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This is where we post information about current legislative and regulatory proposals and provide tools for advocates. Check back regularly for updates.
AB 553 - Streamlining and Making Less Costly the Process for Setting Permissibile Exposure Limits (PELs) for Substances to which Workers are Exposed. Click here for more information and to Take Action Now!
SB 829 - The OSHA Appeals Process: Strengthening Worker Voice and Assuring that the Appeals Board Process is Fair. Click here for more information and to Take Action Now!
Employer's Duty to Pay for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) - An advisory committee is being formed to discuss whether there will be exceptions to the longstanding requirement established by California legal cases that employers must provide and pay for personal protective equipment - without exception. Click here for more information. Labor Code §6401 requires employers to "furnish and use safety devices and safeguards....". Because the term "safety device" includes "any practicable method of mitigating or preventing" danger, this covers protective footwear, gloves, etc. See Oakland Police Officers Assoc. v. City of Oakland (1973) 30 Cal.App. 3rd 96, 99. [The Oakland case involving paying for the police offiicers' service revolvers.] Labor Code §6403 also requires employers to "provide and use safety devices and safeguards reasonably adequate to render the employment and place of employment safe." The California Supreme Court ruled that the word "provide" and "furnish" means the employer both supplies and pays for the personal protective gear. See Bendix Forest Products Corp. v. Division of Occupational Safety & Health (1979) 25 Cal. 3rd 465, 471-473. [Bendix involved gloves and even though they could be used at home, they were for a specialized safety need.] Click here for more information and to Take Action Now!
STOP Publicly Subsidized Asbestos Mining! - The government of Quebec is considering a public subsidy to support re-opening the Jeffrey asbestos mine in Asbestos, Quebec. The mine would then be open for another 25 years. This subsidy would result in the export of millions of tons of asbestos to the developing world where it would cause enormous harm to health for generations. We don't have much time to oppose this toxic policy. Now is the time to act to stop Canadian asbestos production. Click here for more information and to Take Action Now!