{"id":2019952,"date":"2023-09-01T22:56:02","date_gmt":"2023-09-02T02:56:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/california-bill-would-guarantee-more-labor-lockouts-paid-by-taxpayers\/"},"modified":"2023-09-01T22:59:56","modified_gmt":"2023-09-02T02:59:56","slug":"california-bill-would-guarantee-more-labor-lockouts-paid-by-taxpayers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/california-bill-would-guarantee-more-labor-lockouts-paid-by-taxpayers\/","title":{"rendered":"California bill aims to ensure taxpayers cover labor lockout costs."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fcalifornia-bill-would-guarantee-more-labor-lockouts-paid-by-taxpayers%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2019952&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><blockquote>\n<h2>Commentary<\/h2>\n<p>When I was state Sen. John Moorlach\u2019s press secretary back in 2018, the\u2064 California \u200dLatino Legislative Caucus <a href=\"https:\/\/latinocaucus.legislature.ca.gov\/cheech-marin-honored-latino-spirit-awards-assembly-access\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">honored<\/a> Cheech Marin with a\u2064 Latino Spirit Award for being \u2063a \u2063\u201cpositive role model.\u201d He \u200calso came over to the Senate floor\u200d and was lionized by senators\u200d of both parties\u2062 and every \u200dethnic background, who took selfies with the star of \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=zpvv81988v0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Up in Smoke<\/a>\u201d and\u200c other\u200c dope-themed movies and comedy \u200dalbums.<\/p>\n<p>Of course he\u2019s the first half of \u200cCheech and Chong,\u200d the\u200d pot-puffing comedy team. That substance earned even <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/california-bill-would-guarantee-more-labor-lockouts-paid-by-taxpayers\/\" title=\"California bill aims to ensure taxpayers cover labor lockout costs.\">casual users long prison sentences<\/a> until 2016, when voters legalized the whacky weed with <a href=\"https:\/\/ballotpedia.org\/California_Proposition_64,_Marijuana_Legalization_(2016)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Proposition 64<\/a>. It\u2019s still illegal according \u200cto federal \u2064law.<\/p>\n<p>I bring this up because\u200c it shows how\u200d even legislators with immense power are dazed by \u2064Hollywood star power. So it\u2019s not surprising, although no votes have been taken yet, they\u2019re likely to \u200cpass <a href=\"https:\/\/leginfo.legislature.ca.gov\/faces\/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB799\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Senate\u200d Bill (SB) 799<\/a>, by \u200cSen.\u2062 Anthony Portantino (D-Burbank), which would grant unemployment benefits to Hollywood scriptwriters\u200c and actors locked\u2064 out\u2063 during a labor dispute. Even \u2062though they\u2019re not really unemployed, but \u2062refusing to work.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"shortcode\">\n<div class=\"border-comp-divider mb-4 mr-4 w-full max-w-[500px] border px-5 py-4 text-[16px] leading-[20px] text-[#262626] md:float-left\">\n<div class=\"mb-3 font-sans text-[16px] font-semibold uppercase leading-[19px] text-[#2F2F2F]\">Related Stories<\/div>\n<div class=\"mb-4 flex gap-2\">\n<div class=\"grow\">\n<div class=\"mb-1 line-clamp-2\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/california-lawmaker-to-reintroduce-bill-to-pay-striking-workers-unemployment-benefits-5473518\">California \u2064Lawmaker to Reintroduce Bill to Pay Striking Workers Unemployment Benefits<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"text-comp-caption text-[14px] leading-[18px]\">8\/17\/2023<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"shrink-0 basis-[120px]\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/california-lawmaker-to-reintroduce-bill-to-pay-striking-workers-unemployment-benefits-5473518\"><\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"mb-4 flex gap-2\">\n<div class=\"grow\">\n<div class=\"mb-1 line-clamp-2\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/hollywood-strike-intensifies-after-another-failed-negotiation-between-producers-and-writers-5479391\">Hollywood Strike \u2063Intensifies After Another Failed Negotiation Between Producers and Writers<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"text-comp-caption text-[14px] leading-[18px]\">8\/23\/2023<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"shrink-0 basis-[120px]\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/hollywood-strike-intensifies-after-another-failed-negotiation-between-producers-and-writers-5479391\"><\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Portantino represents \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/entertainment\/envelope\/la-xpm-2013-mar-22-la-et-ct-beautiful-downtown-burbank-20130322-story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">beautiful downtown Burbank<\/a>,\u201d as late night pioneer Johnny Carson \u200cused to joke about the NBC\u2019s\u200d <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Burbank_Studios\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Burbank Studios<\/a>, where his show was taped. The bill\u2019s other two introducers are Sen.\u200c Maria Elena\u2063 Durazo (D-Los Angeles), and Assemblymember Chris Holden (D-Pasadena). SB 799 definitely is intended\u2062 to help their local industry.<\/p>\n<p>SB 799 reads, \u201cThis bill would restore \u200celigibility after the first\u2064 2 weeks for an employee who left work because of a trade\u200d dispute. The bill would codify specified\u200b case law that holds that employees who left\u200b work due to a lockout by the\u2064 employer, even if it was in anticipation of a trade dispute, are\u2062 eligible for benefits.\u201d Currently,\u200b benefits are $450\u2062 a week \u200dfor 26 weeks maximum.<\/p>\n<p>That \u2062is,\u2063 it would apply not just to Tinseltown employees,\u2064 but strikers\u200c in any industry. What a benefit this\u2063 will be to organized labor, already the state\u2019s most <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-political-activism-and-influence-of-bill-gates\/\" title=\"The Political Activism And Influence of Bill Gates\">powerful political force<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure style=\"width:600px\" class=\"alignnone\"><figcaption>Hollywood writers and actors hold\u2062 a union rally outside Disney Studios in Burbank, Calif., \u200bon \u2063Aug. 22, 2023. \u200cThe \u201cNational\u2062 Day of Solidarity\u201d rally drew an estimated 2,000 people supporting the ongoing strikes against \u2063major studios. (Jill McLaughlin\/The Epoch Times)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Lockouts and Strikes<\/h2>\n<p>A \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2023-08-23\/labor-unions-business-unemployment-benefits-striking-workers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">lockout<\/a>\u201d is where, when there\u2019s no labor contract, the employer\u2014in this\u200b case, Hollywood studios\u2014refuses to let the workers go on the job. It\u2019s \u200ddifferent from a strike, where the workers themselves choose not to work. But commonly, as in\u200b the Hollywood case,\u200c lockouts also are called strikes.<\/p>\n<p>The whole point of \u200clockouts and strikes is to damage \u200dboth\u2064 sides until they relent\u200b and come to an agreement. I grew up near Detroit, where every couple of years the\u2062 United Auto Workers union would <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1972\/09\/28\/archives\/longest-strike-at-gm-is-ended-at-plant-in-ohio-after-174-days.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">strike<\/a> one of the\u200d Big Three automakers, GM, \u2062Ford, or Chrysler, until an agreement was made. The agreement \u2064then would be adapted by the\u2063 other two companies. It always \u2063was said a good agreement was one\u200b both sides didn\u2019t like.<\/p>\n<p>If \u2064SB \u2062799 becomes \u2062law, one side\u2014labor\u2014greatly will be favored, and\u200d strikes \u200cwill proliferate.\u2063 Few of us \u2062are bothered much by\u200b the Hollywood lockouts, \u2062especially after all the P.C. schlock they\u2019ve been churning out \u2062in recent years.<\/p>\n<p>But strikes or\u2062 lockouts in other industries, such as hotels and\u2063 factories, \u2062could hit the private \u200dsector hard. And strikes or lockouts by public-sector \u2062union workers would \u2062reduce the services we all pay for through\u200b already-high taxes. Union power also would grow.<\/p>\n<p>Then there\u2019s the\u2064 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/swing-district-dems-break-from-biden-on-increased-unemployment\/\" title=\"Swing-District Dems Break From Biden on Increased Unemployment\">unemployment insurance system<\/a> itself. All workers pay into it. With more\u200d \u201cworkers\u201d (who aren\u2019t working) drawing that $450 a week \u2064during a lockdown, the \u2064unemployment tax will have to rise, or \u2063benefits be cut, for everyone else.<\/p>\n<p>Then\u2062 there\u2019s a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.auditor.ca.gov\/reports\/2023-601\/index.html#section2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">new report<\/a> from\u200d Aug. 24 by State Auditor Grant Parks,\u2064 which found\u2014during the spike in claims\u200d during COVID-19\u2014the Employment Development \u2063Department \u200b(EDD) \u2062\u201cdid not\u200d block addresses used to file unusually high \u2063numbers\u200d of claims, and it removed a \u200csafeguard preventing payment\u200c to individuals who had unconfirmed identities. These \u2063inadequate \u2063internal controls did not prevent potential fraud during fiscal years 2019\u201320 and 2020\u201321 and allowed the payments of potentially fraudulent \u2062claims, estimated \u2063at tens of billions of dollars, most of which have yet to\u200c be recovered.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Already a troubled agency, the EDD would be tasked with another onrush \u200bof claims \u2064by workers who refuse to\u2063 work.<\/p>\n<h2>Hollywood Tax Subsidies<\/h2>\n<p>The Legislature also is\u200d working to pass <a href=\"https:\/\/leginfo.legislature.ca.gov\/faces\/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB132\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Assembly Bill 132<\/a>,\u2062 by the \u2063Committee\u2064 on the Budget, headed by Assemblyman\u200c Phil Ting (D-San Francisco). It \u200cwould extend, from \u200dfiscal 2025-26 through 2030-21, annual film tax subsidies of $330\u200d million a year.<\/p>\n<p>The City \u2064on\u200b the Bay also is a major\u200b film center. In May, Film SF, part of \u2063the city government, <a href=\"https:\/\/sf.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/2023-05\/Film%20SF%20Annual%20Report%20FY21-22_1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a>, \u201cEvery year, productions spend\u2062 millions of dollars locally on hotel nights, car rentals, catering, hardware, \u2062lumber, office supplies, wardrobe, props and \u200cequipment rentals.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The tax \u2063subsidies of nearly $1 billion over three years are paid \u2064for by the \u2063taxes of other California residents and businesses.<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure style=\"width:600px\" class=\"alignnone\"><figcaption>Thousands of unionized Los Angeles \u2063city\u2063 workers walked off their jobs for \u200ca one-day strike in Los Angeles on Aug. 8, 2023. (Jill McLaughlin\/The Epoch Times)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Follow\u2062 the Money<\/h2>\n<p>To cite just one politician, according\u2062 to Follow the Money, Mr.\u2064 Portantino&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.followthemoney.org\/entity-details?eid=22560&#038;default=candidate\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">campaign receipts<\/a> include $24,700 from \u2062Warner Bros., $19,978 from Walt Disney,\u2062 $15,600 from Paramount \u200cPictures Group, and $13,000 from Sony Pictures Entertainment.<\/p>\n<p>That explains \u2063how he would back tax\u2062 subsidies. But wouldn\u2019t movie\u2064 studio support of him prevent his backing the labor unions \u200cin their lockout battle? Except look \u200cat these union contributions: $69,300 from the California Faculty Association, $67,300 from SEIU \u200cCalifornia State Council, $50,000 \u2062from the\u200c California State Council of Laborers, $45,865 from \u200dthe \u2064California Professional Firefighters Association,\u2064 $45,650 from the Professional Engineers in California, $43,800 from the California Stat<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When I worked as press secretary for state Sen. John Moorlach in 2018, Cheech Marin received a Latino Spirit Award from the California Latino Legislative Caucus. Senators from all parties and ethnic backgrounds celebrated him on the Senate floor, taking selfies with him as a positive role model.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1801,"featured_media":2019953,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2019952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2019952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1801"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2019952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2019952\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2019953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2019952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2019952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2019952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}