BILL NUMBER: SB 705 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 31, 2009
INTRODUCED BY Senator Lowenthal
FEBRUARY 27, 2009
An act to amend Section 65088.4 of the Government
add Section 1172 to the Labor Code, relating to
transportation employmen t .
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 705, as amended, Lowenthal. Traffic congestion: infill
housing. Employee rights: exhaustion of
administrative remedies.
Under existing law, where a statute provides an employment right
and sets forth administrative procedures that must be followed to
redress a violation of that right, an employee must first exhaust
those administrative procedures before seeking redress from the
courts in a civil action. Additionally, decisional law has required
employees to exhaust an employer's administrative remedies to redress
violations of statutory law even where the statute creating the
right does not require the exhaustion as a prerequisite to the filing
of a civil action.
This bill would provide that exhaustion of an employer's internal
administrative remedies or judicial review of a decision of an
administrative agency is not a precondition for a civil action
alleging a violation of a right that the Legislature determines to be
based on a fundamental public policy of the state, unless the
Legislature expressly requires the exhaustion of the employer's
internal administrative remedies or judicial review of an
administrative decision in the statute that establishes the cause of
action. This bill would further provide that the results of an
administrative adjudication by an employer regarding an allegation of
a violation of an employee right that the Legislature determines to
be based on a fundamental public policy of the state are admissible
as evidence in a civil action involving the same rights and parties.
Existing law requires the development, adoption, and updating of a
congestion management program for each county that includes an
urbanized area, as defined. The program is required to contain
specified elements and to be submitted to regional agencies, as
defined, for determination of whether the program is consistent with
regional transportation plans. The required elements include traffic
level of service standards for a system of designated highways and
roadways.
Existing law defines an infill opportunity zone for purposes of
the above-described provisions to mean a specific area designated by
a city or county zoned for new compact residential or mixed use
development, except as specified, within 1/3 mile of specified
transportation sites in counties with a population of over 400,000.
Under existing law streets and highways in an infill opportunity zone
are exempt from the level of service standards specified in the
above-described provisions and instead the city or county is required
to include them an alternate level of service standards or take
other actions, as specified. Existing law provides that a city or
county may not designate an infill opportunity zone after December
31, 2009.
This bill would eliminate the deadline for designating an infill
opportunity zone.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no
yes . State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 1172 is added to the
Labor Code , to read:
1172. (a) Exhaustion of an employer's internal administrative
remedies, such as a grievance procedure, or judicial review of a
decision of an administrative agency, is not a precondition for a
civil action alleging a violation of a right that the Legislature
determines to be based on a fundamental public policy of the state,
unless the Legislature expressly requires the exhaustion of the
employer's internal administrative remedies or judicial review of an
administrative decision in the statute that establishes the cause of
action.
(b) The results of an administrative adjudication by an employer
regarding an allegation of a violation of an employee right that the
Legislature determines to be based on a fundamental public policy of
the state are admissible as evidence in a subsequent civil action
involving substantially the same rights and substantially the same
parties, unless otherwise expressly excluded by the Legislature or in
an applicable collective bargaining agreement.
SECTION 1. Section 65088.4 of the Government
Code is amended to read:
65088.4. (a) It is the intent of the Legislature to balance the
need for level of service standards for traffic with the need to
build infill housing and mixed use commercial developments within
walking distance of mass transit facilities, downtowns, and town
centers and to provide greater flexibility to local governments to
balance these sometimes competing needs.
(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, level of service
standards described in Section 65089 shall not apply to the streets
and highways within an infill opportunity zone. The city or county
shall do either of the following:
(1) Include these streets and highways under an alternative
areawide level of service standard or multimodal composite or
personal level of service standard that takes into account both of
the following:
(A) The broader benefits of regional traffic congestion reduction
by siting new residential development within walking distance of, and
no more than one-third mile from, mass transit stations, shops, and
services, in a manner that reduces the need for long vehicle commutes
and improves the jobs-housing balance.
(B) Increased use of alternative transportation modes, such as
mass transit, bicycling, and walking.
(2) Approve a list of flexible level of service mitigation options
that includes roadway expansion and investments in alternate modes
of transportation that may include, but are not limited to, transit
infrastructure, pedestrian infrastructure, and ridesharing, vanpool,
or shuttle programs.
(c) The city or county may designate an infill opportunity zone by
adopting a resolution after determining that the infill opportunity
zone is consistent with the general plan and any applicable specific
plan.
(d) The city or county in which the infill opportunity zone is
located shall ensure that a development project shall be completed
within the infill opportunity zone not more than four years after the
date on which the city or county adopted its resolution pursuant to
subdivision (c). If no development project is completed within an
infill opportunity zone by the time limit imposed by this
subdivision, the infill opportunity zone shall automatically
terminate.