[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 27 (Thursday, February 9, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H805-H806]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    GRAVE THREAT TO AMERICAN WORKERS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 9, 2023, the gentleman from California (Mr. Kiley) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. KILEY. Mr. Speaker, as chair of the House Subcommittee on 
Workforce Protections, I will take a moment today to address a grave 
threat to American workers that is coming from Washington, D.C., right 
now. Hundreds of thousands of Americans are at imminent risk of losing 
their livelihoods because of an anti-worker agenda that certain 
politicians and special interests are pushing by any means necessary.
  The Department of Labor is currently considering a proposed 
nationwide rule that would severely limit the gig economy, freelancing, 
independent contracting, self-employment, and other alternate work 
arrangements that entire careers are based on and entire industries 
have been built around.
  The rule has a similar objective to the PRO Act, which is supported 
by President Biden, and even passed the House in the last Congress.
  The devastating consequences of these policies are not a matter of 
speculation. In California, we know all too well what is in store for 
the rest of the country if this rule is adopted and if

[[Page H806]]

the PRO Act passes because the model for these policies comes from our 
State, a law called AB 5 that passed the supermajority legislature in 
2019 and has been ruthlessly enforced by Governor Gavin Newsom ever 
since.
  AB 5 has been absolutely devastating for countless independent 
professionals in California. You don't need to take my word for it. 
Governor Newsom's own former deputy chief of staff, Yoshar Ali, called 
it ``one of the most destructive pieces of legislation in the past 20 
years,'' adding, ``It's truly horrific how many people are negatively 
impacted by it.''
  Newsom's political mentor, the former mayor of San Francisco and 
former speaker of the State Assembly, Willie Brown, said that the law 
made him want to ``picket'' against the ``bastards'' at the Capitol and 
the special interests that ``took advantage'' of them.

                              {time}  1230

  Andrew Cuomo rejected a similar law in New York, saying he didn't 
want to ``make the same mistake'' as California.
  The liberal Daily Kos likewise warned other States: Don't make the 
same mistake California's Gavin Newsom did--with the site's founder 
calling the law disastrous and asinine and its supporters shameful.
  The NAACP assailed it as a ``terrible law'' and a ``gut punch to our 
community.''
  The CEO of the Black Chamber of Commerce called it a catastrophe 
responsible for enabling, defending, and propagating systemic racism.
  Mr. Speaker, 200 Ph.D. economists, including a Nobel Laureate, 
reported that the law is doing substantial and avoidable harm to the 
very people who now have the fewest resources and the worst 
alternatives available to them. One commentator called it ``the most 
malicious and harmful law ever passed in California.''
  AB5 effectively bans independent work of any kind, being your own 
boss. With a single stroke of his pen, Governor Gavin Newsom rendered 
countless Californians, spanning hundreds of professions, unable to 
earn a living in our State--videographers and caricaturists, 
transcriptionists and interpreters, technicians and engineers, analysts 
and consultants, musicians and conductors, artists and dancers, writers 
and editors, coaches and trainers, teachers and tutors, nurses and 
doulas, the list goes on.
  Many national companies now explicitly disclaim on their applications 
that they can no longer work with California freelancers. Hardly an 
industry or trade is unscathed.
  Most devastated by AB5 have been our most vulnerable: seniors, 
caregivers, students, reformed convicts, single mothers, people with 
disabilities or health issues or mental health needs, all of whom rely 
on independent contracting.
  Many of my own constituents have been ensnared by the law. Right 
here, you see a photo of Ildiko Santana, an immigrant, a naturalized 
citizen, who worked as a freelance translator for over 20 years in 
Loomis. It took decades for her to build up her clientele, and then she 
had a single law cause her to lose it all. After AB5 went into effect, 
not a single one of the over 50 agencies she did business with will 
hire her unless she incorporates or leaves California.
  Across the State, thousands of hardworking people are in exactly the 
same position. Take, for example, Heather Mason, who said: ``I am a 
conference producer. I had to move; went to Utah. I can't hire many of 
our freelance folks back in California either.'' She said: ``I am 
heartbroken to leave LA.''
  Elizabeth Adger said: ``AB5 is why I had to pack up my very ill 
husband with stage IV cancer and autistic son and leave the State. 
There is no way I can take care of our family and work a `traditional'-
type job. I have always worked for myself and paid my taxes. I was 
terrified of becoming homeless. Now I am moving to Florida, where my 
business is welcome.''
  Here is the thing. That just isn't going to be an option if the PRO 
Act or this proposed rule from the Department of Labor goes into effect 
because this suffering will be taken nationwide.
  It is estimated that the PRO Act would cost over 350,000 freelance 
workers their ability to earn a living, and even just the Department of 
Labor rule in and of itself would cause significant losses.
  Unlike State laws, independent businesspeople will have nowhere to 
turn if these policies go into effect. What is going to happen to folks 
like Ildiko and Heather and Elizabeth? In fact, Ildiko will be forced 
to leave the United States and return to her home country in order to 
make a living.
  Mr. Speaker, I am calling on President Biden to see the reality, to 
see the harm that these policies are causing. I am calling on President 
Biden to rescind his proposed rule and to stop supporting the PRO Act, 
to listen to independent contractors and freelancers whose lives have 
been upended in California, to have compassion and to stop advocating 
for policy changes that would inflict this suffering nationwide.
  As chair of the House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections, I will 
promise you this. I am going to work in every way possible to defeat 
the PRO Act. Our committee will fight for workers. There is an agenda 
out there that is working against workers. We are going to fight for 
workers, for small businesses, and for economic freedom.
  If the proposed Department of Labor rule does take effect, I will 
immediately act to pass legislation to repeal it. More than that, I 
will use the gavel of this subcommittee to shine light on the 
unparalleled damage that has been wrought by AB5, and I certainly will 
make sure that the freelancers who have lost everything in California 
are not forgotten.
  In a broader sense, AB5 is truly a case study in the decline of the 
State of California. We used to be the State where anyone could get 
ahead. Now, we are the State that so many can't wait to leave behind.
  We are the Golden State and have always served as a beacon of 
opportunity for well over a century. We have attracted innovators and 
adventurers.
  We are a State that has so many blessings, endowed with unbelievable 
natural beauty. Yet, somehow, we have gotten to the point where 
California just achieved a historic three-peat, where for the third 
straight year, we led the Nation in one-way U-Haul rentals.
  In fact, with the recent redistricting, we lost a seat in Congress, 
and if the lines were redrawn today, we would lose another seat. It is 
precisely because of policies like AB5.
  California's Governor is saying again and again that our State is a 
model for the Nation. President Biden has been all too quick to believe 
him by supporting policies like AB5 and the PRO Act.
  The sad reality is that, in many ways, our State is not a model for 
the Nation but a warning to the Nation about what happens when humanist 
values give way to brute political force.
  Today, I am urging the President and my colleagues in Congress to 
heed that warning.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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