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Government Affairs

Generic legislation packages often offer constituents little opportunity for hands-on involvement. AASI, however, provides a focused grassroots context within which relevant legislative activism takes place. Rather than contracting with an outside firm, AASI has two in-house lobbyists housed at their headquarters office in Sacramento. Our AASI Lobbyists will track, evaluate and report on industry pertinent legislation at the state and local levels. Clients of AASI can contact the Legislative Advocates directly at the toll free number, typically obtaining timely responses to inquiries. The AASI Legislative Advocates have a background in the automotive aftermarket and are well equipped to deal with industry issues and concerns. We take an active roll, including writing letters, testifying in committee meetings, meeting with Bill authors and pertinent Senators and Assembly members, on Bills we feel could affect the way you do business, be it for the better or adverse, therefore we make them a part of our business. All funding for the project is derived from program involvement. If you purchase products from Automotive Aftermarket Services, Inc., you are already supporting the AASI legislative effort!

If you have any questions about our legislative effort, please contact us, click here.

2006 Legislative Session

Below is an overview of some of the more pressing Bills from this legislative session.

The AASI legislative team tracked many bills but the few listed here may or will have an impact on your business in the future. The AASI Legislative Team actively evaluates bills and attends hearings on the industry's behalf. If there is a Bill we feel is worthy of our and your attention, we will place it on this web page.

During the 2006 legislative session, Governor Schwarzenegger signed 110 bills and vetoed 73 bills.

Business Legislation

AB 1835 (Lieber; D-Mountain View) Government-Mandated Minimum Wage Increase — 9/12/2006 Chaptered by the Secretary of State, Chapter Number 230, Statutes of 2006. Increases the cost of doing business by raising the state minimum wage to $7.50 in 2007 and to $8 in 2008, giving California the highest minimum wage rate in the nation

AB 2095 (Niello; R-Fair Oaks) Employment practices relating to sexual harassment. 9/12/2006 Chaptered by the Secretary of State, Chapter Number 230, Statutes of 2006. Makes common-sense, clarifying changes to recently enacted supervisor anti-sexual harassment training requirements that will simplify compliance with the new law.

AB 2330 (Arambula; D - Fresno) Small businesses: Office of Small Business Advocate. 9/12/2006 Chaptered by the Secretary of State, Chapter Number 232, Statutes of 2006 This bill would require the Office of Small Business Advocate to commission a study of the costs of state regulations on small businesses that is parallel to the study on the impact of regulatory costs on small firms conducted by the federal Small Business Administration, and that would examine successful models from other states on identifying regulatory costs and developing potential alternative approaches. The office would also be required to make recommendations in this regard as well as to convene a small business advisory committee to provide advice on the study. The office would be required to submit the completed study, including the recommendations, to specified state entities no later than October 1, 2007.

Health Bills

SB 840 (Kuehl) Single-payer health care coverage Government-Run Health Care — Vetoed. This bill would establish the California Health Insurance System to be administered by the newly created California Health Insurance Agency under the control of an elected Health Insurance Commissioner. The bill would make all California residents eligible for specified health care benefits under the California Health Insurance System, which would, on a single-payer basis, negotiate for or set fees for health care services provided through the system and pay claims for those services. The bill would require the health care system to be operational within 2 years of enactment, and would enact various transition provisions. The bill would require the commissioner to seek all necessary waivers, exemptions, agreements, or legislation to allow various existing federal, state, and local health care payments to be paid to the California Health Insurance System, which would then assume responsibility for all benefits and services previously paid for with those funds. This bill contains other related provisions and other existing laws.

SB 1414 (Migden) California Fair Share Health Care Act - Vetoed. This bill would have required an employer with 10,000 or more employees in the state, who does not elect to contribute, in support of the Medi-Cal program, the difference between the amount the employer spent on health insurance costs and an amount equal to a specified percentage of the total wages paid to employees in the state in the immediately preceding calendar year, to spend an amount equal to that specified percentage on employee health insurance costs, as defined. You may think that our industry will not be affected because it is directed at employers with 10,000 + employees but if it had passed, it would have made it much easier to change the numbers at a later date. The ultimate goal of those supporting this Bill was to have it effective to business of ALL sizes.

Workers’ Compensation Bills

Several Bills passed refining the WC legislation signed by Gove Schwarzenegger (SB 899). One bill in particular that AASI opposed that would have had a negative impact on SB 899 would have been SB 815.

SB 815 (Perata; D-Oakland) Workers' Compensation: Permanent Disability Schedule — Vetoed. Rolls back recent workers’ compensation reforms by arbitrarily doubling the permanent disability payments over three years without sound data with which to base the increase.

* These are overviews of the bills and do not represent the full text of the legislation. Please see the full text of the legislation at the State Assembly or Senate website If you want to voice your support or opposition to a Bill and would like a starting point, click here, and ask our Legislative Team to assist you by forwarding a sample letter or pointing you to the proper channels.

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