Temporarily Blocked California Law Would Hurt Ag Exports, Ag Transportation Group Says
The Agriculture Transportation Coalition applauded a California judge’s decision to temporarily block a law the group said would hurt exports through higher trucking costs, according to an emailed press release. The judge granted a temporary restraining order that blocks the legislation, AB 5, which would make it harder for gig economy companies to qualify workers as independent contractors as opposed to employees, according to a Jan. 1 Reuters report. The AgTC said the law, if enacted, would “wreak havoc on trucking in California and on the hundreds of thousands employed in U.S. agriculture/forest products exports.”
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
The group said agricultural and forest products are the U.S.’s “largest volume” export, and exports have “struggled to stay competitive” through the U.S.’s trade wars. The group said its exporters need “transport and ports” to be more affordable. “Already California gateway ports, upon which so much U.S. ag exporters depend, are losing market share,” AgTC said. “By leading to significantly higher trucking costs in California, AB 5 would accelerate this trend, undermining access of US agriculture to our foreign markets.”
The group also said it hopes New York and New Jersey, which are considering “similar” laws, will “take note” of the temporary restraining order in California. “The AgTC believes that Federal law must continue to control interstate commerce, and should preempt individual state efforts to dramatically change our trucking laws, causing severe damage to our nation's export competitiveness,” the group said.