California Gov. Gavin Newsom quietly signed a law on Sept. 4 repealing parts of an unpopular law that put independent contractors in the state out of work and limited the earnings of freelancers, including visual artists, musicians, writers, translators, and film support crews, by classifying them as employees.
The enactment of the new measure, which came after months of political and legal pressure from the trucking industry, companies such as Uber and Postmates, and groups such as the American Society of Journalists and Authors Inc. and the National Press Photographers Association, is a rare defeat for the labor movement in solidly progressive California.
