This article was published by The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor on Wednesday, February 19, 2020:
Judge Dolly Gee’s denial of relief from California’s anti-freedom, anti-gig economy SB 5 law illustrates perfectly the need for President Trump to be reelected in November. With any luck at all, he’ll have the opportunity in his second term to replace with her with a clear thinking constitutionalist instead.
Gee, who holds two degrees including a JD from UCLA’s School of Law, denied relief last week to Uber and Postmates drivers from California’s onerous and likely unconstitutional law called AB 5.
The bill was supported by unions and the state of California for obvious reasons. The unions hated the competition, and the state needed the tax revenues that would be generated by turning freelancers into employees.
Proponents said gig workers would benefit from minimum wage laws imposed on employers; they would now have sick leave coverage and unemployment insurance; along with other benefits. And the state would gain an estimated $8 billion from payroll taxes that gig operators like Uber and Postmates and their independent contractors would be forced to pay.
Opponents pointed out the obvious: most gig workers don’t want to be employees. Most like the freedom associated with the gig economy, such as setting their own hours. And customers and consumers enjoy the better service and lower costs associated with services like Uber and Postmates when compared to taxi drivers and FedEx, UPS, and the U.S. Postal Service. They predicted that once the law became effective on January 1, many of those freelancers would be out of work.
It’s already happening.
As Michael Tennant pointed out in The New American, Vox Media (which interestingly supported AB 5) has canceled its contracts with about 200 freelance writers and replaced them with just 20 new part-time and full-time employees.
Thomas Cushman, a commercial fisherman, has seen the law force his business to stop paying his crew:
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