Proposed bill puts chief justice closer to new crisis powers

California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye is a step closer to gaining new emergency powers after a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Thursday. The body also passed measures on wrongful death and workplace lawsuits during a 4-hour session.

Lawmakers are scrambling after the coronavirus shutdown of the Capitol in March and an extended summer recess. The Senate Judiciary Committee had not met since May, according to its website. Most witnesses and one senator appeared remotely.

The virus has also caused chaos in state courts. Cantil-Sakauye has issued more than 100 orders to move around deadlines to keep courts operating. This is because current law requires the her to issue only orders affecting a single county at the request of that county's presiding justice. This is the situation AB 3366 seeks to address.

"One of the things the pandemic has shown is that a lot of the systems we have in place for a statewide emergency are sometimes inadequate," said Assemblyman Mark Stone, D-Scotts Valley. "In fact, when the Judicial Council needed authority to be able to adjust what it needed to adjust, it took an executive order."

The official author of the bill is the Assembly Judiciary Committee, which Stone chairs. It also brought together the Consumer Attorneys of California and the California Defense Counsel.

"The COVID crisis really laid bare the inadequacy of the current authority for the chief justice to deal with a statewide emergency," said Nancy Drabble, CEO of the consumer attorneys group. "Across the state we really have seen extreme inequities in how people who really need to go to court can get justice."

"We're in a time where people operate in multiple counties, so there ought to be reasonable assurance that justice will be uniform," said Mike Belote, lobbyist for the Defense Counsel.

The bill is limited to statewide emergencies and won't limit the power of the county presiding justices in normal circumstances, he said. AB 3366 passed 7-0 and now moves to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

A more strident debate took place earlier over AB 1947, which passed 7-2. That bill would extend the time to file wrongful termination and discrimination complaints with the state Labor Commissioner from 6 months to one year. Supporters say the virus exposed the need for the change.

"Our lawyers, like many of your I'm sure, are hearing from workers across the state who feel unsafe at work because their employers are not taking proper precautions to protect them from COVID-19," testified Mariko J. Yoshihara, legislative counsel and policy director at California Employment Lawyers Association. "The rights and protections we put in place for workers really mean nothing if they can be fired or retaliated against for trying to assert those rights."

The bill is opposed by a broad coalition of business groups. Fisher & Phillips LLP partner Benjamin M. Ebbink testified on behalf of the California Chamber of Commerce.

"We've opposed two previous versions of this bill in recent years," Ebbink said. "We have objection to increasing the statute of limitations for such claims, but we continue to be opposed to the provision of the bill that creates a one-sided attorney fee provision if these claims are filed in court...We do think that incentive will cause more claims to be filed."

The committee also passed AB 2445 by an 8-0 vote. The bill would allow legal guardians to file a wrongful death claim if that child if the child's parents are deceased. The only formal opposition was from the CSAC Excess Insurance Authority.

Neil K. Gehlawat, personal injury and wrongful death attorney with Taylor & Ring in Manhattan Beach testified on behalf of the CAOC.

"The law should recognize the changing nature of families," Gehlawat said. "This bill would still requires the legal guardians to be formally appointed as such by the court prior to the minor's death."

The hearing notably did not take on a trio of coronavirus liability bills from the Assembly, AB 1035, AB 1384 and AB 1759. None of those bills were listed on the Committee's website among the measures it is likely to take up during its next -- and possibly last -- meeting of the year on Aug. 12.

This may reflect a spat that came up between the houses. Earlier this week Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Los Angeles, announced he was canceling several hearings of Senate bills due to that house being slow to act on Assembly measures.

A meeting of the Assembly Judiciary Committee set for yesterday was canceled, though it wasn't immediately clear if that was among the hearings Rendon halted. That committee is scheduled to meet Aug. 12.