Entrepreneurship
Blog
‘Free market’ cities give urban fiefdoms some competition
A tangle of encrusted bureaucracies and counterproductive regulations has made it inordinately difficult for urban residents to live productive and affluent lives. Rent control. Zoning. Central planning. Tenant boards. Parking minimums. Most urban problems, from decrepit housing to street crime, are largely solvable, but politics is typically the enemy of ...
Business & Economics
The Biden Administration’s Push to Take One of California’s Worst Ideas Nationwide
The Biden administration has effectively declared war on gig work, with its Department of Labor proposing a new federal regulation inspired by California’s controversial AB 5 law that would limit people’s ability to be classified as independent contractors and work as they choose. As Bloomberg Law reports, “The US Labor Department’s new ...
Blog
Been There, Done That on Denying Americans the Freedom to Work as They Choose
Inspired by California’s controversial AB 5 – which was called “the worst piece of legislation to be passed and signed in California” by PRI’s Kerry Jackson – the Biden Administration is proposing new regulations to impose this agenda nationally. If successful, these policies would hurt entrepreneurship and minority economic advancement ...
Blog
Massachusetts Fails to Learn the Lesson of the “Success” From California’s AB 5
The top court in Massachusetts shut down a gig work ballot measure last week in a litigation battle brought on by opponents of independent contracting work. The ballot measure, that was anticipated to pass with over 80% of Uber and Lyft drivers in support in opinion surveys, would have classified ...
Blog
AB 5 is Taking Away Opportunities for Communities of Color & Low-Income Communities
Editor’s Note: On Monday, Dr. Wayne Winegarden, PRI senior fellow in Business and Economics, was invited to testify before the California advisory committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on the civil rights implications of California’s controversial AB 5. Winegarden’s comments as written are presented below: Madam/Mister Chairperson, members ...
Blog
In 2022, Will Lawmakers, Courts Respect Freedom of Californians to Work as they Choose?
Just before the pandemic struck, a new law infected California. Known as AB 5, the law upended 30 years of the freedom for people to work as independent contractors and reclassified millions as employees. The worst of legislative hubris, the law was unprincipled, exempting the politically-well-connected and clearly targeting certain ...
Blog
Requiring Uber/Lyft Drivers to Go Green Is Costly and Unrealistic Virtue Signaling
In a state where residents are increasingly given orders rather than more choices, an unelected group has decided that by 2030, 90% of all rideshare miles must occur in electric cars. We’re expected to accept this as progress. It will turn out to be anything but. The California Air Resources ...
Blog
Californians Reverse the State’s Legislature Providing a Fighting Chance for Innovation
Last month, Californians may very well have begun the process of saving their state, reversing a move by the state legislature. They voted by a large margin via Proposition 22 to preserve the ability of people to pursue flexible working arrangements if they so choose. In September 2019, the California ...
Blog
What’s Up with the New “California Driver Benefits Fee”?
Uber customers might have noticed a new fee that’s appearing on their charges. Now, who do we have to thank for that? Oh, yes, the lawmakers who tried to destroy the gig economy and its millions of jobs. Uber added a “California Driver Benefits Fee” to its charges on Dec. ...
California
However You Look at it, Rideshare Drivers Are Independent Contractors
The law that virtually bans independent contract work in California nearly claimed the jobs of the hundreds of thousands it was supposedly intended to help. They were granted a reprieve, but it might not last long. By now, both rideshare drivers and customers are suffering from whiplash caused by the ...
‘Free market’ cities give urban fiefdoms some competition
A tangle of encrusted bureaucracies and counterproductive regulations has made it inordinately difficult for urban residents to live productive and affluent lives. Rent control. Zoning. Central planning. Tenant boards. Parking minimums. Most urban problems, from decrepit housing to street crime, are largely solvable, but politics is typically the enemy of ...
The Biden Administration’s Push to Take One of California’s Worst Ideas Nationwide
The Biden administration has effectively declared war on gig work, with its Department of Labor proposing a new federal regulation inspired by California’s controversial AB 5 law that would limit people’s ability to be classified as independent contractors and work as they choose. As Bloomberg Law reports, “The US Labor Department’s new ...
Been There, Done That on Denying Americans the Freedom to Work as They Choose
Inspired by California’s controversial AB 5 – which was called “the worst piece of legislation to be passed and signed in California” by PRI’s Kerry Jackson – the Biden Administration is proposing new regulations to impose this agenda nationally. If successful, these policies would hurt entrepreneurship and minority economic advancement ...
Massachusetts Fails to Learn the Lesson of the “Success” From California’s AB 5
The top court in Massachusetts shut down a gig work ballot measure last week in a litigation battle brought on by opponents of independent contracting work. The ballot measure, that was anticipated to pass with over 80% of Uber and Lyft drivers in support in opinion surveys, would have classified ...
AB 5 is Taking Away Opportunities for Communities of Color & Low-Income Communities
Editor’s Note: On Monday, Dr. Wayne Winegarden, PRI senior fellow in Business and Economics, was invited to testify before the California advisory committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on the civil rights implications of California’s controversial AB 5. Winegarden’s comments as written are presented below: Madam/Mister Chairperson, members ...
In 2022, Will Lawmakers, Courts Respect Freedom of Californians to Work as they Choose?
Just before the pandemic struck, a new law infected California. Known as AB 5, the law upended 30 years of the freedom for people to work as independent contractors and reclassified millions as employees. The worst of legislative hubris, the law was unprincipled, exempting the politically-well-connected and clearly targeting certain ...
Requiring Uber/Lyft Drivers to Go Green Is Costly and Unrealistic Virtue Signaling
In a state where residents are increasingly given orders rather than more choices, an unelected group has decided that by 2030, 90% of all rideshare miles must occur in electric cars. We’re expected to accept this as progress. It will turn out to be anything but. The California Air Resources ...
Californians Reverse the State’s Legislature Providing a Fighting Chance for Innovation
Last month, Californians may very well have begun the process of saving their state, reversing a move by the state legislature. They voted by a large margin via Proposition 22 to preserve the ability of people to pursue flexible working arrangements if they so choose. In September 2019, the California ...
What’s Up with the New “California Driver Benefits Fee”?
Uber customers might have noticed a new fee that’s appearing on their charges. Now, who do we have to thank for that? Oh, yes, the lawmakers who tried to destroy the gig economy and its millions of jobs. Uber added a “California Driver Benefits Fee” to its charges on Dec. ...
However You Look at it, Rideshare Drivers Are Independent Contractors
The law that virtually bans independent contract work in California nearly claimed the jobs of the hundreds of thousands it was supposedly intended to help. They were granted a reprieve, but it might not last long. By now, both rideshare drivers and customers are suffering from whiplash caused by the ...
