Assemblyman Gallagher responds to CA Chamber of Commerce potential "job killer" bills

REDDING, Calif. — Several bills were introduced by the California State Legislature in March.

The California Chamber of Commerce included 13 of those bills dealing with labor and employment issues on their annual "job killer" list.

KRCR’s Tyler Van Dyke spoke to Assemblyman for the third assembly district, James Gallagher, about how they can potentially hurt businesses.

"There's a reason why they are called job killers and that's because they will cause us to lose jobs in California and we can't afford to lose jobs. We have one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation, right now," Gallagher told KRCR.

Among the bills listed as potential "job killers" is a proposal to increase the number of paid sick days an employer offers in a year from three days to seven. Another is a potentially costly minimum wage increase for healthcare workers or employers that work with healthcare facilities.

According to Gallagher, we need to stop these potential bills from passing, "These bills, all of which will drastically increase costs on both big and small businesses in California, we can stop those bills and make sure that they do not pass because we don't need any more costs," Gallagher said. He also claims another big issue affecting small businesses are the taxes they pay on unemployment insurance.

"Many other states have actually picked up this tax and here, in California, its even worse because of the mismanagement of the unemployment system," Gallagher said. “Right now, under Governor Newsom's proposal, businesses are going to pick up that cost instead of the state who's been responsible for that mismanagement."