Governor Gavin Newsom recently signed legislation that could impact California agricultural employers as the ongoing jockeying between employers and unions unfolds in the aftermath of 2022’s card-check legislation: SB 399 (Wahab, D-Hayward) restricts employers’ ability to communicate with employees about virtually any political issue if the employee and employer are at odds over the underlying issue. Proponents claimed its restrictions on speech are meant primarily to restrain employers from engaging “captive audience” meetings to discourage employees from supporting union representation. The exact reach of SB 399 remains to be seen, as there are ongoing concerns about the degree to which it infringes of employers’ First Amendment rights. SB 399 is likely to attract a challenge on those constitutional grounds, as has similar Minnesota legislation signed by Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz. FELS parent organization, California Farm Bureau, had sought a veto of SB 399, as had numerous other employer advocates.

Governor Newsom vetoed SB 1299 (Cortese, D-San Jose) which would have created a rebuttable presumption of work-relatedness in the event of a farm employee’s episode of heat illness if the injured employee worked during a week or pay period in which weather conditions triggered implementation of Cal/OSHA Heat Illness Prevention standard. Cortese’s rationale for the bill was that Cal/OSHA enforcement has proved ineffective at preventing episodes of heat illness among farm employees, in spite of the agency’s heavy emphasis on enforcement. Governor Newsom’s state reasons for vetoing SB 1299 including Cal/OSHA’s creation of a new enforcement task force focusing on heat illness (see “Cal/OSHA Announces Ag Enforcement Unit,” FELS Newsletter, September 2024), his concern that SB 1299 was simply the wrong tool to address the matter, and that the Workers Compensation Appeals Board (WCAB) has not particular expertise in determining employer compliance with Cal/OSHA regulations. FELS’ parent organization, California Farm Bureau, had encouraged Governor Newsom to veto SB 1299.

Governor Newsom has also signed two additional bills that could impact agricultural employers and employees.

• AB 2240 (Arambula, D-Fresno) will require state-operated and -supported migrant farmworker housing centers to remain open year-round. Previously, qualified migrant farmworkers could occupy slots in migrant farmworker housing centers for up to six months, extendable to up to nine months. Arambula and the bill’s proponents contended the time limitation disrupted the education of migrant farmworker’s children when they were required to move in the middle of the academic year; existing policy required migrant farmworkers to move at least 50 miles away to be eligible for housing the following year. Some farmworker advocates expressed concern that AB 2240 would shift financial resources away from migrant farmworker housing programs, that year-round occupants would preclude housing workers needed for limited seasons, and that some centers lack heat for occupancy during winter months.
• SB 1105 (Padilla, D-El Centro) specifies that agricultural employees can use state-mandated Paid Sick Leave to avoid excessive smoke, heat or flooding. Employees, including agricultural employees, can already use state-mandated PSL virtually without restriction and without any obligation to prove actual illness of themselves or others they provide care for, meaning SB 1105 makes virtually no change to existing law.