Labor & Workforce Dev. Agency v. Superior Court of Sacramento Cnty.

*16 This case involves the delicate balancing of open government principles enshrined in the California Public Records Act (Public Records Act) ( Gov. Code, § 6250 et seq. ) 1 and the need for confidentiality in the deliberative process of drafting legislation as safeguarded by the deliberative process privilege under section 6255 and as attorney work product under Code of Civil Procedure section 2018.030. A Public Records Act request in this case was made on behalf of Fowler Packing Company, Inc. (Fowler) and Gerawan Farming, Inc. (Gerawan) in response to the 2015 enactment of Assembly Bill 1513 (AB 1513) codified in Labor Code section 226.2 (Stats. 2015, ch. 754, § 5 (2015-2016 Reg. Sess.) eff. Jan. 1, 2016). AB 1513 addresses the issue of minimum wages for employees paid on a piece-rate basis (i.e., paid per task) and includes safe-harbor provisions that provide employers with an affirmative defense against wage and hour claims based on piece-work compensation so long as back pay is timely made. ( Lab. Code, § 226, subds. (b) - (f).) However, the safe-harbor provisions contained carve-outs that place the safe-harbor provisions out of reach for several California companies…