BILL ANALYSIS
AB 485
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 485 (Carter)
As Amended April 13, 2009
Majority vote
LABOR & EMPLOYMENT 7-0 JUDICIARY 9-1
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|Ayes:|Monning, Bill Berryhill, |Ayes:|Feuer, Tran, Brownley, |
| |Eng, Furutani, Gaines, | |Evans, Jones, Krekorian, |
| |Ma, Portantino | |Lieu, Monning, Nielsen |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | |Nays:|Knight |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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APPROPRIATIONS 11-4
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|Ayes:|De Leon, Ammiano, | | |
| |Charles Calderon, Davis, | | |
| |Krekorian, Hall, John A. | | |
| |Perez, Price, Skinner, | | |
| |Solorio, Torlakson | | |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Nielsen, Duvall, Harkey, | | |
| |Audra Strickland | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Establishes a right to employment leave and other
employment protections for members of the California Wing of the
Civil Air Patrol, as specified. Specifically, this bill :
1 Provides that an employer with more than 15 employees shall
not discriminate against or discharge a member of the Civil
Air Patrol (CAP) due to the employee's membership in CAP and
shall not hinder or prevent a member from performing service
as part of the California Wing of CAP during an emergency
operational mission.
2)Requires an employer with more than 15 employees to provide
not less than 15 days per calendar year of unpaid leave to an
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employee responding to an emergency operational mission of the
California Wing of CAP, as specified.
3)Defines an "employee" as a person who has been employed by the
employer for at least a 90-day period immediately preceding
the commencement of leave.
4)Requires an employee to give the employer as much notice as
possible of the intended date upon which the CAP leave will
begin and end.
5)Authorizes an employer to require certification from the
proper CAP authority to verify employee eligibility for leave,
and provides that the employer may deny the leave to be taken
as CAP leave if the employee fails to provide the required
certification.
6)Specifies that an employee taking leave shall not be required
to exhaust accrued vacation leave, personal leave,
compensatory leave, sick leave, disability leave or other
leave.
7)Provides that nothing in this bill prevents an employer from
providing paid leave to the employee for taking such leave.
8)Requires an employer to restore an employee to the position
held by him or her when the leave began, or to a position with
equivalent seniority status, employee benefits, pay and other
terms and conditions of employment. However, an employer may
decline to restore an employee because of conditions unrelated
to their exercise of rights under this bill.
9)Prohibits an employer from interfering with, retraining or
denying the exercise of rights under this bill.
10)Prohibits an employer from discharging, fining, suspending,
expelling, disciplining or in any other manner discriminating
against an employee who exercises a right under this bill or
opposes an unlawful practice under this bill.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, given current state leave policies, this bill would
likely have only a minor impact on state costs. In addition,
there would be potential costs, probably not significant, to
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local governments, depending on their leave policies and the
frequency of emergency operations.
COMMENTS : This bill proposes to provide for unpaid leave and
employment protection for members of the Civil Air Patrol, the
civilian auxiliary of the United States Air Force. Unlike most
members of the armed services, members of the Civil Air Patrol
are unpaid volunteers.
The United States Civil Air Patrol (CAP) was founded in December
1941 by citizens concerned about the defense of America's
coastline during World War II. The CAP became the civilian
auxiliary of the United States Air Force in 1948 and is charged
with three primary missions - aerospace education, cadet
programs and emergency services. The CAP currently has 56,000
members in eight geographic regions consisting of 52 wings.
The California Wing of the CAP is a member of the Pacific Region
and consists of seven groups, approximately 80 squadrons, and
nearly 4,000 individual members.
According to the author, existing state and federal laws
establish leave provisions for members of the Armed Forces of
the United States, their reserve components, and the National
Guard, but not for the CAP. When CAP members are called upon to
serve in an emergency mission, there is no law to ensure that
their jobs will remain after the job is complete. The author
states that, with the current economy, we may lose our brave CAP
members because they cannot afford to lose their jobs.
The author's office contends that similar legislation has been
proposed or enacted in nine other states: Arkansas, Colorado,
Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, and
Missouri.
Analysis Prepared by : Ben Ebbink / L. & E. / (916) 319-2091
FN: 0000671