As businesses all around the country and in just about every industry wrestle with high inflation, the ongoing pandemic and its struggles, supply chain issues, escalating labor cost, and other issues, the state of California continues to pile additional burdens on business. Currently, there’s a trifecta of trouble brewing for businesses in the Golden State. First off, we have the recently enacted reinstatement of a COVID-19 supplemental sick leave mandate (up to two weeks additional paid leave) retroactive to January 1, 2022 and extending through September of this year. Then, we have the Golden State leading the nation with a seemingly ever-increasing minimum wage. California was the first state to approve a statewide $15 per hour minimum (and it reaches that level this year for businesses with 26 or more employees) but then ties to the CPI for annual increases beginning in 2023. Notwithstanding that reality, a campaign is already underway to place an $18/hour minimum wage (the Living Wage Act) before the state’s voters on the November ballot. But, the pièce de resistance is AB 2847, filed by Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia. His proposal would create a $6.9 million program, the Excluded Workers Pilot Program, that would provide unemployment benefits to undocumented workers who are laid off or have had their hours reduced! So, if I understand this correctly, should AB 2847 be adopted, an individual illegally in the country who cannot legally work in the United States would be able to collect $300 from the unemployment trust fund (paid for by businesses) were they to be laid off from their illegal employment or have their hours reduced at the workplace where they cannot be legally employed? As bizarre as that may sound, Colorado and New York already have similar programs in place!