BILL NUMBER:  SB 1841
  VETOED	DATE: 09/29/2004




To the Members of the California State Senate:

I am returning Senate Bill 1841 without my signature.

Employees should have reasonable privacy protections in the
workplace.  Existing law limits monitoring of phone calls and
prohibits video and audio recordings in restrooms and locker or
changing rooms.  In todays electronic environment, employers give
their employees access to technological advancements, such as use of
the Internet and e-mail, for business purposes, employers should have
the ability to monitor employee activity in order to ensure the
access is not being abused.  Unfortun ately, in attempting to provide
employees with notice of monitoring, this bill places an unfair and
unrealistic burden on those employers wishing to monitor the
electronic activity of their workers.

The notice requirements in this bill are too broad and do not define
what constitutes proper notice, which I cannot support when an
employer that fails to issue a notice or that issues a deficient
notice faces the possibility of a misdemeanor conviction and civil
lawsuits.

Sincerely,



Arnold Schwarzenegger