Legislature needs to pass AB 1506
A thriving newspaper industry provides essential information for communities throughout California.
The state Legislature can preserve the future of print journalism by passing AB
1506. Readers who believe local news is important to staying informed about local, regional and national events should urge their representatives to support the bill and send it to Gov. Gavin Newsom for his signature.
The legislation, authored by Assemblyman Ash Kalra, DSan Jose, would extend the existing one-year exemption for newspaper carriers from AB 5 for an additional three years. The newspaper industry needs the time to adjust to the financial impact of the pandemic and the ongoing transformation to digital news delivery.
Newsom signed AB 5 into law in 2019. The bill created a new test for determining whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor. The legislation reclassified hundreds of thousands of contractors to company employees covered by labor laws. That included the thousands of newspaper carriers who deliver newspapers to neighborhoods throughout California.
AB 5, authored by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, included exemptions for accountants, architects, doctors and lawyers, but it ignored the reality that today’s carriers routinely make deliveries for more than one newspaper. If they are forced to become classified employees of a single newspaper, it would both limit carriers’ opportunities and substantially drive up the cost of newspaper deliveries. The legislation would force some newspapers to eliminate their print product altogether. Others would deliver their paper by mail or simply reduce delivery routes, depriving readers of timely access to news critical to a well-functioning democracy.
Gonzalez provided a lastminute, one-year exemption for newspaper carriers when AB 170 passed at the close of the 2019 session. The exemption was extended by another year in 2020 and is now scheduled to sunset on Jan. 1, 2022.
The Nieman Journalism Lab notes that in a recent study that newspapers accounted for nearly 60% of the news stories generated in their communities and that local newspapers produced more of the local reporting in the communities studied than television, radio and online-only outlets combined. In a time when the truth is in such peril we need to do all we can to protect its defenders.
As wildfires and the pandemic continue to threaten the well-being of Californians, it’s critical that newspapers retain the ability to report essential news throughout the state. The elderly, low-income and rural readers rely on the printed newspaper as their only form of community information.
Friday is the final deadline for the Legislature to act on pending bills.
The Senate passed AB 1506 by a vote of 37-0 on Wednesday. It now heads to the Assembly Labor Committee and then the Assembly floor.
The Legislature should grant the three-year exemption, and the governor should sign the bill into law.