Das Williams' Bill Rewards Honest Employers

Assemblymember Williams’ Bill Creates Workplace Equity, Rewards Honest Employers

A new law authored by Assemblyman Das Williams will target unethical contractors who intentionally underreport and/or fail to report the hiring of new employees in an attempt to avoid paying full workers’ compensation premiums 

Unfortunately, many employers have minimum policies and only add an injured worker after the injury occurs. Adding an employee retroactively causes workers’ compensation premiums to increase for all employers. This system is especially unfair to employers who legitimately report employees at the correct time.

“All contractors suffer when employers aren’t honest,” said Assemblymember Das Williams. “This law will balance out the scales so that all contractors over time are paying their fair share and honest contractors don’t have to pay two-to-three times as much.”

AB 1794, signed by Gov. Jerry Brown on Sunday, will authorize the Employment Development Department to provide employer or employee information to the Contractors State License Board and the State Compensation Insurance Fund for the purposes of auditing, investigating and prosecuting violations of tax and cash-pay reporting laws.

Contractors will not have to bear any additional costs or reporting responsibilities because the EDD will now be able to share the information.

By allowing the EDD to share new hire information, the new law will also help California capture a portion of the billions of dollars lost in underreported annual payroll taxes. - Santa Barbara Independent

Das Williams believes growing Green Jobs is good

and a recent study from the California Employment Development Department proves that going green IS good for California.

...the California Employment Development Department last week released its first-ever report (pdf) on environment-related employment. What it found, based on a survey of 15,500 companies, is that the green revolution is already a vibrant part of the state’s economy, creating jobs even during the recession. And judging from what’s happening with local environmental firms, the green economy appears to be growing.

...The Associated General Contractors of America, a construction industry association, released a report last week estimating that by 2015, there will be as many as 15 million nonresidential green construction projects nationwide, breathing life into an industry hard hit by the recession.“These projects aren’t just a great source for renewable energy; they are a promising opportunity to renew our industry,” said Ted Aadland, president of the Associated General Contractors of America. - SignOnSanDiego.com

"California already has more than 300,000 green jobs and the best is yet to come," said Victoria Bradshaw, Secretary of the Labor and Workforce Development Agency. "This survey shows that green jobs are distributed more broadly through our economy than previously thought. - YubaNet