Labor
California labor leaders and legislators push for reviving expanded COVID-19 sick pay
San Francisco Chronicle 1/14
For much of last year working people in California could take up to two weeks paid time off if they or a family member were infected with COVID-19, or had to care for a loved one who caught the virus.
California businesses expected to pay higher taxes to make up for unemployment shortfall
Sacramento Bee 1/13
California’s unemployment fund is deep in debt to the federal government from money the state borrowed to pay pandemic benefits, and that’s going to cost both the state and private employers billions of dollars over the next few years.
Food Industry Policy
Dodd introduces bill to expand to-go cocktail sales
Daily Republic 1/14
Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, introduced legislation Thursday to expand his 2021 law allowing the sale and delivery of to-go cocktails to boost his previous relief for struggling restaurants and bars.
Has the ‘Great California Bacon Crisis’ arrived? Not yet — but here’s what might happen in the Bay Area
San Francisco Chronicle 1/13
Relax, pork obsessives; the so-called bacon apocalypse is still several months away.
On the Side
Supreme Court halts COVID-19 vaccine rule for US businesses
Associated Press 1/14
The Supreme Court has stopped a major push by the Biden administration to boost the nation’s COVID-19 vaccination rate, a requirement that employees at large businesses get a vaccine or test regularly and wear a mask on the job.