Anti-AB 5 ballot measure OK’d for signature campaign

The California Secretary of State's office has cleared for circulation the proposed ballot measure by Uber Technologies Inc., Lyft Inc., and DoorDash Inc. seeking exemption from the employee-presumptive Assembly Bill 5.

The companies can begin petitioning for the necessary 623,212 signatures to get the measure on the November 2020 general election ballot, according to the department's website.

And while proponents of the initiative have until June 25 -- the last day the Secretary of State can certify a ballot measure for November -- to gather the signatures, the verification will likely cut into that time, said Stephen J. Kaufman of the Los Angeles-based Kaufman Legal Group.

"In order to get certification, the proponents would have to turn in their signatures at least a couple months in advance of that date to allow for signature verification, possibly even earlier," Kaufman said. "So they're going to have a compacted circulation period at this point."

Announced last October, the $110 million ballot initiative seeks to carve out an exemption to the employee-presumptive AB 5 for app-based rideshare and delivery drivers, allowing them to remain independent contractors rather than employees as the new law mandates.

Uber, Lyft and DoorDash have each sunk $30 million to sponsor the measure with fellow "gig economy" food-delivery companies Maplebear Inc., owner of Instacart, and Postmates Inc. contributing $10 million apiece, according to news reports.

Stacey Wells, a spokeswoman for Protect App-Based Drivers and Services, the coalition of drivers, organizations and companies supporting the measure, said Monday they would begin gathering signatures this week.

"We are committed to qualifying our measure and are confident that we will win the support of voters in November," Wells said.

The coalition formed following the enactment of AB 5, which went into effect last week, after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed it into law in October. With AB 5, California labor law now determines whether workers are employees or independent contractors under the now-codified "ABC" test created in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court, 4 Cal. 5th 903, 916 (2018).

The ballot initiative will certainly garner widespread attention from both news outlets as well as massive advertising campaigns, said Daniel H. Handman, a partner in Hirschfeld Kraemer LLP's Los Angeles office. Given the widespread use and affordability of the services, coupled with the added significance of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, the gig companies may have set themselves up for a massive public turnout if they can secure the signatures, Handman said.

"Uber and Lyft are going to make this out as a life-or-death situation," Handman said. "You better vote for this initiative because if you don't, we're going to close up shop in California. And if that's how they position this ballot to the public, it makes it very simple."

Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, the bill's lead author, declined comment Monday.