Right up until the very last minute of February 19th, the Legislature’s bill introduction deadline, members were putting bills across the desk in a flurry of activity. Lawmakers have introduced a total of 2,497 bills this year, and we are watching almost 500 of them that could affect dealerships. Of those 500, in consultation with the CNCDA Legislative Committee members, we have identified our top 10 priority bills for immediate dealer engagement. Although the Legislature’s focus will remain primarily on measures related to combating the negative effects of the pandemic, we see renewed attention on issues like privacy, zero-emission vehicles, and consumer protection.

CNCDA Top Ten as of 3/15/21

1. SB 361 (Umberg, D-Orange County): Modernizes the vehicle retailing process.

   SB 361 is CNCDA’s sponsored bill. Authored by Senator Tom Umberg, an Orange County legislator that chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, the bill modernizes the vehicle retailing process. It removes the last hurdle for online transactions by allowing dealers to get customer signatures electronically.

2. AB 80 (Burke, D-Marina del Rey): Partial deductibility of expenses paid with PPP funds.

   AB 80 provides partial PPP tax conformity by exempting the first $150,000 of expenses that businesses paid with PPP funds. Despite other business groups deciding to support the $150,000 cap, we are one of the few groups continuing to fight to remove or raise the cap.

3. AB 1211 (Muratsuchi, D-Torrance): New DMV licensing category for electric bus subscriptions.

   In a revival of last year’s AB 326, AB 1211 would create a separate licensing scheme under the law so that a company called Canoo can offer their small electric buses to consumers in a subscription-like manner, with a proposed regulatory scheme that raises serious consumer protection and franchise law concerns.

4. SB 324 (Limón, D-Santa Barbara): Massive fines for noncompliant mail advertisements.

   SB 324 would provide government enforcement ability and fines of $1,000-$1,000,000 per violation for businesses that send out unsolicited commercial mail advertisements and fail to include a toll-free number that can be used to opt-out from those advertisements and that do not contact their mail delivery service to ensure that recipients who opt out no longer receive the company’s commercial mail advertisements.

5. SB 346 (Wieckowski, D-Fremont): Requires dealers to provide additional disclosures related to OEM-installed and OEM-operated in-vehicle cameras.

   This bill aims to require dealers to “prominently inform” vehicle purchasers about the operation of any in-vehicle cameras during the vehicle purchase process, with no additional information as to how that warning should be given. CNCDA’s perspective is that vehicle manufacturers should be responsible for informing customers about vehicle technology-specific features via the owner’s manual instead of requiring dealers to provide a notice that will differ for each consumer depending on which vehicle trim level they purchase.

6. AB 84 (Committee on Budget) and SB 95 (Skinner, D-Berkeley): Mandates up to 80 hours of COVID-19 paid sick leave retroactive to Jan. 1, 2021.

   AB 84/SB 95 would make an employer’s obligation to provide COVID-19 paid sick leave retroactive to Jan. 1, 2021, and mandates that any employee who requests a retroactive payment must be paid upon request by the employee if the employee was absent for a qualifying reason. CNCDA is part of a CalChamber-led coalition with over 100 other California businesses to oppose this measure.

7. AB 782 (Cooper, D-Elk Grove): Prohibits dealers from selling EVs unless OEMs certify that no child labor was involved in producing vehicle components.

   AB 782 would bar dealers from selling vehicles unless they can certify that any cobalt found in the vehicles (contained in EV batteries) was not mined or refined using child labor. The author is trying to combat the issue of child mining in the Congo, an honorable goal. However, dealers have no involvement in the manufacture of vehicles. They do not know where various vehicle components are sourced, so including dealers within this bill’s purview is unworkable.

8. AB 1382 (Patterson, R-Fresno): Modernizes the DMV by creating virtual field offices.

   Assembly Member Patterson has been pushing for years for a total overhaul of the DMV and its processes. AB 1382 is an effort to help modernize the DMV by creating virtual field offices that would allow for the electronic completion of certain transactions, including low-emission vehicle decal applications and title transfer transactions.

9. AB 1218 (McCarty, D-Sacramento; Berman, D-Menlo Park; Medina, D-Riverside): Attempts to codify the Governor’s Executive Order to bar the sale of new gas-powered vehicles by 2035.

   This bill is an effort to put into statute Governor Newsom’s Executive Order prohibiting the sale of new gas-powered vehicles in California by the year 2035. AB 1218 also requires vehicle manufacturers to decrease vehicle greenhouse gas emissions annually or face civil penalties.

10. AB 1287 (Bauer-Kahan, D-Livermore; C. Garcia, D-Bell Gardens): Prohibits businesses from pricing products differently based on a consumer’s gender.

    This bill is an effort, tried many times in the past, to prohibit businesses from charging more for “pink” products than “blue” products. This year, the authors have pledged that there will be no private right of action in the bill, removing many of CNCDA’s concerns with the proposal. However, we will be watching this issue closely.

CNCDA will be actively engaging on these and many other issues in what is already shaping up to be a very active legislative session.