Newspaper industry gets relief in bill headed to Senate floor

A bill that unanimously passed the Senate Appropriations Committee aims to bring relief to the newspaper industry in two ways: by giving the industry two more years to comply with Assembly Bill 5, and by requiring state agencies to give local news organizations priority when placing marketing or outreach advertising.

AB 323 passed the committee last week is headed to the Senate floor for its next vote.

The government-ordered shutdowns to counteract the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in more than a dozen California newspapers folding or suspending operations because they lost advertising revenue, according to a release issued this month by bill author Assemblymember Blanca Rubio, D-Baldwin Park.

Assembly Bill 323, also called the "Save Local Journalism Act," extends the newspaper carrier exemption in the state Supreme Court's 2018 Dynamex ruling, which was later codified in AB 5. If the bill is approved, the Dynamex exemption, which previously would have expired on Jan. 1, 2021, would expire on Jan. 1, 2023 instead.

After that, workers who deliver newspapers will be reclassified as employees instead of independent contractors, Since AB 5 went into effect on Jan. 1, legislators have pushed for multiple bills seeking carve-outs for specific industries.

-- Jessica Mach