On January 28, hundreds of freelance writers and other independent contractors gathered at California’s state capitol to protest Assembly Bill 5, authored by San Diego Democrat Lorena Gonzalez. Her bill targeted the so-called “gig economy,” specifically the independent drivers for Uber and Lyft, but it also attacked freelance writers, who could have been the primary target.
AB 5 limits freelance writers, photojournalists, videographers and such to 35 submissions per publication per year, fewer than one per week. Anything beyond that and Gonzalez, a lawyer and former AFL-CIO union organizer, demands that the publications employ the writers as permanent employees. This
