AB5, the new California State law limiting use and classification of independent contractors, went into effect on January 1, and is already seeing significant pushback from impacted industries, including the construction community. The construction community has already been actively engaged in fighting the bill, resulting in an exemption under the law. However, the law could have significant impact on transportation uses related to construction, and the community is continuing to fight for further exemptions.

"The construction industry has been actively engaged throughout the legislative process," Dwayne McKenzie, a partner at Cox, Castle & Nicholson, tells GlobeSt.com. "As a result, the construction industry and related construction trucking services exemptions were included in the bill, otherwise, we could have seen the industry have to take more significant action. Even as enacted, AB 5 has created significant issues over the use of owner-operators, so the industry is closely monitoring the trucking industry opposition to AB 5."

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Kelsi Maree Borland

Kelsi Maree Borland is a freelance journalist and magazine writer based in Los Angeles, California. For more than 5 years, she has extensively reported on the commercial real estate industry, covering major deals across all commercial asset classes, investment strategy and capital markets trends, market commentary, economic trends and new technologies disrupting and revolutionizing the industry. Her work appears daily on GlobeSt.com and regularly in Real Estate Forum Magazine. As a magazine writer, she covers lifestyle and travel trends. Her work has appeared in Angeleno, Los Angeles Magazine, Travel and Leisure and more.