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Balance Scorecard

Balance Scorecard

Overview

About the Scorecard

The mission of Civil Justice Association of California (CJAC) is to confront legislation and laws that create unfair litigation burdens on California businesses, employees, and communities. A balanced civil justice system benefits all Californians.

CJAC’s Balance Scorecard shows how California legislators rank when it comes to promoting fairness and balance in the state’s civil justice system. An overall favorability percentage was based upon key bills that CJAC supported or opposed in 2022.

Download the full scorecard here: 2022 CJAC Balance Scorecard

2022 Balance Scorecard Rankings

Methodology 

  • CJAC counted all votes taken on the floor, in policy committees, and final votes in appropriation committees 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 by providing protections against abuse and clarifications and other changes that remove unreasonable litigation burdens.

  • 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 2022 Bills Used for the Scorecard

CIVIL LIABILITY

AB 2408 (Cunningham) OPPOSE. Imposes new burdens and PRA on social media platforms. (PRA)

AB 2777 (Wicks) OPPOSE. Revives old harassment claims for 12 months.

SB 324 (Limón) OPPOSE. Imposes huge fines for unsolicited mail ads.

SB 975 (Min) OPPOSE. Creates PRA for alleged coerced debt. (PRA)

SB 983 (Eggman) OPPOSE. Creates new PRA against electronics manufacturers. (PRA)

SB 1149 (Leyva) OPPOSE. Prohibits confidential settlement agreements in product and environmental actions.

ENVIRONMENT

AB 2026 (Friedman) OPPOSE. Creates unreasonable regulations and penalties for use of plastic packaging.

LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT

AB 95 (Low) OPPOSE. Mandates 10 days of employee bereavement leave and creates PRA. (PRA)

AB 257 (Holden) OPPOSE. Creates new regulation and liability for the fast-food industry. (PRA)

AB 1192 (Kalra) OPPOSE. AB 1192 (Kalra) Imposes employee data publication and unreasonable litigation exposure.

SB 1162 (Limón) OPPOSE. Requires employers to publish pay data online and creates PRA. (PRA)

INSURANCE

AB 1681 (Daly) SUPPORT. Creates process for insurers to meet with state on fraud claims.

SB 1155 (Caballero) SUPPORT. Establishes reasonable framework for time-limited demands against insurers.

TAXATION

SB 1377 (Newman) OPPOSE. Creates tax deduction for attorneys’ fees.

PRIVACY

AB 1262 (Cunningham) OPPOSE. Creates unreasonable regulations and liability for speaker device makers.

AB 1651 (Kalra) OPPOSE. Creates PRA against employers for workplace data privacy violations. (PRA)

SB 1172 (Pan) OPPOSE.* Expands existing privacy PRA to proctoring services. (PRA)

DISABILITY ACCESS

AB 2164 (Lee) SUPPORT. Expands use of ADA education funding.

AB 2917 (Fong, Mike) SUPPORT. Requires ADA educational materials for businesses to help limit liability.

 

*Later moved to no position following amendments.

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