March Legislative Update

A few months into the 2009 legislative session, things are starting to heat up at the State Capitol.  The February 27 deadline to introduce new legislation has come and gone and bills are now awaiting their first committee hearing.  An astounding 2700 bills were introduced this legislative session, which is an incredible number even for California.  

CALSAGA is sponsoring three major bills this year – two that deal with meal period reform and one that would extend BSIS regulation to employers of proprietary security.   Senate Bill 665 authored by Senator Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles) and AB 1235 authored by Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi (D-Hayward), are bills that would provide legal clarity to security companies on the meal break rules for security officer employees. 

CALSAGA lobbyist Kelly Jensen, staff and members of our legislative team have been conducting numerous meetings with interested parties and stakeholders.  Notably, on March 18 the largest labor union representing security officers, the SEIU, issued a letter in support of SB 665.  This is a huge first step in achieving the reform we need, as the legislation is now supported by both employers and labor.   

Senate Bill 741 by Senator Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria) would close a loophole in the Private Security Services Act by extending BSIS regulation to employers of proprietary security.  Currently, only proprietary security officers are required to register with BSIS.  SB 741 would finally give BSIS the enforcement authority they need to curb unlicensed activity, while creating a much-needed point-of-contact for BSIS and proprietary employers. 

On March 24, CALSAGA representatives had a productive initial meeting with representatives from Target, AEG/STAPLES Center, the California Retailers Association, BSIS and the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) to discuss the bill and ensure that some of these entities, who have expressed concern about this in the past could have questions answered. 

While this issue has been contentious in the past, we are optimistic this year.  However, we have the support of the Governor’s Office and DCA and we will continue to advocate that this is a public safety issue. 

The Legislative Committee also considered a number of other legislative ideas, and we will continue to pursue some of these ideas in future legislative sessions.  But obviously, we have a lot on our plate this year with two big proposals.  CALSAGA will be quite busy in the Capitol this year.  We will continue to keep you informed on all legislative efforts and ask that in the interim, you be prepared to participate by writing letters to your elected officials as part of a large-scale grassroots effort on meal period reform.