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.
