There is an old adage under the state’s capitol dome that nothing big happens in the Legislature during an election year. It appears that bit of wisdom no longer holds true, as we saw groundbreaking deal after groundbreaking deal take shape this summer culminating in potentially huge policy shifts sent to the Governor’s desk. Some of these include healthcare malpractice reform, new recycling requirements on single-use packaging, ambitious climate change and clean energy rules, measures to address mental health and addiction for the homeless,

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The 2022 legislative session has kicked off and our union is moving an aggressive agenda to improve the lives of our members and their families. We have eight sponsored or co-sponsored bills which are summarized below. However, before I get into those, it’s important to mention a big victory that happened earlier this year.

We have worked very hard since the beginning of the pandemic to push for policies that protect workers from unnecessary exposure and to reduce negative economic consequences when workers need to protect themselves.

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Hello from Sacramento! We are about to embark on the 2022 Legislative session and there are many issues on the horizon that will potentially impact our union. Electoral redistricting, ballot initiatives, big policy proposals, and more will all be a part of the 2022 landscape. However, before I get into those things, I would like to highlight some of our victories in 2021.

We co-sponsored a number of bills last year and three were signed into law by Governor Newsom.

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By Shane Gusman

Hello from your State Capital! The Legislative session is in full swing, with roughly 1,500 pieces of legislation moving through the process.

As a Union, we have a very diverse jurisdiction so we have to keep an eye on most of these bills and take active positions on hundreds. We also have our own legislative program where we “sponsor” specific bills to help our members and help to grow the union. 

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The 2019-20 legislative session came to an unceremonious end on August 31. Between the difficulties of holding legislative meetings with COVID-19 restrictions and political infighting, the end of the session devolved into bickering between the parties and between the leaders of the Senate and Assembly. The end result was a failure to act on some pretty important issues. Affordable housing bills and legislation on police reform all died because the politicos couldn’t be civil with each other.

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California is slowly reopening and we cross our fingers that we don’t have a new surge in COVID-19 cases. We all know that our economy needs a jumpstart. We just need to make sure that, as we reopen, we do it safely for workers. This has been a major focus for CTPAC and we continue to work with the Governor’s office, CalOSHA, and the Department of Public Health to educate and push for standards to protect our members.

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This year’s legislative session came to one of its weirder ends in recent memory. Perhaps it was the full moon or the fact that it was Friday the 13th. Whatever the reason, it was crazy.

The halls were packed with protesters, mostly from the so-called “anti-vax” movement. These folks were there to protest the Legislature’s passage and ultimately the Governor’s signature on two bills to toughen our state’s vaccination laws. I’ve seen many protests over the years—human rights groups,

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We’ve made it halfway through this year’s Legislative session and we continue to move our agenda here in California despite significant pushback from the Trump Administration.

First, Trump and his Labor Department have moved to take away meal and rest breaks from truck drivers. Then, they tried to take away funding for High Speed Rail. They recently declared “gig” workers, such as Uber drivers, independent contractors and are now going after meal and rest breaks away for bus drivers.

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