2022-2023 Priority Bill List

The California Association of Winegrape Growers is advocating in Sacramento during the deliberation on these proposed changes in the law. As a strong voice for California winegrape growers, CAWG helps make lawmakers aware of the potential effects of the legislation they are considering. In many cases, this includes unintended but devastating, consequences.

CAWG sponsors and supports legislation that positively impacts grape growing in California and opposes legislation that can negatively impact the industry, our workers, and our communities. Below are a few of the many priorities CAWG is working on in Sacramento:

Legislation Sponsored (or co-sponsored) by CAWG: 

SB 659 (Ashby, D-Sacramento) – Increase Groundwater Recharge
CAWG and Regional Water Authority (Sacramento) co-sponsored this bill to push for increased focus on groundwater recharge as part of California’s long-term approach to creating a reliable supply of water for ag and all other water users.
Status: Signed by Governor Newsom

AB 1024 (Aguiar-Curry, D-Winters) – Diversion of Streams for Irrigation Ponds
CAWG and Wine Institute are co-sponsoring this bill to allow for the timely diversion of high-flowing streams for irrigation ponds.
Status:  Will be up for consideration in 2024

AB 54 (Agular-Curry, D-Winters) – Smoke Taint Research
CAWG and Wine Institute continue to seek a $5 million appropriation for CDFA to fund smoke taint research. AB 54 would have created the structure within CDFA for that research.
Status: Failed Passage

SB 375 (Alvarado-Gil, D-Jackson) – COVID-19 Tax Credit
CAWG sponsored this bill which would have created a tax credit to reimburse employers for the costs of complying with COVID-19 workplace regulations in 2023 and 2024.  
Status: Failed Passage


Legislation CAWG is Supporting:

AB 606 (Mathis, R-Porterville) Endangered Species Act: accidental take: farms or ranches
This bill extends through 2029 the authority for the accidental taking of listed species in the course of otherwise lawful and routine agricultural activities.
Status: Signed by Governor Newsom

SB 366 (Caballero, D-Merced) – CA Water Plan Long-Term Supply Targets
This bill would establish necessary water supply targets to capture and produce enough water for all uses, including communities, agriculture, and the environment, by modernizing the California Water Plan for a 21st-century climate.
Status: Will be up for consideration in 2024

SB 279 (Niello, R-Fair Oaks) – Increase Public Participation in Rulemaking
This bill would have increased public participation in the regulatory process, which is important as regulators are required to calculate the costs of compliance.
Status: Failed Passage

SB 685 (Hurtado, D-Hanford) – Transitioning Farmworkers to Ag Tech
This bill would have required 20% of Apprenticeship Innovation Funding Program funds to be allocated for transitioning farmworkers to agriculture technology.
Status: Failed Passage

SB 23 (Caballero, D-Merced) – Expedited Permits for Water Supply & Flood Protection
This bill would have helped accelerate recycled water, desalination, and stormwater capture projects while also accelerating projects meant to provide flood control and respond to sea level rise.
Status: Failed Passage

SB 361 (Dodd, D-Napa) Water resources: stream gages
This bill would have facilitated the collection of comprehensive streamflow information and other water data that are essential to managing water for multiple needs, including water supply, flood protection, water quality, and protection of critical freshwater ecosystems.
Status: Failed Passage


Legislation CAWG is Opposing:

AB 113 – Card Check Budget Trailer Bill
This trailer bill was signed ahead of the state budget and made  changes Governor Newsom and labor unions agreed upon  when he signed Card Check legislation (AB 2183) into law last year. AB 113 took effect May 15, 2023, and made the following changes to last year's Card Check bill:

  • Eliminate mail-in ballots.
  • Eliminate “labor peace elections or non-labor peace elections.”
  • Cap the number of Card Check elections at 75 elections before January 1, 2028. 

CAWG is opposed to Card Check and was opposed to AB 2183 and the deal Newsom struck in 2022.
Status: Signed by Governor Newsom

SB 553 (Cortese, D-San Jose – Workplace Violence Prevention
This bill requires onerous training, record keeping, and procedures to prevent the workplace from violence and employees from feeling unsafe.
Status: Signed by Governor Newsom

SB 616 (Gonzalez, D-Los Angeles) – Sick Leave
This bill extends mandatory paid sick leave from three days to five days annually and would also increase the number of paid sick days an employee can roll over to the next year from three to seven days.
Status: Signed by Governor Newsom

SB 365 (Weiner, D-San Francisco) – Arbitration in Employment Contracts
This bill will allow workers to continue a case in court when there is a pending appeal of a trial court’s denial of a motion to compel arbitration.
Status: Signed by Governor Newsom

SB 799 (Portantino, D-Burbank) – Striking Workers
This bill would have provided unemployment insurance benefits for striking workers, increasing UI taxes for the next several years
Status: Vetoed by Governor Newsom

AB 363 (Bauer-Kahan, D-Orinda) - Neonicotinoids
This bill authorizes the Department of Pesticide Regulation to adopt control measures for the use of neonicotinoids, which may limit their use in agriculture.
Status: Signed by Governor Newsom

SB 224 (Hurtado, D-Hanford) – Foreign Investment in Ag Land
This bill attempted to prevent foreign nations from buying up California ag land. CAWG is opposed to SB 224 because as drafted, the bill could inadvertently dry up operating capital for small growers. 
Status: Failed Passage

AB 650 (Arambula, D-Fresno) – San Joaquin Valley Air Board
This bill would have decreased local government membership on the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District Board. AB 650 would have set a terrible precedent for other regional air boards around the state.
Status: Failed Passage

AB 560 (Bennett, D-Ventura) –  Groundwater Management: Adjudication
This bill is duplicative of existing law and would further delay lengthy adjudication proceedings by adding a State Water Board advisory review of the adjudication.
Status: Failed Passage and may up for consideration in 2024

AB 460 (Bauer-Kahan, D-Contra Costa) – Water Rights & Usage
This bill would have allowed the State Water Resources Control Board to issue interim orders that may serve to limit water rights.
Status: Will be up for consideration in 2024

AB 1205 (Bauer-Kahan, D-Contra Costa) – Water Rights Transfers in Ag Land
AB 1205 would have declared the marketing of groundwater or surface water tied to agricultural land by an investment fund shall not be a reasonable or beneficial use of water.
Status: Will be up for consideration in 2024

AB 1337 (Wicks, D-Oakland) – Water Diversion Curtailment)
This bill would have authorized the State Water Resources Control Board to implement regulations through orders curtailing water use under any claim of water right.
Status: Will be up for consideration in 2024

SB 399 (Wahab, D-Hayward) – Employer Communications
This bill would have limited the ability of an employer to engage in free speech (political) where an employee may see or hear those communications.  
Status: Failed Passage

SB 809 (Smallwood-Cuevas, D-Los Angeles) – Criminal Job Applicants
This bill would have made it more difficult for employers to screen job applicants who have a criminal history of workplace violence, theft from an employer, or other felonies.
Status: Failed Passage

SCA 7 (Umberg, D-Orange County) Labor Unions: workers’ rights
This Constitutional Amendment would create the Right to Organize and Negotiate Act, which would provide that all Californians have the right to join a union and the right to protect their economic well-being and safety at work. SCA 7 would also prohibit the legislature or local governments from passing any law that interferes with, negates, or diminishes the right of employees to join a union.
Status: Will be up for consideration in 2024

 

Legislation Where CAWG Removed our Opposition:

AB 779 (Wilson, D-Fairfield) – Groundwater Adjudication
This bill would have required parties in adjudication to needlessly provide materials, once a decision has been rendered by the court, to the Department of Water Resources. The author scaled back the bill substantially in response to opposition concerns.
Status: Awaiting Action from Governor Newsom

SB 389 (Allen, D-Los Angeles) – “Modernizing” Water Rights
This bill will materially alter the water rights system in California. SB 389 could result in the inability of water agencies to meet existing needs, plan for the future, and would create uncertainty about the full extent of water rights. The author scaled back the bill substantially in response to opposition concerns.
Status: Signed by Governor Newsom
2021-2022 Priority Bill List