AB 5 enshrined in law the California Supreme Court’s test for distinguishing employees from independent contractors.
Voters could get a chance to dissolve California’s controversial worker classification law in 2022.
Assemblyman Kevin Kiley (R-Rocklin), one of the measure’s most ardent opponents in the Legislature, announced he will try to qualify a ballot initiative to repeal the law. It’s too late to run a referendum suspending AB 5, so Kiley would aim to strip its language from statute in the 2022 election.
AB 5 enshrined in law the California Supreme Court’s test for distinguishing employees from independent contractors. While organized labor backers have called that a boon to workers, Kiley has highlighted stories of Californians who have lost work as a result and sought unsuccessfully to repeal it with legislation.
The law is already likely to be on the 2020 ballot, with app-based gig companies like Uber and DoorDash qualifying a measure to keep their workers independent contractors. Kiley said in an interview that his measure would be far broader than one focused on the tech industry.
“The supporters of AB 5 from the beginning have demonized two companies and used that as their main rationale for the law,” Kiley said in reference to Uber and Lyft, but his proposed initiative “is not about one or another company but about the principle of economic freedom and the right to earn a living and the hundreds of professions in California that have been wiped out because of this law.”
A ballot committee Kiley launched last month does not yet have any money in it, and Kiley said he has yet to line up financial backers. He said he hoped his effort would provide an impetus for the Legislature to make a deal — a tactic that has not worked for the tech industry.
This blog originally appeared at Politico on June 2, 2020. Reprinted with permission.
About the Author: Jeremy B. White co-writes the California Playbook and covers politics in the Golden State. He previously covered the California Legislature for the Sacramento Bee, where he reported on campaigns, myriad nationally significant policy clashes and multiple FBI investigations of sitting lawmakers.
