As the Democratic Party coalesces around 2020 candidate Joe Biden as an alternative to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, onlookers have taken it for granted that the former vice president represents a “moderate” Democratic option. While this is true, it’s only due to the radical extent of Sanders’s far-left socialism; Biden himself is no centrist. In fact, he’s quite left-wing on a number of fronts, and his stance backing job-killing California regulations is just the latest example.
In a weekend tweet, the Democratic front-runner touted his support for AB 5, an extremely controversial California regulation that limited companies’ ability to hire freelancers in a naive attempt to force them to hire more full-time employees. In reality, the bill backfired and hurt vulnerable workers across a wide spectrum of industries.
It limited freelance journalists to 35 articles annually, meaning that no outlet could even hire someone as a weekly columnist without adding them as a full-time staff member with benefits. In a plot twist that shocked exactly no one with any experience in journalism, this led to freelance journalism opportunities evaporating from California, as outlets suddenly faced massive new costs due to the regulation. Vox Media, for instance, laid off hundreds of California-based freelance sports journalists it had previously employed.
As Kassy Dillon explained in an opinion article for the Washington Examiner, the law also destroyed the flexibility that so many Californian freelance writers relied on to supplement their incomes or let them pursue alternative careers, educations, and families. If Biden had his way, and similar legislation was enacted nationwide, the destruction of California’s freelance journalism industry would be spread throughout the country, potentially leaving tens of thousands of freelancer journalists and their families worse off. (Even the left-wing state legislator who authored the bill has since admitted its restrictions on journalists may be too harsh.)
There’s also a chilling unconstitutional aspect to this regulation. In backing AB 5, Biden is supporting a direct regulation and restriction of freedom of the press. Apparently, the “moderate” Democratic candidate still thinks the government should be able to dictate how much journalists can write and where.
And it’s not just print journalists harmed by this bill.
It also harms photographers, who may wish to freelance or run their own shop and regularly provide services to a variety of clients. AB 5 outright makes freelance video journalism illegal, and it limits photojournalism to 35 submissions a year as well. This has been so harmful to the state’s photographers that an industry association is suing the state of California for violating their civil rights.
The bill was intended to target ride-sharing companies such as Uber and Lyft, which employ drivers as contractors, not full-time employees, even when they work full-time schedules.
But rather than encouraging the companies (Uber and Lyft already do not earn a profit) to take on massive costs and hire thousands of full-time employees, it seems more likely to simply lead to limit drivers’ hours and curtail their flexibility. Alternatively, they’ve also started implementing negative changes to their business model in California that may hurt consumers and drivers alike.
Biden’s support for the destructive legislation was met with widespread dismay on social media, and not just from conservatives, either:
COME ON. I want to vote for you, man. You’re supposed to be the sane one. Don’t put independent contractors out of business. We’re not exploited workers. We’re business owners. #IRSnotABC #NoPROAct
— Jen Hubley Luckwaldt (@jenniesmash) March 7, 2020
No please don’t support this. PLEASE. It’s hurting artists of all kinds terribly…a huge section of your supporters!
— Heather Provost (@psirulehpro) March 7, 2020
You are supporting a law that is devastating California! Writers, photographers, videographers, translators, indie musicians, special ed teachers, specialists of any kind have lost their livelihoods! Even the Dem lawmakers know it’s a mistake. Read #AB5 and #AB5stories.
— PixelPosh (@SusanVoiceOver) March 7, 2020
These are just a few examples, and, of course, Twitter isn’t real life.
But the former vice president’s endorsement of such a harmful regulation is a President Trump attack advertisement in the making. Biden should listen to the freelancers harmed by AB 5 in California, and rethink his support for it before he lives to regret it on Election Day.
