CA Congressman Seeks To Codify Independent Contractor Status

Authored by Victoria Churchill via RealClearPolitics,

Republican Congressman Kevin Kiley of California has introduced legislation designed to protect independent contractors amid uncertainty from the administrative branch. The Modern Worker Empowerment Act would stop the back and forth that freelancers currently experience when leadership at the Department of Labor changes based on who is in power politically.

Freelancers are ecstatic about the move.

“There is no greater champion than Kevin Kiley for independent contractors in the United States Congress. He is a superhero. He has been trying to stop this freelance busting madness,” says award-winning freelance writer and editor Kim Kavin – founder of the grassroots advocacy group Fight For Freelancers and author of the Substack “Freelance Busting.”

A freelance journalist with over 20 years of experience, Kavin is one of the approximately 60 million independent contractors in America, a number that makes up about a third of the U.S. workforce.

Groups such as the Independent Women’s Forum have asked the Trump administration to repeal a Biden-era DOL independent contractor rule within his first 100 days in office. If this rule is not repealed by the Trump administration, its enforcement could wreak havoc upon the independent workforce. The rule, dealing with so-called “misclassification” of independent workers, was implemented in March of 2024.

The rule invokes a very narrow definition of freelance work – so narrow that many roles which are currently filled by independent contractors would have to be filled by traditional employees.

A state-level version of this rule already exists in Rep. Kiley’s home state of California. The legislation – known as AB5 – was passed in Sacramento during Kiley’s tenure as a state legislator. He has seen firsthand how this bill has led companies to stop employing independent contractors, affecting the business of tens of thousands of freelancers in the Golden State.

If this AB5-style Labor Department rule is kept in place by the Trump team, it threatens the livelihoods of freelancers like Kim Kavin across the whole country.

Kavin is a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit against the former Biden administration’s independent contractor rule, represented by the Pacific Legal Foundation, a free-market and limited-government legal nonprofit. The suit aims to overturn labor regulations perceived as detrimental to freelancers and small business owners like herself.

As previously mentioned, freelancers have experienced increased uncertainty as political administrations have changed. Last month, President Trump nominated Lori Chavez-DeRemer to the post of Labor Secretary. Chavez-DeRemer testified before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pension Committee and was confirmed last month by a vote of 67-32. Yet she received opposition from both Democrats and a few Republicans, including Rand Paul of Kentucky who was concerned about her pro-union bona fides.

Chavez-DeRemer was one of only three Republicans who supported the PRO Act in the 118th Congress, which was a part of Kamala Harris’ campaign platform.

Labor unions were a part of the GOP’s shifting coalition which supported Trump in November, so whether or not independent workers will be a priority for the Trump administration is still up in the air.

The PRO Act was billed as a pro-union piece of legislation, but masked within the labor union propaganda that pushed the bill forward in the last session of Congress was also the creation of an “ABC Test” intended to fix the “misclassification” of freelance workers who were doing the work of employees. The test was designed to be seemingly straightforward, but it has proven to be a disaster for independent workers, who saw their options for work cut as companies did not want to run afoul of regulations. In California, contract work was decimated as self-employment decreased by 10.5%.

While independent workers have some concerns over Chavez-DeRemer being confirmed as the head of the Department of Labor, her undersecretary Keith Sonderling is a known ally of the freelance workforce. Kavin told me that “Sonderling’s testimony suggested that the administration may be open to reassessing the independent contractor rule.”

Amid the current uncertainty from the Trump administration, Congress can and should step in. And champions like Kevin Kiley who have a track record of fighting with and for freelancers can solidify the freelance landscape for over 60 million workers – Americans like Kim Kavin – eliminating uncertainty about the kinds of work they will legally be allowed to perform.

Victoria Snitsar Churchill is a journalist and Young Voices Social Mobility Fellow based in Arlington, Virginia. Her work has appeared in the New York Post, RealClearPolitics, and The American Conservative.