It seems California’s campaign to drive every productive business out of the state is kicking into high gear. Excerpt:
A proposed bill winding its way through the state Legislature could make California the first state in the nation to reduce its workweek to four days for a large swath of workers.
The bill, AB 2932, would change the definition of a workweek from 40 hours to 32 hours for companies with more than 500 employees. A full workday would remain at eight hours, and employers would be required to provide overtime pay for employees working longer than four full days.
The bill was authored by Assembly Members Cristina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens) and Evan Low (D-San Jose). At the federal level, a bill by Rep. Mark Takano (D-Riverside) is pushing for similar changes under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Reached by phone Friday, Garcia said the idea was prompted in part by the exodus of employees during the COVID-19 pandemic, many of whom were seeking a better quality of life. More than 47 million Americans voluntarily quit their jobs in 2021, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“We’ve had a five-day workweek since the Industrial Revolution,” Garcia said, “but we’ve had a lot of progress in society, and we’ve had a lot of advancements. I think the pandemic right now allows us the opportunity to rethink things, to reimagine things.”
Here’s the quote that takes the stupid cake:
Garcia and other proponents say a four-day workweek would lead to an increase in productivity and profits, and point to case studies already underway in Iceland and at companies such as Kickstarter. (The Times’ editorial board in September argued that the concept was worth a try.)
Of course, The Times‘ editorial board is staffed with economic illiterates and idiots.
Garcia’s quote, of course, is just hot air – she has no idea, not even the glimmering of one, of what effect this law would have. But that doesn’t matter, not a bit. And why? Because California does not exist in a vacuum.
If Nevada and Arizona are even half-way on the ball, they’ll be running ads enticing every business owner currently operating in ever-more-loony Californey to relocate. And a fair number of them will – Garcia’s information-free, unsupported assertions notwithstanding. This law will be (rightly) seen as an unreasonable burden on business, and all they have to do to duck it is to open their facilities in a state that is more business-friendly. Which is to say, almost anywhere in the USA. Except maybe New York and New Jersey.
Of course, if private companies (see Kickstarter, above) want to do this voluntarily, cool, more power to them. Maybe it will work and maybe it won’t. But that calculus should not be a part of deciding government coercion.
Honestly, if you were trying to drive every productive citizen out of California, what would you do differently?
