Wow! I had no idea California has such a law, and I e.g. know that Honeywell's standard and no exceptions employment contract in Massachusetts in the early '80s was a nasty issue for some would be startups by Multicians. I always found such provisions to be more than distasteful, they start the whole relationship on a really sour note.

As I and others have discussed elsewhere on this thread, sane and balanced employment law has had a critical positive effect on Silicon Valley. Given that SV is unique in the world, maybe an essential one.