Temp Agency Bill Defeated in Senate

The booming temporary-employment industry flexed its considerable muscle in a major lobbying effort to defeat a measure by state Sen. Patrick Johnston (D-Stockton) that would have required temporary-help agencies to disclose on their employees’ paychecks just how much the agency is being paid for its services. Agencies failing to disclose such information would have been subject to fines up to $1,000 per employee for each violation. Johnston’s Senate Bill 1743 was defeated 12 to 19 in the Senate. Industry representatives argued that such disclosure would be anticompetitive. The bill was backed by organized labor.

* An Assembly bill to create the California Seed Capital & Early Stage Corp. passed on a 41-31 Assembly vote after a provision for a $5-million loan from the state’s general fund was removed. The loan would have been used to set up a public-private agency to leverage venture capital for start-up companies. Now the amount available will depend on a future appropriation under the budget act. AB 1752 now moves to the Senate.

* A controversial measure that had initially sought to ban Jet Skis and other two-stroke-engine watercraft from lakes and reservoirs that supply drinking water has been placed in the Assembly’s inactive file by its author, Assemblywoman Debra Bowen (D-Marina del Rey). It will die if it’s not taken up this week for a vote. The state’s watercraft manufacturers oppose the bill.

* A measure that would step up enforcement efforts against waste dischargers who habitually pollute waters under the state’s jurisdiction passed 43 to 28 in the Assembly and now moves to the Senate. The Clean Water Enforcement and Pollution Prevention Act of 1998, sponsored by environmental groups, would require those who violate their discharge permits three times within six months to file and implement a pollution prevention plan.