Posted on 12/12/2010 7:37:19 AM PST by SmithL
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's veto stamp killed the bill twice in the last two years, and the business community cheered.
But last Monday it returned – a measure that would keep employers from looking into consumer credit reports as part of their hiring process.
This time, much to the consternation of business leaders, Assembly Bill 22 might become law.
"The general tenor of this office is that this bill has a better shot with Jerry Brown," said Haley Myers, legislative aide to the bill's author, Assemblyman Tony Mendoza, D-Artesia.
Her assessment distills a worst-case scenario for California business interests that could extend to dozens of proposed laws and hundreds of regulations under a Brown administration.
After backing the loser – and in one famous instance personally attacking the Democrat during the bare-knuckled gubernatorial campaign – business now must adjust to Brown.
Schwarzenegger, a wealthy businessman in his own right, has been a reliable firewall against Democratic-backed measures like AB 22. Over the past four years, the governor vetoed 38 of the 41 bills identified by the California Chamber of Commerce as "job killers" that would increase the cost or uncertainty of doing business in the Golden State.
Enter Brown, a lifelong politician who takes over Jan. 3 with his party controlling both the Assembly and Senate. Personally frugal and famously unpredictable, the once-and-future governor presents a challenge for private industry trying to gauge what he'll do.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
I don’t know why any company would do business in California.
Good lord. There is nothing more dangerous than busy, do-nothing politicians.
So don’t check if your new employee might need to steal from you to pay their debts but by God we need to feel up all the travelers at the airport just in case they may be hiding money.
Really?
With Brown and the loony left running the state, I’d be packing up my business and leaving California. The state is already bankrupt and with more draconian environmental laws, a free ride for every illegal and new even higher taxes doing business will become impossible. Get out while you can.
I’d blind CA with heel dust!
If I am going to hire someone I am going to want to run a criminal, employment and credit background check. I could perhaps understand some circumstances why someone might have had credit issues say due to the loss of a spouse’s job, a family illness that wiped out savings etc, but no quarter given for charge card addicts and deadbeats since it reveals a character flaw that I do not want in my place of business.
Personally...I really do not think business should be looking into the credit files of potential employees....unless that job position being applied for is the direct handling of large sums of money or merchandise.
With the way the American economy has gone...people who lost their homes because they lost their jobs will not be able to find work.
A good background check on potential employees (including criminal history) is much more sufficient than a credit history check.
Considering it is illegal for employers to ask about the immigration status of someone before being hired (Yes, that is Federal law)....I do not think it is a stretch to limit checks into credit history.
Unfortunately, too many on the Business Socialist side think it is OK to hire an Illegal Alien over an American Citizen
Most HR People know that...
But a credit report can also show patterns that you may not want for an employee handling sensitive corporate info, like other employees records, etc.
There’s no mystery about what Brown will; he’ll continue encouraging businesses to leave California. Brown’s not only completely doctrinaire, but he’s got a hockey score IQ.
Leaving On A Jet Plane
All my bags are packed I’m ready to go
I’m standin’ here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye
But the dawn is breakin’ it’s early morn
The taxi’s waitin’ he’s blowin’ his horn
“Over the past four years, the governor vetoed 38 of the 41 bills identified by the California Chamber of Commerce as job ‘killers’.....”
Is this the same Chamber of Commerce that supports “Open Borders” immigration and “Amnesty Citizenship” for illegal aliens?
Talk about job killers!
Well good for you. Then you can simply find work with companies that don't check your credit.
However, if PRIVATE business owners, for whatever reason, feel the need to hire employees who pay their bills, they shouldn't be subject to what you "really do not think."
Someone else's business is their property, not yours.
I strongly support credit checks for future employees.
Why?
Because I have excellent credit scores.
They give me a competitive advantage over the hundreds of other people applying for the same position.
For most people - including me - it takes planning, parsimony, and self-discipline to maintain good scores.
Do great workers sometimes have bad credit scores because of bad luck?
Sure.
But most business owners are not stupid or wasteful.
They don’t toss $50 to the credit agencies unless they believe the investment helps them make better personnel decisions.
However, if PRIVATE business owners, for whatever reason, feel the need to hire employees who pay their bills, they shouldn’t be subject to what you “really do not think.”
Someone else’s business is their property, not yours.
My my, arent we a little testy Business Socialist, today.
My credit history is MY Business...not some other businesses. Maybe you think every business should be like Nazi Germany, I do not
You can do effective background checks without running a credit history check. Judging by your post...I can tell you never ran a business, nor, have done background check work for one...
Most HR People know that...
But a credit report can also show patterns that you may not want for an employee handling sensitive corporate info, like other employees records, etc.
I would not have a problem with such a credit check if the position handled sensitive employee information.
Just a willy-nilly credit check is a waste of time.
With the state legislature the way it is, Joe McCarthy could be Governor and it wouldn’t matter.
That's a good point, and one would wish such people would be hired so they can live like other Americans.
But to remind you of something Parkinson once said about Parkinson's Law (and its sequelae), interviewers for many positions just want their own jobs simplified and the number of applicants limited, so they use all sorts of filters.
His favorite example was someone interviewing for a job just anyone could do, who should, in accordance with Parkinson's Law, reduce his workload by advertising for a Hungarian fire-eater with sword-swallowing and slackwire bicycle-act experience.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.