The presidents of the California Business Roundtable and California Retailers Association joined CTA on this Mercury News Opinion outlining the detrimental effect the implementation of AB 5 will have on independent drivers and the need for clarification by the Newsom Administration.
Opinion: To protect supply chain, independent truckers need clarity
By Rob Lapsley, Rachel Michelin and Eric Sauer
The imminent imposition of AB 5 on the trucking industry triggered the recent shutdowns at California ports, including Oakland.
AB5 codified the employee classification test under the landmark 2018 Dynamex decision. This change significantly narrows the circumstances for someone to qualify as an “independent contractor” and prohibits more than 70,000 drivers from continuing to earn a living under a model that has been allowed for decades.
While intended as a protection for all workers from misclassification, AB 5 has carve outs for approximately 100 industries and professions; trucking is not one of them.
Last Wednesday, CTA held its Annual California Trucking Advocacy Day virtually.
More than 120 registered through Zoom for the panel discussion between key legislative leaders and appointed officials.
During the first panel, Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry and Congressman John Garamendi discussed their efforts to rein in unfair detention and demurrage charges and other legislative issues at the state and federal level.
The second panel featured CARB Board Members Gideon Kracov and Vice Chair Sandy Berg who will hear and vote on the Advanced Clean Fleets (ACF) regulation in the fall of this year. Each board member shared their thoughts on the proposed ACF regulation and answered questions from audience members.
CTA presented Assemblymember Aguiar-Curry with the 2022 CTA Legislator of the Year Award for her work to help the trucking industry and for her efforts on
AB 2406, CTA's co-sponsored legislation.
Last week, CTA and Liberty Linehaul West hosted Senator Bob Archuleta (D – Pico Rivera) at their facility in Montebello.
Senator Archuleta was elected to the Senate in 2018 to represent the 32nd district, which includes Commerce, Downey, Montebello, Norwalk, Pico Rivera, and Whittier. He previously served in the military and joined the Montebello Police Department as an officer. The Senator brings a wealth of knowledge from the local level as mayor for the City of Pico Rivera before being elected to the state Senate. In 2021 he was assigned to the Committee on Transportation as a sitting member.
Thank you to Greg Dubuque for hosting the Senator and taking the time to educate and discuss issues affecting the trucking industry.
As part of our advocacy efforts, CTA continues to meet with key legislators with the Senate and Assembly Transportation Committees.
If you would like to host a legislator at your facility, please contact Nick Chiappe at Nchiappe@caltrux.org.
CTA continued its participation as a member of the California Transportation Commission’s Road Charge Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) when it met on Friday, July 22.
Since 2015, CTA has been engaged with the California Road Charge TAC representing the trucking industry on California’s efforts to examine a fee-per-mile instead of the current “pay at the pump” as a way to fund transportation projects.
Conceptually, a road charge would tax drivers based on the number of miles they drive rather than on the gallons of gas or diesel they use. One of the items that was presented during the meeting was the Pilot Program that is exploring rate setting for road charge. The pilot will test revenue collection under a road charge program.
CTA has had discussions with the CTC who are seeking volunteers for the Pilot Project.
If you are interested and need more information contact Eric Sauer at esauer@caltrux.org.
The Executive Committee of Californians for Fair Pay and Accountability announced their measure officially qualified for the 2024 ballot. The Committee submitted 962,217 signatures in support of the reform, meeting the 110% validity rate threshold required by the Secretary of State.
The ballot measure will put workers’ labor claims back in the hands of the independent regulator, getting their claims handled faster without having to hire trial lawyers that drag out the process and take a third of their settlements. This initiative will also help small businesses around California that have been defenseless against shakedown lawsuits while ensuring willful violators will be fined double the penalties.
