PAGA Reform Bills Pass California Legislature; Ballot Initiative Removed

Published on June 29, 2024

Just hours before a worker-protection initiative could be placed on the November ballot, California lawmakers on June 27 passed a package of bills to accomplish exactly what the initiative’s supporters wanted, thus officially ending their campaign. The ballot initiative sought to reform the Private Attorney General Act (PAGA) of 2004, which allows workers to bring lawsuits against employers for labor violations on behalf of the state. Businesses blame the law for an increase in nuisance lawsuits and have long sought to reform it, but lawmakers wanted the revisions to take place in the Legislature rather than with a ballot initiative, because any subsequent changes would need voter-approval again, meaning it could only take place with another election....

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