Republican Lawmakers, Small-Business Advocates Work to Protect Independent Contractors

SACRAMENTO – Today, Republican lawmakers, including Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher (Yuba City), Rep. Kevin Kiley (Rocklin), Asm. Kate Sanchez (Rancho Santa Margarita), joined business advocates Tom Manzo from the California Business & Industrial Alliance and Matthew Estipona of the Associated Builders and Contractors to announce new efforts in their fight to protect independent contractors. In the California Legislature, Asm. Sanchez will introduce legislation to repeal state limits on contractors imposed by AB 5, while on the federal level, Rep. Kiley will challenge the Biden administration’s new rule that creates national restrictions on independent contracting. 

“Here in California, we’ve seen firsthand the disastrous consequences of AB 5. Joe Biden and Julie Su’s efforts to expand it nationwide will destroy the careers of millions of hardworking independent contractors,” said Gallagher. “We should be helping and encouraging people to start businesses and build careers – this Biden/Su proposal does the exact opposite.”

Gavin Newsom and Julie Su’s AB 5 severely restricted independent contracting in California, destroying many livelihoods and harming California’s economy. As Acting Secretary of Labor, Su and the Biden Administration have announced a new Department of Labor rule, which was modeled after AB 5 and will cost millions of independent professionals across the country their livelihoods while restricting the ability of millions more to have flexible work arrangements. 

When the Department of Labor submits the rule to Congress, Rep. Kiley will introduce legislation under the Congressional Review Act to nullify this harmful regulation. Last year, Rep. Kiley chaired a hearing of his Subcommittee on Workforce Protections examining the impact that AB 5 had in California.

“Nationalizing California’s AB 5 would cost millions of Americans their livelihoods. I am urging my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support my legislation to overturn the Department of Labor’s new rule and protect the right to earn a living and the American Dream,” said Rep. Kiley.

“There are few things more American than starting your own business and working for yourself,” said Asm. Sanchez. “It’s a big part of the American dream. For too many Californians, that dream was ripped away by AB 5. That’s why I’m introducing legislation to fully repeal AB 5 and help restore the tens of thousands of jobs that law needlessly destroyed.”

High-res video of the event is available HERE. 

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