SACRAMENTO — In a surprising move, the California Senate’s Labor Committee scheduled a vote today on AB2257, the so-called “clean-up bill” for the controversial AB5 legislation that altered freelance employment in the State, affecting adult performers, strip club dancers and other sex workers.
The committee meeting, ongoing at the time of publication, surprised concerned parties, as the consensus around Sacramento had been that AB5 and AB2257 were not going to see any legislative movement until 2021, due to COVID-19.
On June 11, the California Assembly passed AB2257 without much fanfare.
As XBIZ reported earlier this year, “since AB5 was signed into law last September, there has been confusion and anger from many sectors of the independent contractor industry over what the bill specifically means for their job status and their ability to work as freelancers, involving everyone from Uber drivers to freelance journalists to cam models.”
Back in January, the bill’s sponsor and mastermind, California Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, responded to the overwhelmingly negative reaction to AB5 by introducing AB1850, a California bill that would further clarify through legislation how employees are classified.
AB1850, after months of sustained lobbying, morphed into the AB2257 “clean-up” bill, which was supposedly still being worked on, but which today suddenly and quietly was inserted into the committee voting schedule.
Many freelancer communities — like writers, entertainers (including adult performers, cam performers and dancers) and sex workers — wishing to have their professional exemptions included in the “clean-up” bill, were blindsided by the stealthy inclusion of AB2257 on today's committee schedule.
