While working Californians continue to struggle with the adverse impacts of AB 5, Democratic legislators continue to ignore the needs of their constituents. Support for the bill’s repeal has only grown since its passage, but it seems like no real progress has been made.
It’s not thanks to a lack of effort, however. Republican elected officials are making every attempt to repeal AB 5, but they’ve been thwarted at every corner by the overwhelming control that Democrats hold in both chambers of the State Legislature. Recently, Democrats—led by the execrable Lorena Gonzalez—rejected Assemblyman Kevin Kiley’s AB 1928, which would’ve repealed AB 5.
Kiley stated that his bill was a “motion on behalf of countless Californians whose lives have been upended by AB 5.” Though Gonzalez attempted to instate some sort of concession to freelancers hurt by AB 5, Kiley explained that these changes would take too long to go into effect, and emphasized how much working Californians are being affected each and every day by the disaster that is AB 5.
If there’s one thing everyone should agree to, it’s an #AB5 Grace Period. My new bill, #AB2075, provides this modest relief: no one is subject to AB 5 before 2021. Meanwhile, I'll keep advancing #AB1928 (Repeal) as the permanent solution.
— Kevin Kiley (@KevinKileyCA) March 5, 2020
Among the ‘no’ voters for AB 1928 were San Diego’s own Tasha Boerner Horvath, Todd Gloria, Shirley Weber, Brian Maienschein, and, of course, Lorena Gonzalez. Despite claiming to support working-class families, they refuse to listen to the actual opinions of the Californians most impacted by AB 5 and instead fall in line with the rest of the union-beholden Democratic Party.
Nonetheless, Republicans continue to do everything possible to combat AB 5 and other detrimental Democratic policies. We need to continue electing leaders who are unafraid to go against the grain to create positive change and will continue putting pressure on our government to act in the interest of the people rather than special interests.
