Gov. Gavin Newsom鈥檚 signature is a win for labor groups, for whom the bill authored by Sen. was a top priority. But it in the original bill.
Still, unions and workers .
- Ingrid Vilorio, a Jack in the Box worker and advocate, in a statement: 鈥淣ow, workers will no longer have to worry about how to make the month鈥檚 rent or how to keep food on the table while recovering from illness or caring for a loved one.鈥�
But the California Chamber of Commerce, which had the bill on its 鈥渏ob killer鈥� list, .
- The Chamber, in a statement: 鈥淥ur concern is that far too many small employers simply cannot absorb this new cost, especially when viewed in context of all of California鈥檚 other leaves and paid benefits, and they will have to reduce jobs, cut wages, or raise consumer prices to deal with this mandate.鈥�
That victory also might not make up for some other labor-backed bills that Newsom has vetoed thus far, though. The big one: a measure to .
Also, Newsom signed a bill that to narrow circumstances 鈥� a measure put forward by Assemblymember , a former county elections official, in response to Shasta County supervisors getting rid of Dominion voting machines that became a central villain in voting fraud conspiracies. And he signed a bill by Senate President Pro Tem to .
They were among 16 bills he announced signing Wednesday, his first since Saturday. He still has more than 700 bills to sign or veto in the next nine days, out of 1,100 the Legislature passed this session.
But he also has a third option 鈥� do nothing.
In other words, he can allow bills to become law (or, if time runs out, that would happen by default 鈥� or by accident, ).
Newsom hasn鈥檛 done so in his nearly five years in office. His office told CalMatters that the governor 鈥渉as never felt the need to utilize that option.鈥�
But as longtime lobbyist Chris Micheli has noted, , for various reasons:
- In 2000, Gray Davis allowed five bills to become law without his signature, including bills that changed the amount of and one that regulated .
- Jerry Brown also allowed five bills to become law without his signature over his multiple terms, including one to try to overturn the landmark U.S. Supreme Court Citizens United ruling on campaign finance.
Still, to put that in context, Brown鈥檚 six compare to the nearly 6,400 bills he signed into law.
So what鈥檚 the benefit? 鈥淧otentially it could prevent alienating a particular interest group on either side of a measure,鈥� Micheli said, 鈥渁lthough, as we both know, governors both Republican or Democrat obviously often take controversial positions by their actions of signing or vetoing.鈥�
Case in point: Newsom didn鈥檛 shy away from vetoing a bill that would in custody disputes, or another to .
A reminder: California鈥檚 governor operates differently than the president 鈥� any bill the president doesn鈥檛 act on is considered vetoed (the 鈥減ocket veto鈥�).
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