Today, the New Jersey Assembly Labor Committee is holding a hearing that will include Assembly Bill 4735, which is a carveout bill intended to protect amateur sports officials from New Jersey’s application and interpretation of the ABC Test.
The schedule lists A4735 for discussion only, meaning the committee will not vote today on whether to advance this bill.
Numerous members of the broad, statewide coalition trying to stop the state’s deeply misguided independent-contractor rule from taking effect October 1 are submitting written testimony or appearing to testify in person.
I’m one of those people, with my testimony explaining how carveout bills for just a handful of professions are not the answer to this kind of freelance busting that targets an estimated 1.7 million independent contractors across hundreds of professions.
My testimony urges lawmakers to follow the lead of New Jersey Senate President Nick Scutari in working to prevent this rule from taking effect October 1, and to stop all legislation related to independent contractors until a comprehensive review can be completed to create a reasonable approach that includes analysis of economic consequences and protection of all independent contractors.
You can download a PDF of my written testimony with footnoted sources here:
I’ve also copied and pasted the text of my testimony below for anyone who would like a more easily searchable version, with links to the source material embedded.
My Testimony, New Jersey A4735
Dear Chairman Verrelli and Members of the Assembly Labor Committee,
Thank you for this opportunity to share my strong opposition to Assembly Bill 4735, which would protect the independent-contractor status of amateur sports officials—and only amateur sports officials—from the New Jersey Department of Labor & Workforce Development’s ABC Test rule that is scheduled to go into effect October 1.
A4735 is at least the third carveout bill that has been introduced in response to the Labor Department’s wildly overreaching ABC Test rule. This carveout approach in New Jersey parallels the early stages of chaos that ultimately ensued after the State of California implemented its ABC Test law, which harmed hardworking independent contractors in more than 600 professions. Here in New Jersey, carveout bills have already been introduced specific to financial advisers, insurance agents, AAA roadside assistance drivers and golf caddies. In California, the Legislature eventually exempted more than 100 professions after seeing all the damage this kind of ABC Test policymaking caused.
Not only is the carveout approach a wholly unfair way of playing favorites among New Jersey’s estimated 1.7 million independent contractors, but the fact that everyone from high-school soccer referees to six-figure insurance brokers is seeking the Legislature’s help makes it undeniably clear that the Labor Department’s rulemaking goes far beyond targeting cases of actual employee misclassification.
The ABC Test, as it is being applied in New Jersey and as the Labor Department now intends to interpret it, weaponizes the regulatory language to threaten the livelihoods of all kinds of independent contractors, as well as the businesses we work with every day.
I respectfully request that the Legislature table this bill and all legislation related to independent contractors until at least the following three concerns have been addressed.
Concern No. 1: Possible Civil Rights Violations
On December 3, 2020, almost a year after California’s ABC Test law (known as Assembly Bill 5, or AB5) went into effect, the California Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights was created to study the law’s civil rights implications. The committee’s members held public hearings and took hours of testimony from lawmakers, subject-matter experts and independent contractors.
In December 2024, members of that committee issued a report whose key points and recommendations included the following:
“There is significant evidence suggesting AB5 disproportionately and negatively affects women, immigrants, people of color and the politically powerless.”
“The testimony we heard came from a significant number of different industries and circumstances, suggesting the unfavorable impact of AB5 is quite widespread.”
“States should avoid some of the pitfalls that California fell into, including rushing into the adoption of the ABC Test and politicizing the exemption process.”
Sadly, where we find ourselves today in Trenton with A4735 is our own state’s Legislature rushing headfirst to compound the mistakes that California made.
With respect to equal treatment under the law, while A4735 would protect the independent-contractor status of amateur sports officials, it does nothing to help similarly situated independent contractors such as youth sports coaches or individuals who help parks departments and municipalities comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The concerns of these professions are detailed in written public comments the state’s Labor Department received.
Should A4735 become law, New Jersey would find itself with umpires at kids’ baseball games being protected as independent contractors while the youth sports coaches and ADA-inclusion consultants standing mere feet away from them, serving the same population of children at the same event, were not receiving equal protection under the law.
And beyond that point, while everyone values the continued work of amateur sports officials in our communities, it is odd for the Legislature to be prioritizing kids’ sports over some of the other deeply serious concerns raised in the estimated 9,500 written public comments the Labor Department received, including:
The state’s Office of the Public Defender, which wrote that “court calendars will be delayed, clients will wait longer for representation, and constitutional mandates will be jeopardized”;
Transportation-industry leaders who explained how this interpretation of the ABC Test threatens the regional supply chain;
Translators and interpreters who said the rule will restrict their ability to help meet requirements under the Voting Rights Act, the Patient Protection Act and more;
Therapists who called this rulemaking “potentially catastrophic” for the Early Intervention System that helps infants and toddlers with disabilities.
No legislation has been introduced to protect these kinds of independent contractors or any of the politically powerless musicians, writers and thousands of other individuals who filed written comments and testified in opposition at public hearings.
Concern No. 2: Sexism in Policymaking
As noted above, a key finding from members of the California Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is that overly restrictive use of the ABC Test had a disproportionate and negative impact on women in California. The public-comment process that New Jersey just went through about the current ABC Test rulemaking included evidence that this same kind of harm to women is already happening in New Jersey because of the way the ABC Test is being applied and interpreted in our state.
Economists from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University compared New Jersey’s results to what other states are experiencing by doing things differently. These economists found that because of the ABC Test approach in use here, New Jersey has already experienced:
a 3.81% decrease in W-2 employment;
a 10.08% decrease in self-employment;
a 3.95% decrease in overall employment;
stark gender disparities, with women’s traditional W-2 employment having declined by 7.4% while men’s showed no significant change.
Adding further insult to that existing injury against New Jersey’s entrepreneurial women, A4735 seeks to protect amateur sports officials—a profession that is 90% to 93% male. And this bill comes after carveout bills were introduced to try and protect financial advisers (67% of whom are male); golf caddies (93% of whom are male); and roadside assistance drivers (95% of whom are male).
The New Jersey Legislature, in choosing which professions it plans to carve out so people can continue earning a living, is systematically favoring male-dominated professions over female-dominated professions.
Concern No. 3: Failure to Respect the Will of the People
Independent contractors have been filling public-hearing rooms in Trenton to standing-room-only capacity since at least 2019, trying to get the State of New Jersey to stop weaponizing ABC Test regulatory language. We have continued to urge the State to reinstate the use of the IRS Test that Governor Phil Murphy’s administration sought to eliminate based on badly mischaracterized research and data. We have also asked the State to consider regulatory language similar to what the U.S. Department of Labor and Congress recently put forward to protect independent contractors nationwide.
We, along with the broader business community, have demonstrated 99% statewide opposition to this kind of ABC Test policymaking across all kinds of professions, for all the above reasons and more. Governor Mikie Sherrill’s administration responded to us by imposing the ABC Test rule anyway, and by stating within its text that the Labor Department would not consider our detailed concerns about mischaracterized research and data, or our concerns about the economic consequences of the Department’s actions.
Our Legislature needs to protect us all now.
What Should Happen Next
A4735 and the other carveout bills that have been introduced are indisputable evidence that the ABC Test in New Jersey is now misclassifying a wide range of legitimate independent contractors as employees—a harmful practice that must end.
I strongly urge our Legislature to follow the lead of Senate President Nick Scutari and work to stop the Labor Department’s ABC Test rule from taking effect October 1. In addition, I urge you to stop all legislation related to independent contractors until a comprehensive review can be completed to create a reasonable approach that includes analysis of economic consequences and protection of all independent contractors.
Thank you again for this opportunity to be heard. I remain at your disposal to help in any way that I can.
