"/> Sac'to Assembly Dems -- Incl. O'Donnell, Gipson and Rendon -- Refuse To Allow Immediate Vote On Repub-Backed AB 1928 To Suspend Enforcement Of <nobr>AB 5</nobr> While Sac'to Lawmakers Mull Amendments To "Gig Economy" Bill; Dem Gonzalez-Fletcher Introduces Tweaks For Freelance Writers, Photogs and Journalists, More Coming</nobr>
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Sac'to Assembly Dems -- Incl. O'Donnell, Gipson and Rendon -- Refuse To Allow Immediate Vote On Repub-Backed AB 1928 To Suspend Enforcement Of AB 5 While Sac'to Lawmakers Mull Amendments To "Gig Economy" Bill; Dem Gonzalez-Fletcher Introduces Tweaks For Freelance Writers, Photogs and Journalists, More Coming


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(Feb. 27. 2020, 7:45 p.m.) -- Assembly Democrats -- including the LB-area's Patrick O'Donnell (D, LB-SP), Mike Gipson (NLB-Carson) and Speaker Anthony Rendon (D, NLB-Paramount) -- swiftly derailed an effort by nrothern California Republican Assemblyman Kevin Kiley (R, Placer/El Dorado/Sacramento counties) to allow an Assembly floor vote on SB 1928 AB 1928 authored by Assemblyman Kiley (with additional epublican Assembly and state Senate co-authors) that would suspend enforcement of AB 5 (the 2019 "gig economy" law) while CA lawmakers consider amendments to address complaints over the impacts of AB 5 from multiple freelance professionals who say it has cost them jobs, damaged their earning capacity and in some cases jeopardizes their livelihoods.

Assemblyman Kiley was allowed to speak for roughly 19 seconds. He'd completed his first sentence (requesrting Assembly consent to suspend Assembly rules [requires 2/3 vote] to withdraw AB 1928 from the Assembly's Labor and Employment Committee and allow Assembly floor discussion and a floor vote on the bill. He was starting his second sentence when presiding Assembly Speaker Pro Tem Kevin Mullin (D, San Mateo) interrupted him, said he'd made motion and added that his motion also required suspending a provision of the state constitution [bills need to be "read" three separate times on three separate days].

Suspending both provisions required a 2/3 vote. It wasn't even close. The Assembly voted 15-50 against taking up AB 1928...

[Scroll down for further.]







And after the vote was tallied and displayed above, five additional Assemblymembers (all Democrats) added their "no" votes to the total: Assemblymembers Gray, Irwin, Maienschein, Muratsuchi and Salas, making the official tally 15-55.

The Feb. 27, 2020 Assembly floor vote didn't kill AB 1928 which would restore the former multi-factor test (in the Borello case) including whether the person to hires the freelancer has the right to control the manner and means of accomplishing the result desired, and other identified factors. AB 1928 (co-authored by Assembly member Melissa Melendez (R, western Riverside county) and state Senators Brian Jones (R, inland San Diego county) and John Moorlach (R, Irvine/Costa Mesa)) remains in the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee...which hasn't yet scheduled a hearing on it.

Sponsor

Sponsor

In 2019, AB 5 was enacted with the support of all Sac'to Dems including LB area Assemblymembers Patrick O'Donnell, Mike Gipson, Speaker Anthony Rendon and state Senators Lena Gonzalez and Tom Umberg. Governor Gavin Newsom signed it into law.

Sponsor

Sponsor

AB 5 was strongly supported by organized labor, arguing workers needed protection against "misclassification" of their work as independent contractors when they were effectively employees. AB 5 echoed the reasoning of a CA Supreme Court opinion (Dynamex) that effectively changed the legal standard in CA for deciding if a worker is an independent contractor or an employee. The state legislature (if not vetoed by Governor Newsom) can ultimately determine the legal standards in CA for independent contractors vs. employees (and could change the standard back to what it was before Dynamex.) However in 2019, with Sacramento Republicans dissenting, Assembly and state Senate Democrats approved AB 5 which gave Dynamex statutory legs and Governor Newsom signed it into law.

Sponsor


Also today (Feb,.27), AB 5's primary author, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez-Fletcher (D, San Diego) released proposed tweaks/amendments she's now offering in the face of a statewide uproar to AB 5 that included freelance writers, photographers and journalists. In a release here, Assemblywoman Gonzlez-Fletcher called her proposed amendments "the first substantive round of amendments to AB 1850" [a placeholder bill Gonzalexz-Fletcher introduced to modify changes to AB 5.] Gonzalez-Fletcher's AB 1850 is one of a number of bills (most by Republicans given little chance of advancing in Sac'to's partisan atmosphere) to create exceptions to AB 5 or repeal it outright (as Assemblyman Kiley's AB 1928 would do.)

Reaction to today's developments was mainly negative on the Freelancers Against AB 5 Facebook page. Multiple comments called for voting out Sac'to lawmakers who'd vote for AB 5 in 2019 [all Democrats did] if they now refuse to repeal it or [for some commenters not optimal but adequate] create exceptions to it. Assemblywoman Gonzalez-Fletcher (currently seeking re-election in mainly Democrat registered voter district in San Diego) recently announced she's a candidate in 2022 for CA Secretary of State.

Sponsor

Sponsor

Among the more outspoken local voices against AB 5 on Facebook (including forwarding comments from the Freelancers Against AB 5 Facebook page) has been Dana Buchanan. an owner at LB's Primal Alchemy Catering [and, description here for identification, a member of LB's Mayor-chosen/Council approved Citizen Police Complaint Commission.] Also blasting AB 5 has been former LB resident (and continuing community advocate) Annie Greenfeld.

Although freelancers' anger with AB 5 spans the political spectrum, Sacramento lawmakers voted in near party-line lockstep on AB 5: all state Senate Democrats (locally including Lena Gonzalez and Tom Umberg) voted "yes"; all state Senate Republicans voted "no." All Assembly Democrats voted "yes" (locally including Patrick O'Donnell, Mike Gipson and (Speaker) Anthony Rendon) and all Assembly Republicans voted "no" except Assemblyman Tyler Diep (Huntington Beach-Fountain Valley) who joined Democrats in voting "yes" and Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham, a Republican from CA's central coast who was "no vote recorded."

Assembly concurrence in Senate amendments: (61-16-2)

Ayes: Aguiar-Curry, Arambula, Bauer-Kahan, Berman, Bloom, Boerner Horvath, Bonta, Burke, Calderon, Carrillo, Cervantes, Chau, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Daly, Diep (R), Eggman, Frazier, Friedman, Gabriel, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gipson, Gloria, Gonzalez, Grayson, Holden, Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Kalra, Kamlager-Dove, Levine, Limón, Low, Maienschein, McCarty, Medina, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, O'Donnell, Petrie-Norris, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Reyes, Luz Rivas, Robert Rivas, Rodriguez, Blanca Rubio, Salas, Santiago, Smith, Mark Stone, Ting, Weber, Wicks, Wood, Rendon

Noes: Bigelow, Brough, Chen, Choi, Flora, Fong, Gallagher, Gray, Kiley, Lackey, Mathis, Melendez, Obernolte, Patterson, Voepel, Waldron

No vote recorded: Cunningham (R), Mayes (independent)

Senate floor on final passage

Ayes: Allen, Archuleta, Atkins, Beall, Bradford, Caballero, Dodd, Durazo, Galgiani, Glazer, Lena Gonzalez, Hertzberg, Hill, Hueso, Hurtado, Jackson, Leyva, McGuire, Mitchell, Monning, Pan, Portantino, Roth, Rubio, Skinner, Stern, Umberg, Wieckowski, Wiener

Noes: Bates, Borgeas, Chang, Dahle, Grove, Jones, Moorlach, Morrell, Nielsen, Stone, Wilk

AB 5 has been challenged in federal court by the CA Trucking Association (which argued some drivers opted to operate as independent contractors setting their own schedules and profiting from owning their own vehicle). The American Society of Journalists and Authors and the National Press Photographers Association have also sued in federal court, alleging that AB 5 unconstitutionally limits the amount of work they can perform on a freelance basis for a single publisher unlike any other job category it lists as "professional services." Uber and Postmates have also filed suit arguing AB 5 denies them equal protection based on what types of jobs it does or doesn't exempt.

Governor Newsom's proposed FY21 state budget asks state lawmakers to allocate $21 million for investigations and enforcement of AB 5 (meaning state Senators and Assemblymembers will casts vote on this on or before June 30, 2020.):



Feb. 28, 1:40 a.m. Text added naming five additional Assemblymembers who add their "no" votes after the floor vote rally was displayed.
Support really independent news in Long Beach. No one in LBREPORT.com's ownership, reporting or editorial decision-making has ties to development interests, advocacy groups or other special interests; or is seeking or receiving benefits of City development-related decisions; or holds a City Hall appointive position; or has contributed sums to political campaigns for Long Beach incumbents or challengers. LBREPORT.com isn't part of an out of town corporate cluster and no one its ownership, editorial or publishing decisionmaking has been part of the governing board of any City government body or other entity on whose policies we report. LBREPORT.com is reader and advertiser supported. You can help keep really independent news in LB similar to the way people support NPR and PBS stations. We're not non-profit so it's not tax deductible but $49.95 (less than an annual dollar a week) helps keep us online.


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