Assembly Bill 1850 introduced to help clean up chaos caused by Assembly Bill 5

California assembly member Lorena Gonzalez introduced AB1850 as the “clean up” bill for California Assembly Bill 5, which would help adult performers distinguish themselves as independent contractors rather than employees due the to vague nature of AB5. Assembly Bill 5 initially set forth a list which was too vague to determine if it actually applied to indie performers or not, which caused different reactions from all sites within the industry. Most notably, camming site Streamate let go of all of their California performers and left them with the option to seek hire through a third party service or find a new site to work on that wasn’t adhering to the vague requirements of AB5. Cams also fired all of their California models and provided them with the option to seek third party employment, but they were unable to provide any way to find these third party employers.

The legal language of AB1850

A person providing labor or services for remuneration shall be considered an employee rather than an independent contractor unless the hiring entity demonstrates that all of the following conditions are satisfied:

(1) If a business entity formed as a sole proprietorship,
partnership, limited liability company, limited liability partnership,
or corporation (“business service provider”) contracts to provide
services to another such business (“contracting business”), the
determination of employee or independent contractor status of the
business services provider shall be governed by Borello, if the
contracting business demonstrates that all of the following criteria
are satisfied:
(A) The business service provider is free from the control and
direction of the contracting business entity in connection with the
performance of the work, both under the contract for the
performance of the work and in fact.
(B) The business service provider is providing services directly
to the contracting business rather than to customers of the
l contracting business.
(C) The contract with the business service provider is in writing.
(D) If the work is performed in a jurisdiction that requires the
business service provider to have a business license or business
tax registration, the business service provider has the required
business license or business tax registration.
(E) The business service provider maintains a business location
that is separate from the business or work location of the
contracting business.
(F) The business service provider is customarily engaged in an
independently established business of the same nature as that
involved in the work performed.
(G) The business service provider actually contracts with other
businesses to provide the same or similar services and maintains
a clientele without restrictions from the hiring entity.
(H) The business service provider advertises and holds itself
out to the public as available to provide the same or similar
services.
(I) The business service provider provides its own tools, vehicles,
and equipment to perform the services.
(J) The business service provider can negotiate its own rates.
(K) Consistent with the nature of the work, the business service
provider can set its own hours and location of work.
(L) The business service provider is not performing the type of
work for which a license from the Contractor’s State License Board
is required, pursuant to Chapter 9 (commencing with Section 7000)
of Division 3 of the Business and Professions Code.

AB1850 is not passed yet

The bill has not been passed yet, but if passed it would reinstate the independent contractor status that was lost by many performers and also create the possibility of Streamate and Cams to allow California models to perform through their site directly rather than through a third party. In order to pass, the bill must receive a majority vote at the assembly.