Thursday, May 30, 2019

Assembly Passes Gig Work Bill, Limiting Contractor Status The State Assembly on Wednesday passed AB 5 (Gonzalez) that could send seismic changes across California's employment landscape if passed by the Senate and signed by Governor Newsom. Hundreds of thousands of independent contractors, ranging from Uber and Lyft drivers to manicurists, could become employees under AB 5, which codifies the recent California Supreme Court decision known as Dynamex.
 
Spend that Surplus California's Democratic legislators continued their push to expand health care for poor people, as tracked by CALmatters health reporter Elizabeth Aguilera. The Senate and Assembly approved bills to expand state-funded health care for low-income adult undocumented immigrants. Children already are covered. One bill by Sen. Maria Elena Durazo of Los Angeles would cover undocumented immigrants ages 19-25 and 65 and older. Sen. Richard Pan of Sacramento is carrying Senate Bill 65 to provide state-funded subsidies for middle-income people who don't receive help with the cost of health insurance. To pay for those subsidies, Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed imposing a state-only individual mandate charging people $695 a year if they fail to buy health insurance. Pan is holding his legislation to create an individual state mandate but intends to push to have the mandate included as part of the state budget being negotiated now. If approved as part of the budget, the measure would take effect July 1.