2022 was a landmark year in California thanks to new laws that protect our restaurants and small businesses, protect our workers, address the housing and homelessness crisis, reform our system of policing, strengthen social justice, and more!
Fairness for Restaurants, Consumers, and Delivery Drivers
California took dramatic steps to assist restaurants struggling during the pandemic, providing billions of dollars in tax relief, hiring credits, grants, loans, training, and fee waivers for large, small, and micro-businesses to reopen the economy.
AB 286 (Gonzalez) Protects restaurants from delivery apps charging customers more for menu items than is advertised by the restaurant and from pocketing delivery drivers’ tips.
Wages and Safe Working Conditions
Along with increasing the minimum wage to $15 per hour for employers with at least 26 employees, California has committed to stronger protections for our workers.
AB 701 (Gonzalez) increases protections for warehouse workers’ quotas and assures both meal and rest breaks will not be revoked to meet their quotas.
AB 1003 (Gonzalez) makes the intentional theft of wages criminally punishable as grand theft.
SB 62 (Durazo) requires garment workers to be paid by the hour rather than by piece.
Family Leave
Did you know California was the first state in the nation to adopt family leave benefits?
AB 1033 (Bauer Kahan) expands existing family leave laws to care for in-laws.
Housing
California is making historic investments to address the housing and homelessness crisis, including $12 billion to create housing and mental and behavioral health programs for individuals experiencing homelessness, $10.3 billion to fund affordable housing construction, $5.2 billion for rental and utility assistance, and $1.3 billion to assist struggling and first-time homebuyers.
Police Reform
California continues the drive to make public safety truly about the safety of the public, not that of any special interest. For decades, communities of color have suffered instances of injustice when they interact with the very people charged with protecting our public safety. The time to do something about it is overdue.
AB 26 (Holden) requires law enforcement officers to immediately report potential excessive force and intercede when observing an officer using excessive force.
AB 89 (Jones-Sawyer) requires prospective law enforcement officers to meet certain age and higher education requirements before becoming an officer.
AB 490 (Gipson) bans law enforcement techniques that involve a substantial risk of positional asphyxia that can lead to death or serious injury.
AB 750 (Jones-Sawyer) criminalizes law enforcement officers knowingly making a false statement to another officer.
AB 846 (Burke) requires an evaluation of prospective law enforcement officers for bias before becoming an officer.
SB 2 (Bradford) criminalizes law enforcement officers interfering with an individual’s civil rights.
Protecting Against Sexual Assault and Harassment
California has already taken steps to protect victims online, and as technology changes, so must the law.
AB 453 (C. Garcia) classifies removing a condom without consent as sexual battery.
AB 514 (Ward) eases the process for victims of revenge porn to sue those responsible in civil court.
AB 764 (Cervantes) expands existing contempt of court laws for stalkers who contact a victim via social media or other digital means.
Fighting Racism and Discrimination
New laws take effect on January 1 that aim to eliminate discrimination and racism in California’s communities.
AB 3070 (S. Weber) reduces discrimination in the jury selection process.
SB 796 (Bradford) requires the County of Los Angeles to return Bruce’s Beach to the descendants of Willa and Charles Bruce, a Black family who owned the property until the City of Manhattan Beach seized the land with racist intent in 1929.
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Categories: Local Government
