Freelance work is a way of life for many California citizens, a livelihood that will now be stripped away with the passage of Assembly Bill 5. Though intended to serve as protection for gig workers, AB 5 will change the lives of over two million Californians who work as independent contractors, requiring them to become “shift workers” under new labor laws. Hundreds of occupations fall under the bill’s umbrella, and none of them are happy about it.
Uber and Lyft have become California’s version of the New York taxi. Working as drivers has allowed many middle-class individuals to accommodate their busy schedules, personal health, and family lives alongside their job. Under AB 5, these drivers would be required to work “typical” shift hours.
For many, the flexibility offered by Lyft and Uber is something they can’t find anywhere else, and without that flexibility, they feel forced to seek out a different solution—if they can find one at all. Lyft is outraged, willing to spend millions to overturn the bill with a ballot measure next year if necessary for the sake of protecting their workers.
However, rideshare services aren’t the only industry being affected. Local news outlets believe that the new legislation is infringing on their freedom of the press, particularly their ability to obtain news from a variety of specialized sources without them being direct employees of the news company. The bill would prohibit local media publications from paying ordinary citizens to write about issues they feel passionate about, providing eyewitness accounts and images of breaking news, while also prevent experts from providing valuable insight on specialized issues.
This is a blatant restriction of the press’ exclusive control of what it chooses to publish, serving as a functional censorship of opinions in print. The press has every right to sue the state of California for its infringement on their First Amendment rights with this atrocious legislation.
Furthermore, AB 5 will rob freelance creators of the rights to their own work. By forcing them to become employees of the companies they regularly provide content to, they’re losing the rights to resell their own work—forfeiting a significant chunk of their income in the process. The bill massively negates the ability of freelancers to keep the rights to their intellectual property.
The newspaper industry is struggling already, and with these new regulations, many local outlets will be forced to close or risk bankruptcy. Preserving the freedom of the press is essential to providing Californians with access to sources from all over the political spectrum, combating blatantly biased or outright fake press, and upholding the values of the Constitution.
AB 5 will irreparably disrupt the lives of middle-class Californians reliant on freelance work for their livelihood. Its passage will result in messy lawsuits for the California government over the freedom of the press, rob workers of the most flexible hours available in the job market, and prove that California Democrats truly don’t understand what their citizens need.
Photo by Thought Catalog
