While the California State Legislature has recessed for the rest of the year, we have an opportunity to step back and evaluate what our priorities as a state and community should be.
As a small business owner, there is nothing more important to me than reforming state law to create a better climate for small businesses to grow and create more jobs. The more jobs we create, the more competitive the labor market is, and the higher wages will be. In particular, there are two critical issues that the Legislature could, and should, address:
PAGA — The Private Attorney General Act was passed in 2004, and essentially deputized private lawyers to sue employers for millions of dollars in penalties for technical violations of the California Labor Code. In essence, the measure gave the authority of state prosecutors over to private trial attorneys who could use their new authority to make millions off of shakedown lawsuits, and over the last 18 years, that is exactly what has happened. It is incalculable how many jobs we could have seen created in California if businesses didn’t have to spend millions on defense and settlements related to PAGA.