The popular “Schoolhouse Rock” lyrics to the 1970s sketch titled “I’m Just a Bill” were the basis for many to learn the foundation of our political process. To refresh your memory, the segment depicts the collaboration, discussion and debate that occurs before a bill is signed into law.

Perhaps it’s time to revisit the premise of the “Schoolhouse Rock” segment with the introduction of legislation in the California Legislature known as Assembly Bill 357, which is authored by Assemblyman David Chiu of San Francisco.

Essentially, AB 357 imposes a rigid scheduling mandate on California retailers, grocery stores, restaurants, health clubs and franchisees with 500 or more employees by penalizing the employer for making changes to the work schedule with less than two weeks notice of a schedule shift. The bill was based on an ordinance that was recently passed in San Francisco by the Board of Supervisors, which has not gone into effect and has been has been delayed from January 2015 until July 2015 so that stakeholders and regulators can piece together a plan of how to make it work. (Press-Telegram, May 26, 2015)