An annual political ritual was repeated Wednesday when the California Chamber of Commerce released its 2024 list of “job killers” – nine bills that business executives consider to be the most burdensome.
“Labor’s agenda is focused on empowering workers to shape the future of work, instead of allowing corporations and tech companies to continue playing by their own rules and amass wealth while workers struggle to get by,” the federation’s chief officer, Lorena Gonzalez, declared. In his veto, Newsom cited the Unemployment Insurance Fund’s huge deficit, upwards of $20 billion borrowed from the federal government to cover jobless benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic. Employers are now paying higher payroll taxes to shrink the debt.
One reason for little overlap in the two initial priority lists is that many of the labor federation’s measures affect public employees, who are the majority of unionized workers in California, while the chamber concentrates on legislation affecting the private sector.