About Civil Justice Allies
The Civil Justice Association of California (CJAC) advocates for
a level-playing field in civil justice system, so the process is
fair for all Californians and there is less abusive litigation in
our courts.
The Civil Justice Allies list recognizes those California
legislators who promoted a fair, balanced civil justice system
with their policy decisions in the prior legislative year.
Generally, Civil Justice Allies are those legislators who ranked
in the top half of the Legislature for civil-justice friendly
votes or actively advanced civil justice policies.
Download the full Civil Justice Allies list (alpha order)
here: pdf
2023 Civil Justice Allies
Methodology
- CJAC counted all votes taken in policy committees,
appropriations committees, and final votes on the floor for key
bills for which we had a support or oppose position at the time
of the vote. We divided the number of favorable votes on key
CJAC bills by the number of opportunities to vote. “Favorable” is
defined as a) supporting a bill CJAC supports; or b) voting
against/abstaining from voting on a bill CJAC opposes.
- CJAC used the vote record at www.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov
and counted NVR or “no vote recorded” as an abstention, although
in some cases it may reflect absences.
- In addition to votes, CJAC assigned extra weight to proactive
favorable and unfavorable efforts by legislators (e.g., authored
bill, floor speech) on priority bills or bills containing private
rights of action (PRA).
Policy Basis for Position on Key Bills
CJAC supports legislation that promotes balance in our civil
justice system:
- CJAC opposes changes to our civil liability system that are
unfair or create unwarranted liability expansions, promote
frivolous litigation, or otherwise create imbalance or abuse the
system.
- CJAC generally opposes creation of new private rights of
action, which allow private lawsuits under civil laws normally
enforced by government, as they incentivize profit-seeking suits
that primarily benefit plaintiffs’ lawyers.
Key 2023 Bills Used for the Civil Justice Allies List
ARBITRATION
SB 365 (Wiener) OPPOSE. Prohibits a trial court from staying
proceedings during a pending appeal of an order
dismissing/denying a petition to compel arbitration.
CIVIL ENFORCEMENT AND PROCEDURE
SB 581 (Caballero) SUPPORT. Creates more transparency around
third parties who fund lawsuits.
CIVIL LIABILITY
AB 1228 (Holden) OPPOSE. Imposes joint employer
liability for fast food restaurant franchisors and franchisees.
(PRA) (Later changed to no position.)
AB 1394 (Wicks) OPPOSE. Creates PRA for social media
platforms for alleged negligent acts. (PRA)
SB 278 (Dodd) OPPOSE. Expands liability for financial
institutions for alleged financial elder abuse. (PRA)
SB 287 (Skinner) OPPOSE. Imposes civil penalties for
allegedly addicting children to social media platforms.
SB 556 (Gonzalez) OPPOSE. Creates joint and several liability
for oil well operators, owners, or board members for health
issues in a health protection zone. (PRA)
SB 646 (Cortese) OPPOSE. Creates a PRA against those
operating online services or websites for alleged negligent acts.
(PRA)
SB 680 (Skinner) OPPOSE. Imposes liability on social
media platforms for delivering user content to kids under 16.
(PRA)
CIVIL PROTECTION
AB 1166 (Bains) SUPPORT. Limits liability for those who
render aid during an opioid overdose.
DISABILITY ACCESS
AB 1404 (Carrillo, Wendy) SUPPORT. Provides defendants
notice on how to comply with disability laws.
SB 585 (Niello) SUPPORT. Creates opportunity to fix alleged
construction defects under ADA/Unruh.
EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION
AB 524 (Wicks) OPPOSE. Adds ‘family caregiver’ as a new
protected classification under FEHA. (PRA)
CONSUMER LEGAL REMEDIES ACT
SB 478 (Dodd) OPPOSE. Creates new and redundant PRA under the
Consumer Legal Remedies Act. (PRA)
PRIVACY
AB 1546 (Gabriel) OPPOSE. Extends the statute of
limitations to bring enforcement actions under the CCPA from one
year to five years. (PRA)
ENVIRONMENT
SB 393 (Glazer) SUPPORT. Requires disclosure of $1000
or more contributors to a CEQA action.
