Top Ten Terrible Bills Governor Brown Should Veto

California is home to the most liberal legislature in the country. The legislature has now adjourned for the year, but not before putting hundreds of bills on the Governor’s desk. Among them are a great many terrible bills that claw away at the liberty and freedom of Californians, and continue to grow the size and scope of state government. 

Of course, the only “check” on the liberal legislature is the equally liberal Governor Jerry Brown, who has a short period of time to sign or veto legislation. While it was difficult to narrow down the list of really bad bills, below is a list of the worst of the worst–the top ten bills that Governor Brown should veto:

10. AB 2565 (Muratsuchi) Under this bill, a landlord of a dwelling is required, upon written request of a renter, to install an electric vehicle parking charging station for the renter’s use. The landlord is given no choice, and must comply even if he or she does not want to do so. This bill ignores the property rights of property owners, who should be free to decide what kinds of improvements they would or would not like to make.  

9. SB 1253 (Steinberg) This bill would make the process of putting ballot initiatives even more cumbersome and drawn out than it already is. It adds more required language on signature petitions, and mandating a new 30-day public review and comment period before circulation can begin. This measure is designed to make it more difficult to put initiatives on the ballot.

8.  SB 25 (Steinberg) Changes the law that forces “mandatory mediation” (think combination of compulsory mediation and binding arbitration) for collective bargaining agreements between agricultural employers and unions. This legislation, sponsored by unions, is designed to make it easier for them to force the adoption of a collective bargaining agreement (which farm workers do not always want).

7. SB 1275 (De León) You may not have or want an electric car, but this legislation would have you, as a taxpayer, paying for other people’s electric cars! Specifically, it requires the Air Resources Board to provide public financing or financial backing for private auto loans for low-income consumers purchasing electric vehicles.

6. SB 628 (Beall) The legislature did a good thing by getting rid of local redevelopment agencies. These agencies often abused private property rights, and invited corruption and cronyism by putting politicians in charge of doling out public tax dollars for projects, picking winners and losers. This bill would bring them back–under a new name. The bill lowers the vote threshold required to incur public bonded indebtedness, from 2/3 to 55%. 

5. SB 1077 (DeSaulnier) As if we don’t pay enough gas taxes already, this bill would require state government to study options for imposing a new tax on motorists per each mile traveled. It also creates a committee to figure out how to implement a pilot project. By necessity, this bill will create a reason for the government to track your car, and how many miles you drive.

4. SB 1053 (Mitchell) Under this bill, health care plans would be required to cover a bunch of contraceptive drugs, devices, and products for women. Language in the bill would prevent health care plans from charging anything (deductibles, coinsurance, co-pays) to cover this mandate. In essence everyone would be paying to cover these items, to which many have moral objections.

3. AB 1522 (Gonzalez) As if we didn’t have enough mandates on business in California, this bill would mandate that any employee who works in California for 30 or more days in a year is entitled to paid sick days, which shall be accrued at a rate of no less than one hour for every 30 worked. Of course the entire financial burden of providing this mandated benefit falls squarely on the employer. And you wonder why Tesla went to Nevada?

2. SB 1210 (Lara) At a time when we should be looking at ways to disincentive illegal immigration, this bill would create a program to provide loans to people in the country illegally, attending a UC or CSU campus. California’s public universities and colleges are already overcrowded, and this will make the situation much worse.

And the worst bill of them all–the top bill Brown should veto…

1. SB 270 (Padilla) This bill purports to be a straight up ban on plastic bags in grocery stores. That would be bad enough. Even worse, it is a cash-grab of hundreds of millions of dollars by grocers. The bill mandates a minimum paper bag fee of ten cents, to go into the pockets of grocers, who will profit hundreds of millions of dollars a year. This bill embodies the hubris of state legislators, who want to tell people how to live their lives.