AB5 Application Could Cripple Business

The Opinion section of the Sunday, Oct. 6 LA Daily News had an excellent article about the recently signed Assembly Bill 5. The article is on page 5 and is written by Trey Kovacs. In the article, Mr. Kovacs points out that the ABC test is retroactive for four years and will expose business to damages for unpaid overtime, meal and rest periods. The first thing that came to my mind was ex post facto laws. In looking up the definition of the laws I found that it is considered to apply mostly in criminal cases. I did find some indication that at the Constitutional Convention that all laws should be considered.

Retroactively applying AB5 back four years will affect the business greatly. Case in point: there is the applying of AB5 to newspaper delivery people. How much could the CV Weekly be on the hook for? How about the Daily News? That paper currently costs about $1,000 a year, home delivered. In the mid-’50s I delivered the LA Herald Express and the cost was $1.75 per month. I did not realize it at the time, but I was an independent contractor.

The business owners are not going to pay a plug nickel. We, the consumer, will wind up footing the entire bill.

I am in favor of going back to a part time state legislature. I will gladly trade in Portantino for Galpin. We need people who understand business and will not waste time on laws that will cripple free enterprise and the creation of jobs. A part time legislature will meet and do legislative duties for maybe four months and [legislators] then go back and live with what they have done. We, the voters of this state, were sold a bill of goods when we voted for a professional full time legislature.

(The above referenced from
https://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Ex+Post+Facto+Laws.)

Tom Suter

La Crescenta

Reassessing Government Spending

Sorry we don’t have any money! This is a common fact-of-life that taxpayers deal with because of government mismanagement of our taxes. How much more money can we, the taxpayers, afford before [we become] homeless?

Government employees receive wages and benefits well beyond the private sector. Union-controlled government has led to state- and country-wide debt. And of course, government has little or no concern of limitations or budgets. If it doesn’t have the immediate funds it cuts services to the people.

We need less government involvement and more services furnished by the private sector; service will be better for everyone and much less costly.

A current example is the teachers’ strike in Chicago (approximately 26,000 teachers and 8,000 additional staff members). On average, Chicago teachers earn $79,000, about $20,000 higher than the mean national salary for a public school educator.

The union is demanding a 15% pay raise over three years and better benefits, as well as a restorative justice coordinator at each school to supplant the heavy police presence. Teachers have also asked for thousands more support staff and the city to fund more affordable housing for teachers and students. The Illinois Policy Institute estimates that the Chicago Teachers Union’s demands would cost taxpayers an extra $397 million in the first year, with the figure increasing each subsequent year as benefits and compensation expand.

It’s time for a business approach to government.

Ken Grayson, owner

Grayson’s Tune Town

Montrose