| | | | |  | | By Jeremy B. White | Presented by Californians for Energy Independence | | 
Labor unions and Silicon Valley giants like Uber have spent years vying over the status of app-dispatched workers. | Justin Sullivan/Getty Images | THE GIG IS UP: California lawmakers and voters have already taken action on gig workers’ rights — but the dispute over how to classify them is still raging, from coast to coast and court to court. Labor unions and Silicon Valley giants like Uber have spent years vying over the status of app-dispatched workers who transport passengers and deliver food. It has been almost half a decade since California passed landmark Assembly Bill 5, which, depending on who you asked, promised to empower workers (labor) or demolish the gig industry (employers) by converting independent contractors into employees. The latest round played out today before the California Supreme Court as justices considered a challenge backed by the SEIU to Proposition 22, the industry’s 2020 initiative carving themselves out of AB 5. At issue was the balance of power between the Legislature and the electorate. Prop 22’s foes in labor argue the initiative should be discarded in its entirety because it unconstitutionally stripped lawmakers of their authority over workers’ compensation. “Prop 22 is limiting the Legislature from doing exactly what the Constitution grants the Legislature unlimited power to do,” attorney Scott Kronland said in court today. Justices probed that logic, asking if the initiative fully freezes out lawmakers and discussing the extent of voters’ powers. The gig companies’ attorney Jeffrey Fisher argued that policymaking power goes both ways: “Whatever the Legislature can do,” he asserted, “the people can do.” The landscape has changed over time. In 2019, Rob Bonta was a reliably labor-friendly assemblymember who voted for AB 5. Now the attorney general, Bonta’s office is defending Prop 22 in court. Uber has embraced a more aggressive role by spending millions to put allies in Sacramento. The hearing reinforced how the gig economy remains a live political issue — and not just in California. In Massachusetts, labor unions have asked the courts to block a set of Prop 22-esque ballot initiatives. Zooming out further, labor’s advocacy for gig workers has paralleled union efforts to organize California fast food workers and to limit job losses from self-driving vehicles. As justices debated today, the state Senate passed a union-backed bill limiting robotaxis. Among Senate Bill 915’s opponents: Uber. IT’S TUESDAY AFTERNOON. This is California Playbook PM, a POLITICO newsletter that serves as an afternoon temperature check on California politics and a look at what our policy reporters are watching. Got tips or suggestions? Shoot an email to jwhite@politico.com. | | A message from Californians for Energy Independence: As California transitions to a lower carbon energy economy, we should continue to produce the oil and gas we still need in-state, where it meets world-class environmental standards and our communities can benefit from the revenues. But instead, California energy policies are shutting down in-state oil production faster than we can build adequate replacement energy - increasing our dependence on more costly imported oil. Get the facts on California energy policies. | | | |  | WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY | | | 
The California Teachers Association has released a new ad that swipes at Newsom over his education budget plans. | Rich Pedroncelli/AP | CTA COUNTEROFFENSIVE — The California Teachers Association is ramping up its campaign against Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget cuts. An incoming volley of television advertisements should ratchet up the tension between Newsom and the CTA, a labor heavyweight and pillar of Democratic support. The union group’s spot features footage of Newsom himself vowing to "transform" schools. This isn’t the first time the governor has gotten crosswise with the CTA. Newsom’s push to reopen schools during the Covid-19 pandemic created some friction as unions warned against reopening without sufficiently vaccinating teachers. But now the dispute is monetary in nature — and in a time of scarcity, CTA is flexing its muscles to keep schools off the chopping block. Blake Jones dove into the group’s budget play. | | | | NEW! AN EXCLUSIVE CALIFORNIA BALLOT-MEASURES COVERAGE TEAM: The impact that ballot measures have on California residents, industries, and Legislature is enormous. From settling broad cultural questions to changing obscure governance rules, ballot measures in essence, have become the fourth branch of government in the most influential state capital in the U.S. As your go-to source for reporting on Golden State politics, policy, power, POLITICO has formed a new ballot measure team in California that will deliver in-depth insights into the strategies, policy ideas, personalities, money and influence driving ballot measures. LEARN MORE. | | | | | | | ON THE BEATS | | REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS — Arizona doctors could soon get licensed to provide abortions in California. Newsom is expected to sign SB 233, after the state Senate held a final vote of 30-8 today. The vote came just weeks after Newsom urged the Legislature to pass legislation reacting to Arizona’s 19th century abortion ban. Arizona’s lawmakers recently discarded the law, but it could still stay in place for weeks — if not months — due to legislative procedures, and Newsom argues California should fill a critical gap for abortion seekers looking for care during that time. The swift passage of the California bill today builds on the state’s longstanding efforts to bolster abortion access, which have been supercharged by the fall of Roe v. Wade. “As much as we talk about women’s rights, the decision over one’s own body is still in question in the United States,” said state Sen. Aisha Wahab. “California is a state where we try to provide for every single community, especially our neighbors who are suffering.” | | | | A message from Californians for Energy Independence:   | | | ARTIFICIAL ACTION — A fiercely contested bill to outlaw biased algorithms narrowly cleared the Assembly floor today — part of a flurry of artificial intelligence votes. With no debate and the bare minimum of 41 votes, the Assembly advanced Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan’s bill requiring companies to root out prejudice in automatic decision-making tools that can be used to vet job applicants, examine housing applications and more. Assembly Bill 2930 has faced opposition from a panoply of business groups. Already this week, lawmakers have passed bills regulating the data that flows into AI models and how actors’ digital likenesses can be used in life and in death.
| | A message from Californians for Energy Independence: California faces growing inflation, a rising cost of living, and has some of the highest gas prices in the country. Now, California energy policies could make matters worse.
That’s because California is shutting down in-state oil and gas production before we have adequate replacement energy. That forces our state to spend $25 billion a year importing more costly oil to meet our needs - sending billions that could be supporting California’s economy out of state instead. These energy policies threaten California’s access to reliable energy, while increasing our gas prices.
As California transitions to a lower carbon energy economy, we should continue to produce the oil and gas we still need in-state, where it meets world-class environmental standards and our communities can benefit from the revenues - rather than increase our dependence on more costly imported oil.
Get the facts on California energy policies. | | | | | WHAT WE'RE READING TODAY | | — Special interest groups spent more than $114 million lobbying California officials and legislators in the first quarter of 2024. The spending, which averaged around $1.25 million per day, is on par with last year’s record-setting numbers. (CalMatters) — “Noah” took the cake for California’s most popular baby name in 2023, surpassing “Liam” for baby boys. “Olivia” continued its reign as the top name for girls for the fifth straight year. (Axios) — Gas prices are declining statewide, an automobile association says. (The Sacramento Bee) | | AROUND THE STATE | | — California Forever paid half a million dollars in grants to 45 nonprofits working in Solano County, where it’s long-campaigned to build a new city. (KQED) — A group of Bay Area mayors are traveling to China to woo new investors. (East Bay Times) — The city of San Diego pays women and people of color less than white men on average, a new study found. The city is already mobilizing to close the gaps. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
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