2011 LEGISLATVE WORK
AB 267 (Swanson) Employment contracts – Support. Vetoed.
AB 506 (Wieckowski) Local government: bankruptcy: neutral evaluation. Support as amended. Chaptered.
AB 646 (Atkins) Local public employee organizations:impasse procedures. Support as amended. Chaptered.
AB 1208 (Charles Calderon) Trial courts: administration. Oppose. Died.
SB 684 (Corbett) Workers’ compensation insurance: dispute resolution: arbitration clauses. Support as amended. Chaptered.
SB 731 (Committee on Judiciary) Civil actions. Support. Chaptered.
Judicial Council Form ADR-100: Statement of Agreement or Non-Agreement. Support as amended. Adopted.
AB 267 (Swanson) Employment contracts – Support. Vetoed.
Would have made void and unenforceable as against public policy any provision in an employment contract that requires an employee, as a condition of obtaining or continuing employment, to use a forum other than California, or to agree to a choice of law other than California law, to resolve any dispute with an employer regarding employment-related issues.
AB 506 (Wieckowski) Local government: bankruptcy: neutral evaluation. Support as amended. Chaptered.
Prohibited a local public entity from filing under federal bankruptcy law unless the local public entity, among other options, has participated in a specified neutral evaluation process with interested parties.
AB 646 (Atkins) Local public employee organizations:impasse procedures. Support as amended. Chaptered.
Amended the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act. Authorized the employee organization, if the mediator was unable to effect settlement of the controversy within 30 days of his or her appointment, to request that the matter be submitted to a fact-finding panel.
AB 1208 (Charles Calderon) Trial courts: administration. Oppose. Died.
330Would have permitted courts to use funds allocated to them by the state for any purpose, including presumably Dispute Resolution Programs Act funds.
SB 684 (Corbett) Workers’ compensation insurance: dispute resolution: arbitration clauses. Support as amended. Chaptered.
Required an insurer that intends to use a dispute resolution or arbitration agreement to resolve disputes to disclose to the employer, contemporaneously with any written quote that offers to provide insurance coverage, that choice of law and choice of venue or forum may be a jurisdiction other than California and that these terms are negotiable between the insurer and the employer.
SB 731 (Committee on Judiciary) Civil actions. Support. Chaptered.
Section 3 of SB 731 pertained to court-connected non- binding arbitrations held pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure sections 1141.10, et seq. It amended sections 1141.20, subdivision (a), and 1141.23, so that a disappointed party to the arbitration would have 60 rather than 30 days to request a trial de novo.
Judicial Council Form ADR-100: Statement of Agreement or Non-Agreement. Support as amended. Adopted.
The Judicial Council revised the form as part of an effort to require all courts to use it and asked the ADR community to comment. CDRC supported the concept of a uniform reporting procedure, but suggested deletion of the portion of the revised form that required that, if a mediation did not take place, a mediator must report why it did not, including whether a person who was ordered to appear at the mediation did not appear.