California Amends Freelancer Law, But Still Pursues Gig-Worker Companies and Food-Delivery Services (ktla.com) 113
"California is exempting about two-dozen more professions from a landmark labor law designed to treat more people like employees instead of contractors, under a bill that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed on Friday," reports the San Diego Union-Tribune:
The amendments, which take effect immediately, end what lawmakers said were unworkable limits on services provided by freelance writers and still photographers, photojournalists, and freelance editors and newspaper cartoonists. It includes safeguards to make sure they are not replacing current employees. The new measure also exempts various artists and musicians, along with some involved in the insurance and real estate industries.
Vox Media had already cited the earlier version of California's AB-5 law as the reason it fired hundreds of freelance writers in December.
But the state's fight against gig-worker companies is still ongoing, reports CNN Wire: According to William B. Gould IV, a law professor at Stanford University, it "certainly makes a lot of sense for the Attorney General to put a lot of their marbles in the Uber basket. You're dealing with a company that has thumbed its nose at the rule of law for some time now and thinks there's no restriction that they can't evade," added Gould IV, a former chairman of the National Labor Relations Board. Jenny Montoya Tansey, policy director at the Public Rights Project, a public interest legal nonprofit that has been involved with enforcement efforts in California, said another factor is that "drivers have organized in numbers and are doing a really compelling job in getting their stories out, letting regulators, enforcers and policy makers understand some of the experiences that drivers go through."
And Tansey adds that the law's enforcers are also eyeing food delivery services: Prior to AB-5, San Diego City Attorney Mara Elliott filed a suit against Instacart, the on-demand grocery delivery startup valued at $14 billion, over worker classification; the case is on-going. More recently, in June, San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin filed a suit against DoorDash, the food delivery startup valued at $16 billion. "Food delivery is in demand now more than ever. Multi-billion dollar corporations that deliver food are profiting off this crisis while they exploit their drivers and deny them a living wage, unemployment insurance, sick leave and other basic workplace protections," said Assemblywoman Gonzalez of San Diego in a statement to CNN Business, adding praise to Elliott and Boudin's actions. "I hope other officials follow their lead. These companies need to be held to the same standards as any other law-abiding business in the state," Gonzalez added....
The threat to the combined on-demand business model is evident. Uber, Lyft, Instacart, DoorDash and Uber-owned Postmates have funneled more than $110 million into passing a referendum in November, known as Prop 22, that would exempt them from the law while providing drivers with some additional benefits.
Additionally, Uber and Lyft are facing lawsuits from California's Labor Commissioner's Office over allegedly committing wage theft by misclassifying their on-demand workers as independent contractors instead of employees.
Vox Media had already cited the earlier version of California's AB-5 law as the reason it fired hundreds of freelance writers in December.
But the state's fight against gig-worker companies is still ongoing, reports CNN Wire: According to William B. Gould IV, a law professor at Stanford University, it "certainly makes a lot of sense for the Attorney General to put a lot of their marbles in the Uber basket. You're dealing with a company that has thumbed its nose at the rule of law for some time now and thinks there's no restriction that they can't evade," added Gould IV, a former chairman of the National Labor Relations Board. Jenny Montoya Tansey, policy director at the Public Rights Project, a public interest legal nonprofit that has been involved with enforcement efforts in California, said another factor is that "drivers have organized in numbers and are doing a really compelling job in getting their stories out, letting regulators, enforcers and policy makers understand some of the experiences that drivers go through."
And Tansey adds that the law's enforcers are also eyeing food delivery services: Prior to AB-5, San Diego City Attorney Mara Elliott filed a suit against Instacart, the on-demand grocery delivery startup valued at $14 billion, over worker classification; the case is on-going. More recently, in June, San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin filed a suit against DoorDash, the food delivery startup valued at $16 billion. "Food delivery is in demand now more than ever. Multi-billion dollar corporations that deliver food are profiting off this crisis while they exploit their drivers and deny them a living wage, unemployment insurance, sick leave and other basic workplace protections," said Assemblywoman Gonzalez of San Diego in a statement to CNN Business, adding praise to Elliott and Boudin's actions. "I hope other officials follow their lead. These companies need to be held to the same standards as any other law-abiding business in the state," Gonzalez added....
The threat to the combined on-demand business model is evident. Uber, Lyft, Instacart, DoorDash and Uber-owned Postmates have funneled more than $110 million into passing a referendum in November, known as Prop 22, that would exempt them from the law while providing drivers with some additional benefits.
Additionally, Uber and Lyft are facing lawsuits from California's Labor Commissioner's Office over allegedly committing wage theft by misclassifying their on-demand workers as independent contractors instead of employees.
I don't get it (Score:5, Interesting)
Objectively speaking, what separates a freelance journalist, cartoonist, or musician from a taxi driver? Why can they get freelance work, but a driver can't?
Re:I don't get it (Score:5, Insightful)
And you’ve just identified the problem with a rules-based, rather than principles-based, approach to legislating (or parenting). Rules have their place, but you need to have and understand their underlying principle, otherwise you end up making endless amendments and amendments to amendments as you go deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole of arbitrary legislation.
It’s clear there’s a problem they’re trying to solve, but they have yet to correctly identify and target it. As you said, what makes one fine and the other not? They don’t know.
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How does a principles-based approach resolve that problem? From what I can tell, California's rulers have very few principles to inform any such law, except the principle that demagoguery will win them re-election.
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Re:I don't get it (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: I don't get it (Score:2)
Someone needs to explain that they don't actually have a bank account equal to their valuation, and that by and large they lose money rather than make money.
For its first decade or so, Amazon collected $1 in revenue when it sold $1.25 worth of product - but they made up the loss in volume!
Re:I don't get it (Score:4, Interesting)
(A) The individual is free from control and direction in connection with the performance of the service, both under his contract for the performance of service and in fact; and
(B) The service is performed outside the usual course of the business of the employer; and,
(C) The individual is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, profession or business of the same nature as that involved in the service performed.
Can three simple rules perfectly categorize ~20 million workers? Maybe not, and some exceptions are necessary.
Re:I don't get it (Score:5, Insightful)
Did the person doing the work agree to be a contractor or not? That should be the sole basis of determination. No one is forcing you to drive for Uber or Lyft. There are plenty of real jobs out there. Driving for them does have the advantage of you determining your own schedule, being able to do it as a side job, and even being able to work for both at the same time. Try being an employee of a company and being able to work for their direct competitor at the exact same time, on call for both.
If people were not willing to drive for either company, they'd either go out of business or change their business model. People have the power against gig companies by deciding to or not to provide labor. You don't need government intervention when people have freedom to decide. Government intervention just removes freedom. Those that like contract work would lose the ability to do it while those that prefer being an employee might not have a job after the company is put out of business by government regulations or they're deemed as not qualified by the new standards to achieve a different business model.
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This is a strong argument for a universal basic income. That would allow people to withhold their labour as you suggest and not starve or go broke. It enables true free-market principles to be applied to employment.
Re:I don't get it (Score:4, Informative)
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As much as they like to insist otherwise, Uber is a tax
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It’s clear there’s a problem they’re trying to solve, but they have yet to correctly identify and target it. As you said, what makes one fine and the other not? They don’t know.
It's not even clear they think there is a problem to solve. What has happened is that the labor unions created a ruckus. That ruckus got a minority of gig workers that think they have a real job to get loud. Meanwhile, the labor unions have been giving money to the state legislature and been talking up the evils of contract labor (it can't be unionized) all the while the loud minority is getting press time and drumming up public support in the vacuum of any critical journalism by the compliant press.
Like
Re:I don't get it (Score:4, Insightful)
Court does not like Arbitrary (Score:2)
How long before the Courts or Supreme Court rules the law unconstitutional because of the arbitrary exclusions?
Legislature and law should define what IS an employee and/or what IS NOT an employee only. Once exclusions from the definition creep in, then the law is treating different entities and groups unequally.
Yes, this is not the only niche where our laws treat people unequally.
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A super long time. "Arbitrary and capricious" is a standard applied to administrative decisions and, less frequently, judicial review.
Statutes are reviewed for a "rational basis." And the courts extend quite a bit of leeway as to what constitutes rational.
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A lot of /.ers want laws to the code that takes binary inputs and requires binary results. So when you make an exception to the broader rule, they want it written as a description, rather than a list. But economic relationships almost innumerable factors: as it was, the independent contractor law supplied a pretty fuzzy description that Uber nonetheless found a way to exploit.
Additional descriptive rules would just result in Uber requiring drivers to draw a cartoon of their first daily fare and a short r
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Which is not a basis for striking it down.
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Copyright involvement?
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Skill, creativity, artistry, pay scale, and to some extent, location independence.
All of those are highly skilled jobs. Therefore, one can assume that anyone choosing one of those jobs did so after careful consideration of the alternatives during the many years of study and practice that led that person to that career. Driving a car isn't a highly ski
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Skill, creativity, artistry, pay scale
That just opens up another can of worms. Just how skilled does it have to be? Just how creative does it have to be? Just how artistic does it have to be? Just how much does it have to pay? On the latter point, most artists (musicians inclusive) I know make less than most uber drivers I know. Usually the only people who pay them are themselves artists who just want to "support" them, but people who aren't into the artsy scene don't even find it relevant most of the time, and to that end, I'm not sure just ho
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It is indeed true that musician pay sucks. My parents are retired music professors; I chose a career that pays for my music hobbies, which is why I'm posting on Slashdot right now. :-)
Re:What is a highly skilled job again? (Score:5, Insightful)
what separates a freelance journalist, cartoonist, or musician
Skill, creativity, artistry, pay scale, and to some extent, location independence.
All of those apply to an Uber driver just as well.
You have to have good driving and navigation skills to drive for a living, and some good business sense to make money of it...
No, you really don't. Most Uber drivers that I've seen just plug the destination into their GPS system these days. Maybe they deviate from it in certain spots because they know the area, but that's still a minor part of the job. And the fact that the drivers aren't able to say, "Hey, there's another guy a block away going close to where you're going. Do you mind if I pick him up, too?" means that Uber controls almost every aspect of the transaction from start to finish.
Uber drivers don't set their own rates. They don't get to drive a 1957 Buick because they like the way the air leaking through the rusted out floorboard feels on their feet in the hot summer sun. And so on. They operate under very strict rules. And it is not really a one-off contract, because their contract is not for a specific job, but rather an ongoing contract for all future jobs, i.e. it is an ongoing business relationship that more typically would be considered employment. They can't even reject fares that aren't convenient (or else they will get deactivated). And worse, they don't get to see the destination until after they have accepted the fare, which means they can't even fully manage their own hours. (Imagine if you accept a fare thirty minutes before you need to be home at the end of the day, and then find out that the trip will actually take an hour and is going in the opposite direction from where your home is.)
That is not even within a million miles of what an independent contractor job should look like. If somebody else is making almost all of the major decisions for you, you aren't independent, even if you are making a bunch of tiny little decisions yourself, like whether to turn a block later so that you can let the passenger out on the correct side of the road.
Speaking of money, all of the Uber drivers I know make way, way more than a freelance journalist, cartoonist, or musician.
Per hour, after vehicle depreciation and long-term maintenance costs associated with driving a high-mileage vehicle? Because the national average hourly pay for Uber drivers after expenses is less than the national average for working at Taco Bell.
And there is no more location independent worker than an Uber driver....a cartoonist may not have a car.
???
An Uber driver can only (realistically) work within a reasonable driving distance of where that driver lives, unless the driver just happens to be on vacation. A cartoonist can draw something and sell that cartoon electronically to a company on the other side of the world from the comfort of his or her living room. The two are not comparable.
Therefore, one can assume that anyone choosing one of those jobs did so after careful consideration of the alternatives during the many years of study and practice that led that person to that career.
What absolute reeking bullshit that is. Haw many freelance journalist, cartoonist, or musician do that after years of study dedicated to that field? I'm not sure I know of ANY.
How many freelance journalists, cartoonists, or musicians do you know? Because I double-majored in communications, played in music ensembles through my entire school career (and still do), etc., so I know a lot of people who fall into one of those three categories, and I can tell you that every single one of them spent years learning their craft.
I know of office worker turned cartoonist, of a freehance journalist turning to that after years of being a waitress and tryin got make it in standup
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Most Uber drivers that I've seen just plug the destination into their GPS system these days. Maybe they deviate from it in certain spots because they know the area
And therein lies the truth of the matter.
Uber drivers don't set their own rates.
And this is where you went totally off the rails. Uber drivers absolutely choose their own rates because they choose when and where to drive. Every uber driver knows how to rake advantage of surge pricing, and they do.
Umm... no. Just no.
Yes, some of them who don't need every penny they can get do take advantage of differences in the cost of fares at certain times of day to earn more per mile, but that is no more setting the fare than buying toilet paper on sale is setting the price of toilet paper.
Re:I don't get it (Score:4, Informative)
Skill, creativity, artistry, pay scale, and to some extent, location independence.
None of those things determine whether one is an independent contractor.
one can assume that anyone choosing one of those jobs did so after careful consideration of the alternatives during the many years of study and practice that led that person to that career.
Most people don't do that to begin with. Just look at all the people who spend years trying to be actors and singers. Look at the number of people with $100K plus in student loans for jobs that start at $20K a year. Look at the people with masters and PhDs who work as waiters and baristas.
Exactly nobody learning to drive while in high school thought to themselves, "I'm spending these years learning how to drive so that I can deliver food at less than minimum wage for the rest of my life."
This is irrelevant to whether someone is an independent contractor. Did the people who are flipping burgers think to themselves "I'm spending these years learning how to flip burgers and make fries so that I can work for less than minimum wage for the rest of my life."? People routinely spend years and paying tens of thousands of dollars via loans to get jobs that barely pay over minimum wage because that is what starting pay is in the fields they chose.
And with the exception of musicians (and, to a lesser degree, even then), those jobs can be done remotely, so you aren't competing on a local level, but rather on a national or even international level, for jobs provided by a much larger number of providers. By contrast, with food delivery, you're competing with locals for jobs that are provided by a single-digit number of companies.
Again, that has nothing to do with one being an independent contractor. While journalist, and musician can be done remotely, they generally aren't because most journalists cover stories that are local and are competing for stories at the local level and musicians are competing for gigs at bars locally. You seem to be cherry picking your journalists, cartoonists, and musicians.
The artistry/creativity bit matters a great deal.
It doesn't matter to whether one is an independent contractor or not. What matters is
(A) The individual is free from control and direction in connection with the performance of the service, both under his contract for the performance of service and in fact; and
(B) The service is performed outside the usual course of the business of the employer; and,
(C) The individual is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, profession or business of the same nature as that involved in the service performed.
The drivers aren't being told when to work, how many hours to work, which jobs to take, what to where, where to work. The company is simply providing a method for people to connect with drivers, not providing rides. And, taxi drivers, couriers, and other delivery people are generally independent contractors.
The usual dividing line between a contractor and an employee is that an employee can have some degree of autonomy, whereas a contractor is paid to do a specific task, with specific limits and requirements. When the delivery service says, "We're paying you based on taking this route, and if you take a longer route that adds miles, you don't get the extra miles," that screams "contractor".
That isn't what they are saying. They are saying "We are paying you this much to take this from point A to point B. The pay is based on this many miles traveled. You may take any route you wish." and that does scream contractor.
When the delivery service is choosing the customers, that screams "contractor".
They aren't choosing the customers for the drivers. The drivers choose the customers they want to service
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That's interesting... here in the UK the government just screwed over the contracting and freelance sector with the Offpayroll/IR35 laws, due to take effect in April. They're such geniuses that they thought now, on the precipice of a global recession was a good time to impede and/or reduce the flexible working sector.
The difference is that in the UK, a contractor cannot be "controlled" like an employee can. In your example, the tests would say your driver was more like a contractor than an employee in the U
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Nothing. They just think it's easier to bully taxi drivers. And taxi service is location based, the employers can't do what those other industries did and just stop hiring Californians.
It's not about principle, it's a power grab. They tried to grab more than they could hold the first time. This is a second attempt.
Re:I don't get it (Score:5, Informative)
Objectively speaking, what separates a freelance journalist, cartoonist, or musician from a taxi driver? Why can they get freelance work, but a driver can't?
Being able to work when you want to and not being told HOW or WHEN you do your work.
So, as an artist, I can do what I do whenever and however I want to as I deliver the FINAL product.
As a driver, I have to abide by the rules of the ride-sharing/unlicensed cab company standards. They are telling them how to do their job - employees. Here are the IRS' designations and how to tell the difference. [irs.gov] Those ride-shoring companies are playing with fire. Specifically under the Behavioral Control heading and some of the Financial control.
I had to deal with this shit back in 2000. I was a contractor with a body-shop (they all are) and I would do assignments, ask for feedback and told that "they would look at it tomorrow." I would then clock out and go to have a life.
This anorexic VP at McKesson-HBOC walked up to me one day and said, "I know you are a contractor, but if you cannot bill 40 hours a week, then we do not need you."
Well, after consultation with my company, I did what I needed to do.
Why 40 hours? I have no idea. Now, In my advanced age and not giving a fuck anymore and looking back, I would have said to her that she needs an EMPLOYEE and eat a fucking sandwich! Which in today's PC fucking lunatic culture would mean I'd be crucified.
Kids - NEVER work for a body shop unless you are hungry and need to stay in the game so that it doesn't look like you were unemployed from this business.
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I had to deal with this shit back in 2000. I was a contractor with a body-shop (they all are) and I would do assignments, ask for feedback and told that "they would look at it tomorrow." I would then clock out and go to have a life.
This anorexic VP at McKesson-HBOC walked up to me one day and said, "I know you are a contractor, but if you cannot bill 40 hours a week, then we do not need you."
Well, after consultation with my company, I did what I needed to do.
Yea, some body shops are real shits. I've worked for enough to recognize the signs, like when they come to you with a job that needs a lot of specialized skills, and when you quote your rate they immediately say "We can't pay you that." Ok, I get you unbid the job and in order to get your 100% markup you want me to cut my rate in half; and you want me to sign a contract that basically says I can't work in the field for a year or two after it ends. So, what you want really someone who is willing to work chea
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Being able to work when you want to and not being told HOW or WHEN you do your work.
I've never used Uber/Lyft or any of these delivery services, but my understanding is that the driver is able to choose whether they want to pick somebody up. Doesn't that mean they get to choose how and when -- and even where -- they can do their work?
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[The drivers] can't even reject fares that aren't convenient (or else they will get deactivated). And worse, they don't get to see the destination until after they have accepted the fare, which means they can't even fully manage their own hours. (Imagine if you accept a fare thirty minutes before you need to be home at the end of the day, and then find out that the trip will actually take an hour and is going in the opposite direction from where your home is.)
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I think what we may be in want of then is a regulation of how freelance work can be offered, rather than setting up a blacklist and whitelist approach based on the contractor's profession. Namely, the complete scope of the job and what it pays has to be given to the contractor before they accept it, there can't be any short-term or long-term penalties for declining, though the scope of the work and the pay can be modified at any time if both parties agree to do so.
Picking and choosing based on what kind of
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So, as an artist, I can do what I do whenever and however I want to as I deliver the FINAL product.
As a driver, I have to abide by the rules of the ride-sharing/unlicensed cab company standards.
As an artist, when someone commissions you to produce artwork, do they tell you when the final product is due?
As a driver, you the product is the ride. You aren't required to work on any specific day or for any specific amount of hours or to pick up any specific person. You are free to refuse rides and to work when you want to work. You are simply required to provide the final product when it is due.
As an artist, can someone require you to use specific colors or material of a specific minimum quality
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I think it's assumed that the freelance journalist, cartoonist or musician are more powerful because they sell copyrightable work companies cannot easily buy elsewhere.
Re:I don't get it (Score:5, Informative)
Objectively speaking, what separates a freelance journalist, cartoonist, or musician from a taxi driver? Why can they get freelance work, but a driver can't?
As someone who has done some freelance writing/graphics work, there is a big difference: I get to decide if I want to pitch an article or go after some work. I do not have o log in to an app, have a company send me work and penalize me if I turn it down by refusing it, follow any rules as to attire, work environment, etc. In. short, they they do not direct my work, exert no control over how I do the work or the control the conditions under which I work. Tyey also do not have in place insurance to cover liability that may result from my specific actions, such as if I get into an accident driving to drop off my work. Uber, Lyft, etc. OTOH, exert similar controls that a regular employer does; just they claim their workers are not employees.
Location-dependence (Score:2)
Trivially, a freelance journalist, cartoonist or musician can be employed over internet . Which means the California companies media companies can hire freelancers outside California to fulfill their market inside California. Uber/Lyft/Grubhub cannot hire people outside California to drive in California. So the same outsourcing risk does not apply. Unlike with media, California can say "these are the rules, and you must follow them to sell to the California market."
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Re: it's all moot (Score:2)
We're you Wesley Snipes tax accountant?
Re:it's all moot [until caught] (Score:2)
So why don't Lyft, et al.... (Score:2)
While it's probably true that riders who want more money for rides won't get as many ride hails as those who accept less, people who aren't willing to pay much may also very well have to wait unacceptably long times for a rider to be available.
Re: So why don't Lyft, et al.... (Score:2)
Do you really think it's in anyone's interest to start a race to the bottom with car service rates?
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It's not a race to the bottom, it's a race to see what the actual rate is that drivers can actually charge based on the real-time demand for the service, not based on some artificial rate that the company sets.
If a "race to the bottom" does actually happen, it would only be an indication that the market is oversaturated. People that can't compete with the prices others are offering will eventually drop out, and the supply will start to lessen, enabling prices to eventually start to climb again, and sta
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If a "race to the bottom" does actually happen, it would only be an indication that the market is oversaturated.
An over-saturated market leads to lower pay for the drivers. The current complaint is that the drivers have low pay. The market is over-saturated because there are so many people trying to make a living off of what is, essentially, a way to make extra money and not a full time career.
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most drivers can't figure out the cost of a ride in real time on their own.
I can see 3rd party apps taking on that role.
An over-saturated market leads to lower pay for the drivers. The current complaint is that the drivers have low pay. The market is over-saturated because there are so many people trying to make a living off of what is, essentially, a way to make extra money and not a full time career.
If people cannot make a living doing this, then they should not. If we all decide that nobody should starve to death because they can't find a job, then we should provide welfare instead. Screwing with what could've been a free market reduces the overall productivity of our society, which leads to everyone being poorer. The USSR and China both tried this at an extreme level and it did not work out.
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Please tell me where it is written that a person somehow has a right to make a profit in an industry where supply exceeds demand?
If the market is oversaturated, the amount of money that most people can make doing it will quickly cause them quit, forcing the supply down and enabling drivers to be able to charge more.
The companies could help drivers a little bit with figuring out how much they should charge by providing them with real-time data
contract work (Score:2)
I agree that there is some ambiguity here, but also remember that the innovation of tech companies has been in skirting labor laws. MS, Apple, everyone, was becoming millionaires 30 years ago by misclassifying workers as contract, and passing the savings to executive pay. I bring this up beca
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I have done contract work. I have control over how much I willing to work for, the tools I use, as well as other things.
Specifically what kind of contract work?
Exemptions are Bullshit (Score:1, Troll)
California is exempting about two-dozen more professions
It is absolutely bullshit that a government can carve out exemptions in a law like this.
After you have carved out dozens of holes in a law, doesn't that illustrate that the law itself is absolutely garbage and shroud be repealed until you can come up with a law that does what you meant it to do?
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AB5 was designed to kill Lyft and Uber (Score:1)
If this proposition passes (22 if memory serves) then what is the point to AB5? Not only should AB5 be declared null and void, but Lorena Gonzales should be voted out of office.
It's California, LG is a D so there is no chance of her being voted
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I've seen challengers from the same party fight and win seats. Just because they're all Democrats doesn't mean they get along.
They want that sweet W2 revenue... (Score:1)
14th Amendment (Score:1)
gotta love the disconnect (Score:1)
another factor is that "drivers have organized in numbers and are doing a really compelling job in getting their stories out, letting regulators, enforcers and policy makers understand some of the experiences that drivers go through."
Multi-billion dollar corporations that deliver food are profiting off this crisis while they exploit their drivers and deny them a living wage, unemployment insurance, sick leave and other basic workplace protections
Those workers stories aren't lamenting that the State should be collecting Unemployment Insurance and other employment taxes, yet that is all they are worried about. These companies are committing massive scale corporate fraud at every turn, which, news flash, is already illegal and AB5 never did anything to address. They don't care about crime, they only care about collecting State revenue. They certainly don't care about the workers, or that their actions are actually hurting all those workers they are pr
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This is how corruption works! (Score:3)
First, the political class puts in a huge new unpopular law that affects a vast swath of the economy....
Then, after there is outrage, they say "oh, we see YOUR demands to de-scope this thing! We're VERY receptive to YOUR inputs, given that we're 'public servants'..." and they pass a law to limit the effects of the previously passed monstrosity.
The public is left thinking it has achieved some sort of victory over the slightly annoying politicians, but that the politicians have responded properly so - struggle over, issue done, time to shift attention to other things...
What nobody is supposed to notice is that the lawmakers have indeed succeeded in implementing a very narrowly tailored law that only helps their backers (and/or harms their enemies) and those politicians get to blame the narrow targeting on the citizens if anybody questions it. The public should NEVER tolerate a low like AB5 in the first place; it's simply NOT the proper business of government to interfere in the private commercial activities of a citizen (or group of citizens organized as a business) who wants legal work done, and a person willing to do that work. The people pushing this junk are always actually pushing some other agenda - AB5 for example was pushed by a San Diego Democrat trying to shift California from an at-will-employment state to a more union-friendly state (as her union backers want). One reason why so many of us have such a hard time keeping an eye on the political class is that they have involved themselves in so many aspects of our lives and the society that there's no longer any way for a person to watch it all and still have a vocation and family life. We Americans are supposed to have a small federal government (mostly dedicated to national defense and diplomacy on behalf of all the states, and preventing/resolving disputes between the states) and small state governments managing a limited amount of more-local issues.
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True. And not only is it basic self-serving corruption, it's literally the reason why we have such systemic problems. Homelessness in California is directly caused by bad laws that favor "real estate investors", and all the people who get a cut on those leveraged cash outs for insanely inflated prices, and, deliberately fed with systemically structured "help the homeless" programs that definitively directly and deliberately make the problem worse on every level. Worse still, billions in tax money is collect