California’s new employment law could give new exemption for writers, photographers

The California Democrat behind the new state law that expands employment benefits to more workers offered an exemption for freelance writers on the same day that Republicans failed in an attempt to suspend the measure entirely.

Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, proposed the amendment to Assembly Bill 5 to remove a cap on the number of submissions freelance writers and photographers can contribute to a publication before a business would be obligated to hire them as an employee or cut ties with them. The law requires many independent contractors to be re-classified as employees with benefits.

The freelance amendment also would require that contracts specify rate of pay, a defined time by which the freelancer must receive payment and what rights the freelancer has to their intellectual property, according to a statement from Gonzalez’s office.

“Having heard additional feedback from a variety of freelance writers, photographers and journalists, we are making changes to Assembly Bill 5 that accommodate their needs and still provide protections from misclassification,” Gonzalez said in a statement.

She announced the proposal as lawmakers voted down a separate bill that would have suspended the landmark employment law just months after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed.

That long-short effort came from Assemblyman Kevin Kiley, R-Rocklin, who sought to skip normal procedures by calling for a vote on his bill to suspend AB 5 without having it go through legislative committees.

Kiley said that the move to bypass the committee process was justified because there is an urgency clause attached to his bill.

Kiley’s bill needed a two-thirds majority vote to be heard on the floor of the Assembly because doing so would mean suspending the Constitution, which requires that bills be read three times on three separate days before going to a floor vote, said Assembly Speaker Pro Tempore Kevin Mullin, D-San Mateo.

The bill failed 53-15, with only Republicans voting for it.

Kiley’s office released a statement following the vote saying it “defied basic human decency.”

“The Assembly consciously chose to keep enforcing a law that everyone, including the author, acknowledges has major problems and is destroying people’s lives. I’ve never been more ashamed of this legislative body,” Kiley said.

Lawmakers are considering at least two dozen proposals that would amend the labor law, ranging from bills to exempt more professions to others that would have tax breaks for people who want to comply with it.

This story was originally published February 27, 2020 at 1:28 PM.