California’s Governor Newsom Bill Signing Rush
By Terry Walpole
October 17, 2023
Financial institutions that have operations in California should take note that the 2023 California legislative session recently ended, and with it the new laws that will impact doing business in the state.
Over 2,600 pieces of legislation were introduced, with more than 900 making it to the governor’s desk. This is not an unusual amount of legislation for California. Annually, Governor Newsom signs on average over 800 bills. In fact, last year Governor Newsom signed 997 bills while vetoing 169. The governor has until Saturday October 14th to act on the passed legislation. With one day remaining, the governor has already signed 790 bills, of which more than 470 bills were signed in the last six days. There remains approximately 100 more waiting for his action. California legislation in many ways provides indicators of where the nation is heading, and where other states will follow.
This year’s newly signed legislation reflects a range of areas including climate change, firearms, and employment, for example:
- Senate Bill 2 – Creates prohibitions for those licensed to carry a concealed firearms, from among other things, carrying a firearm into a financial institution or parking area under the control of a financial institution.
- Senate Bill 253 Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act (the CCDAA) and Senate Bill 261 Climate-Related Financial Risk Act (the CRFRA) require companies to publicly provide climate‑related disclosures, with some disclosures as early as early as 2024. CCDAA applies to companies doing business in California with annual revenue greater than $1 billion, and CFFRA applies do those with annual revenue greater than $500 million.
- Senate Bill 616 – Amends California’s statewide paid sick leave law to expand the cap of annual sick leave from 24 hours or three days per year to 40 hours or five days per year, with the employee being eligible within six months of employment. Moreover, the bill increases the accrual threshold for paid sick leave to 80 hours or ten days.
- Senate Bill 848 – Requires private employers with five or more employees (to provide protective time off to California employees for a “reproductive loss event,” which is defined to mean a failed adoption, failed surrogacy, miscarriage, stillbirth, or unsuccessful assisted reproduction. If the employee would have been recognized as a parent if the forementioned events were successful, the employee will be covered under the definition.
With the amount of legislation from just one state, it points to the ongoing need to beware of what is happening legislatively on the local, state, and national levels. Our Year End Legal Update will discuss these and many more issues impacting financial institutions with operations in California.
About the Author
Terry Walpole
Terry Walpole is a veteran Paralegal at SW&M with over 25 years of experience in financial institution law. The firm relies on his keen research skills, wide knowledge base, and continuing education to remain up to date with all laws […]
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