SACRAMENTO, Calif., July 10, 2019—The following comments were issued by John Kabateck, California state director for the National Federation of Independent Business, and Shawn Lewis, NFIB policy director after today’s passage of Assembly Bill 5 by the Labor, Public Employment and Retirement Committee of the California Senate. The bill now moves to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
John Kabateck, NFIB State Director
“Although it was encouraging to see Assembly Bill 5 amended to allow in a few more independent contractor classifications, millions of small businesses still await a safe harbor away from the California Supreme Court’s Dynamex decision that will take from them their chosen livelihoods by forcing them to be employees of someone. I appreciated Senator Morrell’s probing questions and was also heartened to hear Sens. Richard Pan and Jerry Hill call for more improvement on AB 5.”
Shawn Lewis, NFIB Policy Director
”In committee this morning, the key issue we testified to was that industry-by-industry exemptions from Dynamex simply does not work for small businesses. By definition, small businesses represent a vast diversity of industries, and the State Legislature should not be in the business of picking winners and losers. If the ABC test were truly great, there would be no need for this bill since Dynamex became law over a year ago. But the undeniable truth is the current status of the law is unworkable for far too many small businesses and entrepreneurs in a state as diverse as California.”
Background Information
- NFIB Letter of Opposition to AB 5, July 3—Oppose Unless Amended
- NFIB News Release, April 23—Fate of Two Million California Workers Gets A Hearing Tomorrow
- NFIB News Release, April 18—Not-So-Joyous One-Year Anniversary, April 30
- Capitol Weekly, April 18—Dynamex One Year Later. More Confusion Than Clarification
- NFIB Legal Center, April 9—Major Questions Remain in the Wake of the Supreme Court’s 2018 Dynamex Decision
- Dynamex One-Pager
Keep up with the latest on California small-business at www.nfib.com/california or by following NFIB on Twitter @NFIB_CA or on Facebook @NFIB.CA
For more than 75 years, NFIB has been advocating on behalf of America’s small and independent business owners, both in Washington, D.C., and in all 50 state capitals. NFIB is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, and member-driven association. Since our founding in 1943, NFIB has been exclusively dedicated to small and independent businesses and remains so today. For more information, please visit nfib.com.
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