We now have calls coming from the Democratic and Republican sides of the aisle, in the New Jersey Senate and Assembly alike, for Governor Mikie Sherrill to delay the scheduled October 1 implementation of her Labor Department’s independent-contractor rule until July 1, 2027.
Yesterday, all three Republican representatives in New Jersey’s 24th Legislative District—Senator Parker Space, Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia and Assemblyman Mike Inganamort—sent a letter to the governor requesting the delay.
Their letter comes three weeks after New Jersey Senate President Nick Scutari, a Democrat, wrote a letter to the governor requesting the same delay.
Space, Fantasia and Inganamort make clear in their letter that their long-standing position remains, and that they would prefer to see the independent-contractor rule entirely withdrawn.
However, they add, a delay would give the Legislature more time to act in a way that would protect independent contractors and businesses across the state.
Here’s their letter:
You can download a PDF of their letter here:
As a constituent who lives in Legislative District 24, I am deeply grateful to my representatives for taking this action to try and protect us all.
Unfortunately, some other lawmakers are still playing favorites, only pushing carveout legislation to protect a few hand-chosen professions. Yesterday, the New Jersey Globe reported that Senator Paul Sarlo, a Democrat who serves as Deputy Majority Leader, came out in support of a carveout bill for amateur sports officials. Previously, Sarlo supported a carveout to protect financial advisers and insurance agents.
These carveout bills are deeply unfair when hundreds of professions are in the crosshairs of this Labor Department rulemaking. More than 600 professions were harmed when California codified similar ABC Test regulatory language. That state ultimately ended up with more than 100 professions carved out.
Saving a chosen few in New Jersey is just plain wrong. Our state should avoid following California’s disastrous mistake, and instead listen to Senator Scutari and the LD24 lawmakers.
Governor Sherrill should delay the rule until July 2027 to give the Legislature time to craft a reasonable solution for all professions.
‘ABC Test Disaster’
I would also like to give a second shout-out to Assemblywoman Fantasia for her post on X yesterday about this policy problem. She minced no words, writing:
Assemblywoman Fantasia is right. Again, if California’s experience with the ABC Test has taught us anything, it’s that carveouts for favored professions are a terrible approach.
The ABC Test itself is the problem our Legislature must fix. Yes, this regulatory language is old, but the way it’s being edited, interpreted, finagled and applied is new. The ABC Test is no longer a tool being used to target actual cases of employee misclassification. It has now been weaponized against legitimate independent contractors, as the increasing number of carveout bills in Trenton makes clear.
This weaponization of regulatory language against hardworking, entrepreneurial New Jerseyans is why it is paramount for the ABC Test rule to be stopped before it can take effect October 1—and why in the coming months, our Legislature must take meaningful action to protect us all from its well-documented harms.