Bill to protect newspaper industry headed to Newsom for a signature

SACRAMENTO >> Legislation that may help hold down the costs of newspaper delivery is on its way to Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Authored by Assemblyman Ash Kalra, D-San Jose, AB 1506 would exempt newspaper carriers from the requirements of AB 5, which would require carriers to be treated as employees rather than independent contractors.

It gives the newspaper industry an additional three years to adjust to the financial impact of the pandemic and the ongoing transformation to digital news delivery. The bill was passed out of the legislature on Friday.

The governor signed AB 5 into law two years ago. The legislation created a new test for determining whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor and reclassified thousands of contract newspaper carrier — as well as workers in other industries — as employees covered by labor laws.

News organizations including the Bay Area News Group have expressed concerns that AB 5 would drive up the cost of newspaper deliveries or lead some newspapers to deliver their paper by mail, reduce delivery routes or eliminate their print product altogether. Readers, as a result, would have less access to news, the organizations say.

A last-minute one-year exemption for carriers to AB 5 was provided in 2019. The exemption was extended by another year in 2020 and is set to sunset on Jan. 1, 2022, unless the governor signs AB 1506.