By Howard Fine
Restaurants and other businesses across Orange County rang in the new year with added costs, thanks to a 75 cent hike in the state’s minimum wage to $7.50 an hour.
The minimum wage increase is by far the biggest new law of 2007 for businesses. It’s the first of two agreed to last year by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state Legislature. The second increase, to $8 an hour, kicks in Jan. 1, 2008.
Besides that, there aren’t many other laws taking effect this month that broadly impact employers, though others target specific businesses.
“With the governor pledging to veto job-killing bills, we’ve been able to stop almost all these bills from becoming law,” said Vince Sollitto, spokesman for the California Chamber of Commerce in Sacramento.
Two other major laws did get through: Assembly Bill 32, a greenhouse gas emissions reduction mandate, and Senate Bill 1613, a ban on cell phone use without a hands-free device in most vehicles, including commercial trucks and fleet vehicles. They won’t kick in until mid-2008 at the earliest.
Instead, employers in specific sectors are facing targeted new laws this month.
Among them is AB 881, a requirement that all roofers,even sole proprietors,carry workers’ compensation insurance.
“This is really aimed at the underground economy, but it will hit husband-and-wife teams hard, and some of those are our members,” said Michael Shaw, assistant state director of the California chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business.
Another law, SB 1759, requires more stringent background checks for some healthcare workers. AB 409 allows authorities greater latitude to suspend licenses for cosmetologists, barbers and manicurists to protect the public.
Car washes are in the state’s crosshairs with the passage of SB 1468, a one-year extension of a previous law that regulated the hiring and payment of car wash workers. That previous law was set to expire last week.
Probably the most far-reaching of the industry-specific laws for consumers is AB 2987, which opens local cable markets to competition. The law was pushed by AT & T; Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc., which have been trying to break local cable monopolies.
The law takes much of the decision-making on TV franchises out of the hands of local governments by allowing any TV service operator to seek a single statewide permit.
Some new laws are expected to help employers. These include SB 1428, which allows payroll services to administer unemployment tax filings for entertainment companies.
Another law, AB 573, reduces liability for design firms in contracts with local governments, making it clear that these firms are not responsible for mistakes made by those not directly employed by them.
Nationally, President George Bush last month signed a tax break that extends for another year the federal deduction for research and development projects at manufacturing companies. Those deductions had been scheduled to end Jan. 1.
Many of the broader changes taking effect this month are in the area of wage and employment law, with the minimum wage at the forefront.
Other laws will make life more complex. One, SB 1441, adds sexual orientation to the categories of prohibited discrimination for companies that receive state funds.
Another law, AB 2095, limits sexual harassment training to supervisors in California. It also permits reporting of overtime hours on the same payroll date as the hours are paid.
One new law employers are watching is AB 2068, which allows employees to continue to pick their own physician groups for on-the-job injuries.
“This could allow some employees to choose medical groups connected to plaintiff attorney firms,” said Shaw, of the independent business federation. “And that could drive workers’ compensation costs back up again. We’ll have to see how this works out in practice.”
Fine is a staff writer with the Los Angeles Business Journal.
