It's that time of year again! CFCA membership dues are out now! By now, you should have received a mailing from CFCA containing your dues invoice, as well as a change of information form.
 
While you may certainly pay via mail or over the phone, we encourage all members to pay through the CFCA Membership Portal. It makes payment a breeze, and allows us to collect the most accurate information for your company in our membership database. 
 
If you do not receive a dues invoice, or have any issues accessing your account, CFCA staff is always happy to help you in any way we can. Please feel free to call us at (916) 646-5999 with any questions on how you can access your portal or if you do not know your log-in credentials.

In case you missed it, Cal/OSHA recently passed an emergency rulemaking, setting new standards for employee safety in response to COVID-19. These standards officially went into effect November 30th.

 

These standards carry heavy requirements for employers and a number of these necessitate legal and HR assistance.

 

Fortunately, our partners at Fisher Phillips have offered specialty catered services, priced exclusively for CFCA members.

 

First, Fisher Phillips has compiled this guidance checklist that you can help use to ensure you are in compliance. You can find that checklist here.

 

Additional resources include:

 

·     Written COVID-19 Prevention Plan (WCPP) ($750 - $500 for CFCA members)

·     Notice “Packet” ($1,500 $1,250 for CFCA members) which includes:

·     COVID-19 Training and Instruction Presentation ($250 - $100 for CFCA Members)

·     Notice to Qualifying Individual

·     CA Employee Authorization to Disclose COVID-19 Diagnosis

·     Notice of Potential COVID-19 Exposure or Close Contact

·     Notice to All Employees at Worksite During Infectious Period

·     Notice to Employer of Subcontracted Employees at Worksite During Infectious Period

·     Notice to Third Parties at Worksite During Infectious Period

·     Notice to All Employees re Disinfection and Safety Plan

·     Notice Regarding Testing

·     Notice to Local Health Department re Outbreak

·     Notice to Union Exclusive Representative

·     Employee Return to Work Attestation Form

·     COVID-19 Training and Instruction Presentation ($250 - $100 for CFCA Members)

 

Additionally, you can find more employer resources for handling COVID-19 in your business, by visiting CFCA's COVID-19 resource page, by clicking the link below.

"Cummins & White, LLP, is one of Southern California’s premier business transaction, business litigation, and insurance law firms, successfully serving clients for more than 65 years. We are committed to resolving our clients’ issues and helping them to achieve their goals in a responsive, courteous, and efficient manner. We do this by offering sophisticated and personalized legal services, no matter how complex the issue may be.

 

In addition to our expertise in insurance coverage and defense, our transactional practices include business, acquisitions, estate planning, real estate, tax planning, labor and employment, and healthcare.

We also have tremendous expertise in all areas of civil and commercial litigation, including but not limited to disputes in the fields of construction, employment, intellectual property, tax, and third-party liability."

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is embarking on a major effort to adopt new regulations that will impact all companies that operate heavy-duty vehicles in California. CARB’s already adopted and proposed regulations will:

 

·     Implement an aggressive Inspection and Maintenance (I/M) program that will apply to all heavy-duty vehicles that operate in California regardless of where they are based;

·     Require many companies to report to CARB details regarding the vehicles in their fleets as well as fleet operations;

·     Impose more emission standards that are more stringent that those set by U.S. EPA on new heavy-duty vehicles which could lead to higher prices and product unavailability in California;

·     Mandate that vehicle manufacturers sell specific numbers of zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles in California and force California fleet operators to purchase and operate zero-emission vehicles; and

·     Prohibit the sale and possibly the operation of non-zero emission vehicles in California. 

 

This webinar will summarize CARB’s announced regulatory plans and focus on the potential impacts to California based companies that operate heavy-duty vehicles as well as out-of-state companies that operate heavy-duty vehicles in California.

After several revisions and two months of debate, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a tobacco retail license ordinance intended to reduce usage by minors and hold retailers more accountable.

 

The vote was 4-1 in favor of the ordinance, with outgoing Supervisor Kristin Gaspar opposed.

 

California Gov. Gavin Newsom will announce Wednesday that he is appointing longtime state regulator Liane Randolph as the next chair of the Air Resources Board, an agency that has regularly shaped the U.S. manufacturing landscape through strict environmental requirements.

 

Randolph, 55, will replace outgoing California Air Resources Board chair Mary Nichols, who is being considered by President-elect Joe Biden as a possible U.S. EPA administrator.

 

Newsom put his stamp on the agency for the first time with four appointments in addition to Randolph, based on details provided to POLITICO by his administration. The moves come weeks after the governor charged CARB with phasing out new internal-combustion passenger vehicles by 2035.

 

The Air Resources Board is an outsized force within California government and has for years remained a check on national policies, driven by a state that is aggressive on combating climate change. The board has set the mark for vehicle efficiency, forcing car manufacturers to adopt its strict emissions limits through the sheer force of the California marketplace and, before President Donald Trump, cooperation with past administrations.

 

Randolph is an attorney who has served since 2015 on the Public Utilities Commission, the state's top regulatory agency on utility matters that in recent years has dealt with Pacific Gas & Electric, the beleaguered company that went bankrupt after its wires sparked the state's deadliest fire in late 2018.

On the first day of California's new legislative session lines were already being drawn in the next battle over hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," the lightly used but politically fraught oilfield technique more common in Kern than anywhere else in the state.

Lawmakers unsatisfied with the results of California's attempt at regulating fracking in 2013 have declared they will answer Gov. Gavin Newsom's call in September for a bill banning the practice statewide by 2024.

By Tuesday afternoon no such legislation had been introduced in Sacramento. But on Monday the Speaker of the Assembly cautiously weighed in on the subject, and state Sen. Melissa Hurtado, D-Sanger, introduced an "intent bill" to ensure any talk of banning fracking take into account the potential economic toll on the southern Central Valley.

“The oil debate in California often leaves out an important detail — oil workers make real money to provide for real families and that generates real economic activity that won’t be replaced by a slogan or a banner,” Hurtado said in a news release accompanying her introduction of Senate Bill 25.

No state has weathered the brunt of the Trump administration’s climate skepticism like California. During the past four years, the president stripped the Golden State of its ability to regulate car emissions, threatened to withhold emergency wildfire funds due to supposed forest mismanagement, and rolled back environmental protections the state—home to the nation’s worst air quality—desperately needs.

 

Yet after years in the trenches fighting the executive through both tweets and lawsuits, California is on the precipice of a major power shift. The Biden team wants Californian expertise.

 

“The truth is, they want to know everything. I’m getting dizzy,” said Jared Blumenfeld, California’s secretary for environmental protection, about the frequent meetings and webinars his agency has been having with the Biden transition team. “They’re genuinely interested because we’ve been going it alone in some regards.… We kept the torch alive during some pretty dark years for the environment.”