UPDATE below: The Globe received word late Wednesday from Capitol sources that a gut-and-amend transportation bill is morphing into a bill ordering a vaccine mandate on private industry (seen below).
AB 455 by Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland), was a bill to authorize the Bay Area Toll Authority to designate transit-only traffic lanes on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, in consultation with the Department of Transportation, Caltrans.
Gut-and-amend bills can be particularly insidious. This secretive process often leaves lawmakers, as well as the public, little or no time to review entirely new legislation dropped into an old bill. And usually, the subject of the legislation has nothing to do with the bill’s previous legislative issue.
Gut-and-amend typically happens with budget issues and heavy special interest legislation. Lawmakers have complained loudly for years that the gut-and-amend process has been grossly abused by whichever party is in power.
Sources say they don’t know if this bill will come to fruition or not.
Assembly Bill 455, once a transportation bill, is being amended. Here’s how:
- Amendment 1 adds Members Wicks, Low, and Akilah Weber.
- Amendment 2 adds “Principal coauthors: Senators Newman, Pan, and Wiener.”
- Amendment 3 inserts: An act to add Section 52.8 to the Civil Code, to add Section 12940.4 to the Government Code, and to add Section 248.4 to the Labor Code, relating to COVID-19 vaccination requirements, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.
- Amendment 5: 52.8. (a) Notwithstanding any other law, an establishment, as defined in subdivision (b), shall require each person who is eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, who seeks to enter the indoor facilities of that establishment, to show proof to an employee or authorized agent of the establishment that the person has been vaccinated against COVID-19.
Note: “To the extent allowable under state and federal law and any employment agreement entered into on or after the effective date of this act, an employee who refuses to comply with this section may be subject to termination.”
And suddenly, a bill which could not pass through the Legislature legitimately in the committee process, would mandate the COVID vaccine on employees in private industry or be fired.
The gutted bill also now says:
(1) COVID-19 vaccine supplemental paid sick leave shall be available to an employee if that employee is unable to work due to either of the following reasons: (A) The employee is attending an appointment to receive a vaccine for protection against contracting COVID-19. (B) The employee is experiencing symptoms related to a COVID-19 vaccine.
But that’s not all. There’s more:
(2) An employee shall be entitled to the following number of hours of COVID-19 vaccine supplemental paid sick leave:
(A) An employee is entitled to 24 hours of COVID-19 vaccine supplemental paid sick leave. (B) COVID-19 vaccine supplemental paid sick leave to which an employee is entitled pursuant to this section shall be in addition to any paid sick leave that may be available to the employee under any other law. (c) An employee may determine how many hours of COVID-19 vaccine supplemental paid sick leave to use, up to the total number of hours to which the employee is entitled pursuant to subparagraph (A). The COVID-19 vaccine supplemental paid sick leave is available for immediate use by the employee.
(3) Each hour of COVID-19 vaccine supplemental paid sick leave shall be compensated at the regular rate of pay to which the employee would be entitled if the employee had been scheduled to work those hours pursuant to existing law or an applicable collective bargaining agreement.
Capitol sources note business groups like the cover of this bill being a government edict so they can wash their hands of some liability on COVID protection. And, labor is using this to extort more concessions like additional sick leave and bonus hazard pay.
A Capitol source said, “It’s never good when big business and labor may be on the same side of things.”
UPDATE 8/30/2021: Assemblyman Kevin Kiley confirms that “the new language of AB 455 still is not in print. The Legislature adjourns next Friday.”
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View Comments (136)
WHAT on Earth is going on up there?! This is insanity upon insanity! I see the usual suspects are involved: Sens Weiner, Pan, JOSH NEWMAN(!), Asms Wicks and Evan Low and Akilah Weber. I'll never understand why this gut-and-amend crap is allowed. This eleventh-hour shove-it-through must stop. I figure these freaks must be panicking over change that might come soon, and time's a-wasting to get these mandates in stone? Or they got a memo from their BFFs in Wash DC that these mandates are a priority for ALL on the heels of mandating jabs for every member of the military? And business is really okay with this? You'd think they'd stand up against this tyranny, but nooo....
But never mind, thank goodness you got the word out about this, Katy Grimes. We will all have to take whatever action we can to put a stop to this. Bombard these legislators with calls and messages and etc. Or whatever is needed. Once private business and its employees are mandated they are well on their way to mandating vaccines for all. We cannot have this. Hope everyone who reads this article will share it extensively.
Find your State Senator as well as the senators named in the bill here:
https://www.senate.ca.gov/senators
Find your State Assembly Member as well as the assembly members named in the bill here:
https://www.assembly.ca.gov/assemblymembers
Hardly need to add: Be civil in your communications with these legislators but firm.
This bill will put the final nail in the coffin of small businesses. Please do not do this. We the people do not want this. It is hard enough to do business in California.
It’s fast approaching impossible for any small business to keep taking below the belt blows like this insanity. The commies in Sacramento hate the idea of free enterprise and American entrepreneurship.
Ab 455 is nothing more than Agenda 21 aka Agenda 20/30. Ruining our econony is a part of "their" master plan. "They" could care less about who is suffering and who is losing their businesses, their homes, their ability to survive and flourish. To date, most Americans, Including myself, have been misled to believe that all we had to do was vote and walk away, and our elected officials would take care of things for us. Alarmingly, we are being awakened and finding out this is not true and hasn't been true for a very long time. "They" depend on us trusting them and not asking any questions. In many cases, maybe some of us would prefer to keep our social and political blinders on and not to know the truth. But, now the truth is standing before is in plain sight, and it is time to do our homework, stand with our Constitution, and let our voices be heard. They have always managed to win with their divide and conquer strategies which keeps us weak.. Our waking up and refusal to accept such a careless deceitful bill is their greatest fear. My mom used to say there is power in numbers. Our unity and unified consciousness is our divine weapon. Contact your legislators today.
LET EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM KNOW IF THEY SUPPORT MANDATES THEY ARE IN VIOLATION OF NUREMBERG SECTIONS 1-10
You mentioned that we should contact our state representatives. Has the Senate and Assembly voted on this yet. Thank you for the links. I will pass it on, if it is not too late.
JW
JW --- Hope you are still checking back here. Asm Kevin Kiley reported on Monday Aug 30 that the bill is dead for this year, so it looks as though all the blowback had its effect up there in Sacramento. It was reported (Asm Jim Patterson) that thousands of citizens contacted their reps, whose offices are usually pretty quiet I hear, and I can well imagine it rattled them.
https://blog.electkevinkiley.com/make-california-free-again/
There IS another similar gut-and-amend bill AB 1102, also not yet published. As unbelievable as it sounds it may also bear watching until these maniacs adjourn, so if you'd like to contact your Sen and Assembly rep for good measure, here is Katy Grimes article about it:
https://californiaglobe.com/articles/another-gutted-bill-amended-to-compel-ca-employers-to-require-covid-vaccine-as-condition-of-employment/
Best wishes JW.
I agree shut this crap down now or their will be a mad exodus from California. Sneaky and Shady. Get rid of the usual suspects too.
Isn’t that exactly what they’d like, those pesky Republicans to up and leave. Then they can raise property taxes sky high on the next Occupant.
Excellent
If newsom is allowing this so close to his recall that is very telling.
I smell a cheating rat in this process. Disgusting!
Actually I suspect it more likely indicates that Gruesome and the legislature are trying to shove stuff into law before the possible Recall at which time they will lose power of course. we'll see.........
Thank you for the links.
You're SO WELCOME. My pleasure. :)
Of course Senator Pan and Senator Weiner are co-authors. Both despicable men. Pan is no stranger to the gut and amend dirty politics strategy, he did that with SB 276 when he removed medical exemptions for families who had a child who had been previous harmed or killed by a vaccine reaction (family medical history was removed as a reason for a medical exemption). SB 276 was a waste management bill, Pan gutted it and turned it into this bill to prevent families with children who had been harmed by these pharma products from getting wind of it in time to contact their legislators and plead their case. And Weiner? He's the genius who changed giving HIV to another person from a felony to a slap on the wrist, or even no consequence. Thanks to Weiner, if someone knowingly has sex with another person without revealing their HIV status, and gives that person HIV, they can only be convicted of a misdemeanor, and only if they had the "intention" of giving the other person HIV. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2017/10/09/knowingly-infecting-others-with-hiv-is-no-longer-a-felony-in-california-advocates-say-it-targeted-sex-workers/
Ironic, isn't it?
You are so right about these psychopaths. And Gov. Brown signed SB 276/7 into law in late June 2015, when California schools had dsimissed for the summer. Most California parents knew nothing about their rights being taken away, until students returned for the next school year. In my opinion, this was by design. It was then too late to do anything about it. Some parents in northern Califoria tried to block it and repeal it, but they just didn't have the numbers needed to move forward. Pan also authored SB 18, the so-called Bill of Rights for Children, another dangerous bill stripping parent rights. So, glad Californians took a stand this time and in time to stop their madness.
These people are absolutely disgusting. They are demonic people. God has thee last word all the time. When God turns the table on these people, WATCH OUT! My God is BIGGER than these demonic souls.
Hallelujah! You are CORRECT, GOD has the last word. And I hope all of the disgusting people involved in this crap BURN in HELL!!
They will reap what they sow!!
It (God moving against them) cannot happen too soon.
I don't think gut and amend should be allowed, because at any time special interests could throw a last-minute curve ball to force something through without proper scrutiny. In this case, the vaccines have not been proven to work. Vaxxed people are having breakthrough infections. The one injections are also causing deaths and serious injuries for millions. The one injections do not have safe ingredients, with their synthetic mRNA, gmo'd adenoviruses, and graphene oxide causing the magnetic effect. The manufactured spike proteins are being seen to accumulate in the brain, heart, spleen, ovaries and testes. I read about one autopsy recently where they found spike proteins everywhere in the body. With serious injuries like heart attacks and heart inflammation, strokes, neurological damage happening in the millions now, etc, I basically wonder how much Pan, Weiner, Wicks et al are being paid to kill everyone.
Thank you Katy for releasing this info. Can you help? I can get to the bill at https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/ but can't find the amendments.
The amendments aren't officially published yet. When they are I will post.
Lets just go ahead and burn the constitution while we are at it - because that’s what this does. By the way, as a business owner who is subject to fair housing laws, I can just see myself abiding by this law and not allowing access to my office to someone of color, someone disabled, etc and being video’d doing so, then being used to destroy my business. Oh, and who/how will this be administered? Another FEE on small business to collect and store this information? No! This is a hard NO.
Agenda 21 aka Agenda 20/30. We need to know as much as possible about this, because it connects the dots to everything going on today. It's unimaginable, unbelievable, unacceptable, but it's true. And it has come to our communities at a time when we are most vulnerable, which is also by design. I say by design, because everything happening today is stated word for word in the book titled New Word Order by Ralph Epperson written in 1989. And also The Great Reset by Klaus Schwab verifies the REAL intentions of Covid.. We have been intentionally trapped in the storm of a PLANDEMIC or SCAMDEMIC, and these books prove it. Fortunately for us,...GOD WINS.
Hi Katy, since this bill is dead, does that mean the published versions that included vaccine language do not exist? I have a relative that REFUSES to believe this is real, says since he cannot see/read the amended versions containing the vaccine language with his own eyes, he thinks there's a possibility that the story that these bills were gutted an amended could be fake--I know, crazy! He says this about everything we share with him. He bats it away. I know it sounds like a lost cause, but if I could show him the actual evidence, maybe just maybe it would do some good to bringing him around to reality. Thank you
Absolutely insidious, evil, purposeful destruction of people’s business, livelihoods. health and constitutional freedom. “Two weeks to flatten the curve” is now “show me your papers”
Absolutely insidious, evil, purposeful destruction of people’s business, livelihoods. health and constitutional freedom. “Two weeks to flatten the curve” is now “show me your papers”
Not a single named source in this piece, which is opinion not reporting. All the sources are unnamed. I went journalism school at San Jose State. My professors would take a story like this and rip it shreds before tossing it in the trash can.
Journalism school at San Jose State? Thanks I needed a laugh this morning.
@Grady, Guest has obviously not read NYT or WaPO with their "anonymous" "unnamed" sources, or watched so-called "journalism" on CNN and MSNBC. Real journalism is dead; except in a few hard-to-find places.
Great point Raymond.
Now that’s funny
The bill itself is attached...Did they teach you to read, college KID?
Exactly!
LOL @Guest!
SJSU is my alma mater and I can confidently say, “SO WHAT!” The quality of education at SJSU has declined over the years. The journalism department was in trouble long ago.
What passes for journalism today is a joke!
I suggest you understand the intent of the written piece, it is to inform readership.
Thanks for the laugh!
The Capitol sources on both sides of the aisle risk being terminated for sharing information. They are at-will employees and not protected by a collective bargaining agreement. As editor, I have verified all unnamed sources. Of course we prefer on-the-record comments by named sources, but believe the story is worth publishing, as well as protecting the identities of the valuable sources.
Thank you so much Mrs. Katy Grimes, for publishing this, and thank you to the unnamed sources for blowing the whistle on this one to bring it to our attention! GET INVOLVED, fellow Californians! Tell everyone you know in Cali to start contacting our local officials to voice your opposition! Sign petitions! And if possible, get involved in your local community and politics, school boards, etc. These radical bills and unethical laws must stop! Where is our freedom of religion?! This goes against our religion in SO MANY WAYS. This is discriminatory against many disabled, as well, because not all health problems and disabilities that can lead to an increased risk of adverse affects injuries, and/or death are "exemption approved", so to speak. My auto immune disease wouldnt qualify under their rules, but poses a critical threat that is likely to kill me if I take it, based on statistics and studies I've diligently scoured for, keep researching, and watching/studing closely. Thank you again to those giving us this warning! And another thank you to those reading this, and who will do something about it...We NEED TO secure the freedoms we were abundantly blessed to have growing up will STILL be preserved and intact for our children and future generations! THE TIME TO STAND TOGETHER IS NOW, REGARDLESS OF POLITICAL PREFERENCES! Before its far too late.????❤
I question what gives them the right to Implement an unfunded mandate on small business and other employers. Business owners would have to compensate employees for the additional described sick-leave without being compensated for the additional cost. Historically, unfunded mandates are not allowed; are they “above” all that in Sacramento?
And yet you post as "guest." The .pdf of the actual printed document is not a source? There is something seriously wrong with you. You truly are about 2 hot dogs short of a picnic, poppy.
So how many decades ago was this? I have not seen much genuine reporting in California newspapers in the last 10 or 15 years since the current generation of J School minimum wage drones replaced all the old school reporters who were fired or bailed. As "too expensive". By newspaper owners that got lazy and stupid due to JOA's and the classifieds monopoly.
The standard sourcing used by J School drones is to source two or three opinions from "experts" all on the "progressive" side of the story. And the "experts" are overwhelmingly activist types. Standard procedure in LAT, SF Chron, and now the last to fall, the Sac Bee.
I have read some fantastic first rate reporting in the last few years. But all on local online news-sites. And none of the bylines were from J School drones.
The best education in reporting is from very exacting newsroom story editors and copy editors. Like in the good old days. Not some guy reduced to teaching "journalism" at State.
Tfourier: And even many of the New School reporters who replaced the Old School reporters helped Dems from their positions as "reporters" and thus set themselves up to work as aides to the Dems they helped. Easier to be a suck-up aide than a bad reporter, it looks like. And it probably pays better, too ---- although I wouldn't know, I'm only guessing.
Can't imagine Newsom surviving this if he signs it.. of course if he doesn't sign it in goes into law anyway in 30 days.. What is with these lawmakers? Every idea they put into law pushes people and businesses into another state? It always seems like they are the losers in life and they are seeking to get even with all of those in the state.
I didn't see it.. who pays for the time off? The employer> there goes another business.
I hope there are lots of lawsuits starting with no where is it proven that there is such a virus. It has never been isolated. Also there is also no test for the virus which has never been isolated. They are using a PCR incorrectly which provides false positives at 90% or more. These representatives work for pharma. period.
No kidding, who pays for the time off, TBM. The employer, I would think. Who else? Or does the government (meaning us) propose to pick up the tab? After all, they are paying everyone's rent now, and paying off the landlords too, and the only requirement is that one self-attest to having financial problems, no proof required. Or did I miss something? It's increasingly difficult to believe what we hear. This rent nonsense has only floated to the surface in the last couple of days, seems to me.
But I digress..... Certainly will be in touch with my own Asm and Sen this morning, and go from there. We just go from crisis to crisis around here, don't we? But we can't let this insanity stand.
Yup! Crisis!! Soon the situation will become "Normalized" at this point it's too late. Communism is upon us and the military will be here to force the vaccines or FEMA camp. These are the realities of every great nation before their demise. The only thing and I do mean the ONLY thing keeping us from this fully is that we still have our guns
What also seems ominous is the language in the gutted-and-amended bill which seems to apply to customers and the general public in addition to employees: "Amendment 5: 52.8. ....... (b), shall require EACH PERSON who is eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, WHO SEEKS TO ENTER the indoor facilities of that establishment, TO SHOW PROOF to an employee or authorized agent of the establishment that the person has been vaccinated against COVID-19." (Words in caps are my emphasis)