May Legislative Brief

CALSAGA is actively engaged in the ongoing legislative debate on the various pieces of legislation that seek to reform the rules for meal and rest breaks. As reported in the April eNewsletter, the employer-sponsored bill, Senate Bill 1539 by Ronald Calderon (D – Montebello) was gutted and amended to include language that the Legislature intends to address the need for reform. This is a common legislative practice to move forward potentially controversial legislation while compromises are negotiated.

We will continue to meet with all interested parties in an effort to build awareness of the problem and support for reform through the summer, in hopes of brokering a deal late in the legislative session. While we hope will all employers that the comprehensive reform envisioned by SB 1539 moves forward, we also believe that the unique circumstances of our industry make a compromise such as envisioned by AB 1711 (Levine) an alternative with exploring.

In other news, BSIS has scheduled the second the second meeting of the Senate Bill 666 Advisory Committee for June 11, 2008 at the Department of Consumer Affairs in Sacramento. As you may recall, SB 666 was sponsored by CALSAGA last year and directed BSIS to develop training curriculum for proprietary security officers.

The committee made excellent progress at the first meeting in April and we remain confident that the recommendation that comes out of the committee will be comprehensive. It is important to note that California will become the only state in the nation that mandates training for its proprietary security officers. CALSAGA applauds BSIS Chief Johnson and his staff for bringing all interested parties together in an endeavor that has never been done before.