Chamber Profoundly Disappointed With Signing of Paid Family Leave Bill.

Business Editors

SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 23, 2002

The California Chamber of Commerce today, expressed its profound disappointment with Governor Davis' signing of SB 1661 (Kuehl), a bill that will implement for the first time in national history a state paid family leave program.

The Chamber along with over 2000 businesses and associations throughout the state, fiercely contested the bill because it establishes a new mandated 6-week paid family leave program. The signing of this proposal places California in the position of being the first state in the nation to implement a program that pays for workers to take non-work related time off. This will cause California to lose some of its competitive edge as many businesses will look to other states when relocating or starting up to avoid these types of mandates.

In addition, California is currently facing a budget deficit and the Chamber strongly believes that it is the wrong time to be implementing a new program funded by new taxes on employees when the state is still trying to determine how it will fund all of the existing programs.

Lastly, the implementation of SB 1661 takes California's family leave law out of sync with other states and for the first time applies to those businesses with less than 50 employees. Current state and federal law allows for employees to take up to 12-weeks of unpaid leave and only applies to those employers with 50 or more employees.

By expanding the family leave program to cover all businesses, regardless of size, SB 1661 creates management and cost hardships for small businesses, which make up most of the California business community. For example, if one worker takes leave at a business with only five employees, that operation loses one-fifth of its workforce. If more workers seek leave -- SB 1661 contains no limits on how many employees from a single company may apply at the same time -- their absence could bring the small business to a standstill.

The California Chamber is the largest broad-based employer representative in California. Membership represents one-quarter of the private sector jobs in California and includes firms of all sizes and companies from every industry throughout the state. The California Chamber also offers publications and services to help California businesses comply with both state and federal employment law. The California Chamber also promotes international trade and investment in order to stimulate California's economy and create new jobs. Please visit our website at www.calchamber.com.