide that a recognition of study in linked learning is not considered a type of authorization, cannot be used as a condition of employment, does not replace subject matter competence requirements, and cannot be used in making certain employment decisions relating to reductions in employee positions.

Summary: Would require the Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development, in conjunction with the California Workforce Investment Board, the Office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, the State Department of Education, and the California Postsecondary Education Commission , to develop a strategic plan , requires to contain specified elements, for connecting the delivery of education and workforce development.

Summary: commencing with the 2012-13 school year and until July 1, 2017, would add completion of a course in career technical education, as defined, as an alternative to the requirement that a pupil complete a course in visual or performing arts or foreign language. This bill contains other related provisions.

Summary: Would authorize a person who has suffered discrimination in violation of the bill to institute and prosecute a civil action for damages, injunctive relief, reasonable attorney's fees and costs, any other appropriate equitable relief, as specified, and any other relief the court may deem proper. The bill would not prohibit an employer from terminating the employment of, or taking other corrective action against, an employee who is impaired on the property or premises of the place of employment, or during the hours of employment, because of the medical use of marijuana. This bill contains other existing laws.

Summary: Would require the Controller annually to allocate $8,000,000 from the Energy Resources Program Account, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the Superintendent of Public Instruction for expenditure in the form of grants to school districts to be allocated pursuant to the existing provisions for creating and maintaining partnership academies. The bill would require a grantee to implement or maintain a partnership academy that focuses on employment in clean technology businesses and renewable energy businesses and provides skilled workforces for the products and services for energy or water conservation, or both, renewable energy, pollution reduction, or other technologies. This bill contains other related provisions and other existing laws.

Summary: until January 1, 2017, would require a tire pressure gauge used to meet the requirements of this regulation to be accurate within a range of plus or minus 2 pounds per square inch of pressure (2 psi). The bill, until January 1, 2017, would authorize automotive service providers to meet the requirements of the regulation without checking and inflating a vehicle's tire if that tire is determined to be an unsafe tire, as defined.

Summary: Would require the Superintendent to align the accountability measures for regional occupational centers and programs, agricultural career technical education programs, partnership academies, and specialized secondary education programs into a uniform accountability metric based on specified indicators and pupil data. This bill contains other existing laws.

Summary: Would state findings and declarations of the Legislature regarding the need for career technical education programs, and would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the State Board of Education to consider ways to expand career technical education programs in middle and high schools in the state. This bill contains other related provisions and other existing laws.

Summary: notwithstanding this provision, would prohibit a smog check technician from conducting an under-the-hood visual inspection as part of a smog check inspection. Because a violation of this prohibition would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill contains other related provisions and other existing laws.

Summary: Would require the state board, within 30 working days after receipt of an application for certification of a new, a carryover, or a partial carryover on-road or off-road vehicle, engine, or equipment family, as defined, to inform the applicant, in writing, either that the application is complete and accepted for filing, or that the application is deficient, identifying the specific information required to make the application complete.

Summary: Would make that exemption operative indefinitely. This bill contains other existing laws.

Summary: Would provide that an automotive repair dealer who prepares a written estimate for repairs that includes replacement of a deployed airbag, who fails to fully restore the airbag, as specified, is guilty of a misdemeanor that is punishable by a $5,000 fine, by one year imprisonment in a county jail, or by both that fine and imprisonment. This bill contains other related provisions and other existing laws.

Summary: Would permit an employer to raise as an affirmative defense that, at the time of an alleged violation, the employer was acting in good faith and in compliance with or reliance upon an applicable employment statute or regulation.

Summary: Would make this program available only to the highest polluting vehicles, with priority given to those highest polluting vehicles registered in air basins that are out of attainment with federal air quality standards. The bill would make other technical changes.

Summary: Would require the Controller annually to allocate $8,000,000 from the Renewable Resource Trust Fund or other related fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the Superintendent of Public Instruction for expenditure in the form of grants to school districts to be allocated pursuant to the existing provisions for creating and maintaining partnership academies. If funds from the Renewable Resource Trust Fund are insufficient to fully meet that funding requirement in specified fiscal years, the bill would require the Controller to allocate the balance of funds required to meet the funding requirement from the Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Fund for these purposes. This bill contains other related provisions and other existing laws.