Last Chance to Advocate for Amendments to AB 1850!
Call for Action
This is our last chance to advocate for amendments to AB 1850!
California Assembly Bill 1850 has passed the Assembly and been sent to the Senate. It will likely be sent to the Committee on Business, Professions and Economic Development or the Labor, Public Employment and Retirement Committee, or both. We must all act now to ensure fair treatment for all professional translators and interpreters—not only in California, but across the country.
This is a vital issue for all of us, not just our colleagues in California. Failure to succeed in California could have devastating and wide-ranging impacts across the country. Legislation based on AB 5 has already been proposed in other states and at the federal level. An exemption in California would likely result in an exemption in other states and in the U.S. Congress. Failure to gain an exemption would mean fighting this battle in state after state.
Currently, AB 1850 provides for an exemption from the ABC test under AB 5 for “certified translators” only. Interpreters and other professional translators would still fall under AB 5. This is unfair and unacceptable.
It is imperative that you contact your senator and demand that “professional translators and interpreters” be exempt from the stringent ABC test under AB 5, in favor of the previous Borello test. You can find your senator here.
Once we know to which committee(s) AB 1850 has been referred, you can also submit a position statement as an individual here.
If you do not live in California but have friends or family there, ask them to join us in advocating for an exemption for all professional translators and interpreters in AB 1850. In addition to the detrimental economic impact AB 5 has had on our colleagues in California, tell them it has also negatively impacted access to quality language services for end users, immigrants, minorities, limited-English-proficient populations and countless businesses in California.
Ted R Wozniak
President, ATA
