AB 5

Strange local news interview with the author of AB 5, the "no freelancing" bill now law in California.

I'll admit to having mixed feelings on the law. I agree with some of the intent - shady employers can (and will) make their workers "freelance" to avoid paying SS tax, healthcare, etc. But my question is whether this law changes that? Or will the employers just lay off the freelancers like Vox already did.

And regardless of whether the law is a "good" law, the author does a pretty damn terrible job of explaining it.

She keeps insisting in the interview that anyone who is a true independent business can still set up a sole proprietorship. On this point, she keeps repeating, the law doesn't effect real "freelancers." Also, Uber and Lyft drivers and truck drivers are all exempt for some reason. So my question is: why write the law? And especially, why did you write the law so broadly?

A lot of the pushback has come from "freelance" journalists. The bill author insists the freelance journalists aren't "real" freelancers since they are often employed by a single employer. But as any writer can tell you -- all writers aren't "real" writers until they are. Meaning, people need to get their start. They need to take underpaid gigs to get the "reps." This would be like saying a basketball player isn't a real basketball player unless they are playing in the NBA. Well, guess where all those NBA players were once playing bball? On organized teams. Or playgrounds, or college. This distinction she makes has nothing to do with the reality of freelance journalism (and I'm sure other freelance jobs as well). The author of the bills doesn't seems to understand this at all.

ADDENDUM: I call this "result" thinking versus "process" thinking. Results thinkers are always looking backwards and make a real mistake when they try and engineer the wrong way. It's the sony executives who buy a movie studio and decide they are only going to make hit movies because a lot movies lose money. They're folks who see lottery winners on tv and then decide to go out and buy a ticket.