SACRAMENTO – Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today signed a series of eight bills to bolster business and job creation in the state of California.
“As California’s economy recovers from the deepest recession since the Great Depression, it’s important that state government bolsters local job growth,” said Governor Brown. “Simply put, these bills make it easier for people to do business in California.”
The Governor signed the following bills:
• AB 1616 by Assemblymember Mike Gatto (D-Burbank) – Food safety: cottage food operations. Establishes the California Homemade Food Act to help small and fledgling businesses produce and sell food made out of their homes under a more streamlined regulatory structure.
• AB 2274 by Assemblymember Ricardo Lara (D-South Gate) – Vexatious litigants. Allows courts to dismiss meritless lawsuits that were filed only for the purpose of harassment or delay. This bill also closes a loophole in which vexatious litigants could avoid closer judicial scrutiny of their meritless lawsuits.
• AB 2641 by Assemblymember Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) – Nonprofit corporations: Internet Web site. Creates a single website at GO-Biz with the necessary information and forms that nonprofit organizations can use to set up new organizations and comply with California’s statutory and regulatory requirements. This simplifies the incorporation, filing and renewal processes for California nonprofits.
• AB 16 by Assemblymember Henry Perea (D-Fresno) – High-Speed Rail Authority. Sets a policy for the High-Speed Rail Authority to encourage purchasing high-speed train rolling stock and equipment manufactured in California consistent with federal and state law and continued investment in California businesses.
• AB 53 by Assemblymember Jose Solorio (D-Santa Ana) – Insurers: procurement contracts: minority, women, and disabled veteran business enterprises. Requires major California Insurance industry insurers to encourage greater economic opportunities for women, minority, and disabled-veteran business enterprises by reporting data to the Insurance Commissioner.
• SB 323 by Senator Juan Vargas (D-San Diego) – California Revised Uniform Limited Liability Company Act. Makes California law governing Limited Liability Companies more consistent with the law of other states and the Revised Uniform Limited Liability Company Act, while continuing to protect shareholder rights.
• SB 1394 by Senator Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach) – Dwelling safety: carbon monoxide and smoke detectors. Implements recommendations of the State Fire Marshal to enhance effective use of smoke alarms in residences. This bill also delays the date by which an owner must install a carbon monoxide device in an existing hotel from January 1, 2013 to January 1, 2016.
• SB 1510 by Senator Roderick Wright (D-Los Angeles) – Contracts. Tightens the bidder requirements for demonstrating that a small business, microbusiness or disabled veteran owned business will serve a commercially useful function in carrying out a state contract so that a bidder may claim a bid preference on competitive state contract awards.
The Governor also announced that he has vetoed the following bill:
• SB 977 by Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) -Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law: nail polish. A veto message can be found here.
For full text of the bills, visit: http://leginfo.ca.gov/bilinfo.html.