Gut and amend: legislature wraps up in typical fashion.

• Author: Allen, Bruce C.
• Position: Government relations

At press time, the Legislature was in its last 48 hours before its recess. During this flurry of activity, hundreds of bills--whose contents had never been heard by any policy committee--were being jammed forward in the confusion.

While the general media reported on the Legislature's progress on tackling the workers' compensation crises and a bill for mandatory health insurance, hundreds of other bills were being subjected to "gut and amend" tactics.

This tactic, which is employed all too often late in a legislative session, results in the original contents of a bill being eliminated and new subjects being added. Bills then end up being passed that have never gone through a due diligence process.

The Labor Code Private Attorney Generals Act of 2004

SB 796 (Dunn) has been amended to allow any employee to bring suit against an employer and act as attorney general to enforce any labor violations in civil actions.

The rationale for the bill is that in this time of budget difficulties, state resources for inspection and enforcement are being cut so, "It is therefore in the public interest to provide that civil penalties for violations of the Labor Code may also be assessed and collected by aggrieved employees acting as private attorneys general."

Civil penalties can be quite high. If there are no employees, the fine can be as low as $500 plus court costs and attorney fees. If there are employees, the penalty is $100 per aggrieved employee, per pay period, for the initial violation and $200 per employee, per pay period, for each subsequent violation--in addition to court costs and attorney fees.

The penalties will be divided between the state's general fund (50 percent), the Department of Labor and Workforce Development (25 percent) and the plaintiff (25 percent), but the real payoff will be legal fees to trial attorneys. The bill was awaiting final passage in the Senate at this writing.

AB 1742 E-File

A technical correction bill that would clarify the confusing e-file language enacted in the budget bill is on Gov. Gray Davis' desk. The bill would make it clear that the mandatory e-filing requirement applies to tax forms filed next year by tax practitioners who filed 100 or more individual returns in 2003.

Thomas lino Appointed to CBA

Gov. Gray Davis has appointed CalCPA member Thomas Iino to the California Board of Accountancy. No stranger to the CBA, Iino served previously from 1980--84 and was board president during part of that tenure. During...