(CN) — The National Labor Relations Board is suing California over a new state law that empowers its Public Employment Relations Board to regulate private-sector labor disputes.

In its lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, the National Labor Relations Board seeks to block enforcement of Assembly Bill 288, which Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law on Sept. 30.

The law allows California to step in when the NLRB is unable or declines to act. This includes situations where the board lacks a quorum, faces constitutional challenges or is blocked by a court. The law also comes into play if an administrative law judge takes more than six months to issue a decision, if a review or appeal remains unresolved for six months, or if a case on exceptions stays pending for more than a year.

The NLRB argues that the legislation violates the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution by creating a parallel regulatory system that conflicts with its exclusive federal authority over private-sector labor relations.

It also contends that such state intervention undermines decades of established federal labor policy.

“Section 2 of AB 288 is preempted by the [National Labor Relations Act] under the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution because it empowers PERB to regulate activity arguably protected or prohibited by the Act and stands as an obstacle to the accomplishment and execution of the full purposes and objectives of Congress,” the NRLB...

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