California

As extreme heat rises, Newsom blocks bill to protect California farmworkers

Published

4 months ago

September 28, 2024

As extreme heat rises, Newsom blocks bill to protect California farmworkers

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced today he has vetoed a bill to bolster farmworkers’ heat illness claims as they face the increasing dangers of extreme heat.

The unique proposal would have made it easier for farmworkers to get workers’ compensation when claiming they suffered heat illness on the job. Senate Bill 1299 was pitched by the United Farm Workers, which said it was needed to supplement weakened enforcement of the state’s workplace heat safety rules.

In his veto message, Newsom wrote the enforcement of heat safety rules should be done only by the state’s workplace safety agency, the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) and not be determined by the workers’ compensation system.

The outdoor heat rules, in place for nearly 20 years, require employers to provide shade, water and rest breaks for outdoor workers and further monitor them for signs of heat illness in high-risk jobs like agriculture and construction. The state this year added similar rules for indoor workers.

But the understaffed Cal/OSHA has in recent years conducted 1,000 fewer heat inspections of worksites a year, and issued hundreds fewer violations, compared to pre-pandemic, CalMatters reported this summer. That’s despite heat waves in California growing longer and more intense.

The United Farm Workers said SB 1299 would have forced employers to comply with the heat rules, by more strictly tying them to liability for workers’ compensation claims. The bill would have required workers’ comp judges to presume farmworkers who claim heat illness developed it at work.

“There is no doubt that climate change is causing an increase in extreme temperatures and that California farmworkers need strong protections from the risk of heat-related illness,” Newsom wrote. “However, the creation of a heat-illness presumption in the workers’ compensation system is not an effective way to accomplish this goal.”

Such presumptions are used for other workers; firefighters, for example, have an easier time making workers’ comp claims for cancer because judges can assume they developed it from exposures to hazards on the job. In the case of farmworkers, the bill would have made the presumption apply only if employers can’t prove they were following the heat rules.

The California Chamber of Commerce and insurance carriers opposed the bill, arguing that it would unfairly mix the workers’ comp system with Cal/OSHA, which enforces safety rules. They also warned the bill could saddle employers and insurance companies with unrelated injuries, and said it was unnecessary.

Farm employers said the heat rules are well-known and effective. A study conducted by an insurers’ organization found that less than 1% of California agricultural workers’ comp claims involved heat injuries.

Newsom said his administration was taking extreme heat seriously. He’s signed bills convening a Cal/OSHA advisory committee that began meeting last year to recommend how to study heat-related injuries, he wrote in the veto message, and to allow farmworkers to accrue paid sick leave to avoid working during natural disasters. The agency is also starting a new agricultural unit with Central Valley offices.

In a brief statement, United Farm Workers president Teresa Romero said despite the veto, “the UFW will continue to work to save farm worker lives.”

Newsom in recent years also clashed with the United Farm Workers over a controversial new law making it easier for farmworkers to form unions. After vetoing that bill in 2021 and expressing his opposition again the following year, the powerful organization founded by Cesar Chavez applied considerable political pressure — including marching up the Central Valley to Sacramento and garnering a statement of support from President Joe Biden — to secure Newsom’s signature.

Originally Published: September 28, 2024 at 4:34 p.m.

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California

Biden Heads to California Wine Country for First Post-Presidential Trip

Published

2 hours ago

January 21, 2025

Press Room

Biden Heads to California Wine Country for First Post-Presidential Trip

At 11:15 a.m. on Jan. 20, Donald Trump was sworn back into the White House as the 47th President of the United States. And by 2 p.m. on the same day—after a quick farewell visit to Joint Base Andrews—the now-former president, Joe Biden, was on his way to celebrate retirement in Santa Ynez, California.

The central California wine town, made famous as a world-class pinot noir destination in the 2004 film Sideways, is familiar territory for Biden, who spent a few days there in August 2024 after deciding to withdraw from the election. On that trip, he stayed at billionaire pal Joe Kiani’s ranch; his official agenda did not specify where he would stay on this visit, but local news reports say a motorcade was headed in the direction of Kiani’s 8,000-acre estate shortly after Biden’s arrival in town.

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California

Trump’s new executive orders target policies dear to CA

Published

10 hours ago

January 21, 2025

Press Room

Trump’s new executive orders target policies dear to CA

With assurances that “sunlight is pouring over the entire world,” President Donald Trump was sworn into office Monday for his second term. He wasted no time taking potshots at California.

During his 30-minute inauguration speech, Trump said the Los Angeles County wildfires, which broke out two weeks ago, burned without “a token of defense.” (This is not true.) After his swearing-in, Trump also accused the state of voter fraud, but provided no evidence, and directed his administration to route more water from the Delta to elsewhere in California, including Southern California.

In response, Gov. Gavin Newsom said his administration “stands ready to work with” Trump and that he is looking forward to Trump’s upcoming visit to L.A. But the governor’s office also responded to Trump’s wildfire comment with photos of California firefighters in action. Last week, Newsom and top legislative Democrats agreed on a $50 million plan to “Trump-proof” the state by fighting his policies in court.

In other Trump news:

Uncertainty at the border: Trump on Monday proclaimed a national emergency at the southern border. He then issued a series of executive orders, including ones to target jurisdictions with sanctuary laws (which presumably includes California) and pull their federal funding; designate drug cartels as “foreign terrorist organizations;” and limit birthright citizenship — the latter of which will likely set up a colossal constitutional fight. A decade ago, more than a quarter of the country’s children born in the U.S. to at least one undocumented parent lived in California.

Amid the flurry of proclamations (with more to come throughout the week), undocumented immigrants braced themselves for the road ahead, reports CalMatters’ Wendy Fry.

One resident who had an ongoing immigration case said he planned to take “no unnecessary trips” between borders. Others — who crossed the border every day for work — said they don’t expect Trump’s executive orders to affect their lives too much, but they do plan to carry proof that they are naturalized U.S. citizens at all times.

California

President Trump may be in California as state begins filing lawsuits against executive orders

Published

18 hours ago

January 21, 2025

Press Room

President Trump may be in California as state begins filing lawsuits against executive orders

SACRAMENTO — President Donald Trump may visit California this week as state Attorney General Rob Bonta begins filing expected lawsuits against the president’s new executive orders.

Mr. Trump announced he will be visiting the Southern California fire zone Friday to tour the devastation from the historic wildfires in the Los Angeles area. During his inauguration speech, the president criticized California’s response to the fires.

As the legal battles begin between Democratic state legislators and the president, California’s GOP, including Republicans in Sacramento County, was celebrating on inauguration night.

The Capitol Lincoln Club held an inauguration party in Fair Oaks. Newly elected Sacramento County Supervisor Rosario Rodriguez was part of the crowd.

“Trump reminded us where we were four years ago and where we could be today,” Rodriguez said.

“The Republican Party has never been in a better position to succeed,” Capitol Lincoln Club board member Christian Forte said.

As state Republicans celebrated, Bonta, a Democrat, prepared for legal clashes with the Trump administration, including over plans for mass deportations. Nearly half of the country’s undocumented immigrants live in California.

Following the president’s executive orders, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas issued a statement saying, “I will always fight for immigrants, especially children because America is a nation of immigrants, and I believe in our country’s promise.”

Besides mass immigration policies, Trump is also seeking to revoke the federal waiver allowing California to ban the sale of new gas-powered cars in 2035. It’s another move expected to end up in court.

“California is only able to do that because the federal government grants us permission to smart that standard and, apparently with Trump’s executive order, he basically campaigned on this as well. He’s ordering the [Environmental Protection Agency] to revoke that authority from California,” said UC Berkeley Professor Ethan Elkind, who is also the director of the climate program at the university’s Center for Law, Energy, and the Environment.

During Mr. Trump’s first term, California sued him more than 100 times.

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