California Expands Workforce Support and Protects Homeland Security Funding

Gov. Newsom Signs Bill Expanding Workers’ Rights

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom Sept. 30 signed Assembly Bill 288 authored by Assemblymember Tina McKinnor (D-Inglewood), which defends California workers’ rights, including their right to organize  — allowing them to petition the Public Employee Relations Board when the federal National Labor Relations Board does not fulfill its duties.  

“The current President is attempting to take a wrecking ball to public and private sector employees’ fundamental right to join a union and collectively bargain for fair wages, benefits and safe working conditions. This is unacceptable and frankly, un-American. California will not sit idly as its workers are systematically denied the right to organize due to employer intransigence or federal inaction,” Assemblymember McKinnor (D – Inglewood). “The right to join a union and bargain collectively is essential to the state’s economic security and the human dignity of all California workers. AB 288 ensures that California workers can continue to exercise this right – even in the face of one of the most anti-worker Administrations in our nation’s history. Governor Newsom is on the right side of history by signing AB 288 into law and I am thankful for his continued leadership to protect workers across the Golden State.”

Expanded protection: The bill defends workers’ rights, ensuring that if the National Labor Relations Board doesn’t address an unfair employment issue, PERB can stand in its place.

Stronger support: The bill would create the PERB Enforcement Fund sustained by civil penalties from employers found in violation of labor laws.

Shields workers from federal inaction or negligence: As the federal government continues to dismantle worker protections and resources, this new measure will help ensure workers continue to have a voice and strong accountability.

AG Secures Final Judgment Protecting Homeland Security Funding

Alongside a coalition of attorneys general, California Attorney General Rob Bonta secured a permanent injunction last week from the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island blocking the illegal conditioning of homeland security grant funding. California receives funding from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to prepare for, protect against, respond to, and recover from terrorist attacks and other catastrophes. This includes counterterrorism grants, grants that allow states to prepare for terrorism in high-concentration urban areas, emergency preparedness grants, cybersecurity grants, and many others that are similarly not connected to civil immigration enforcement. In issuing a permanent injunction, the court found that the Trump Administration’s attempt to impose this new set of conditions across a range of grant programs was arbitrary and capricious, exceeded its legal authority, and violated the Spending Clause of the U.S. Constitution. 

Details: https://tinyurl.com/Bonta-Final-Ruling