quick update

As many of you may know or have heard, Senate Budget Amendment 260 was withdrawn last night. What we've been told from Senator McGee's office is that consensus could not be reached.

However, just because the amendment did not pass as part of the Senate Budget does not mean it's dead. Instead, the Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce redrafted House Bill 1844 today and reported it out favorably. This means that it moves on to another committee before making it to the House floor for a vote before the end of the session in July.

We do not yet know what the revised language in HB 1844 includes, but we've been told it will incorporate some language from the withdrawn Amendment 260.

As soon as we know what the new language is and to which committee the amendment is headed next, we will update this space -- likely early next week. At that point, we encourage you to call your representatives frequently to make your voices heard.

CORRECTION REGARDING SENATE DEBATE ON BUDGET

Correction: The Senate will be meeting in caucus on Tuesday, May 25th to discuss the budget and amendments. The public session that you can watch on-line (http://masslegislature.tv/?l=sen_video) will begin on Wednesday, May 26th starting at 10AM. It will most likely continue into Thursday and Friday. We are looking for information on when the Independent Contractor amendments might come up for discussion.

Language of the new amendments

There are currently three amendments to the Independent Contractor law up for vote as part of the 2011 Budget -- Amendments 200, 207, and 260. You can read them here by clicking on the appropriate number. Although Amendments 200 and 207 would be helpful solutions, we feel that their chances of passing are slim. Amendment 260 is the one that Senator Thomas McGee's office worked to put together and seems to have the greatest chance of passing.

In a nutshell: Amendment 260 exempts from Prong 2 of the current law those freelancers who work from their place of residence and who register with the Secretary of State. The amendment also includes provisions to protect employees who "may be coerced, threatened or intimidated into establishing an independent business."

Please take a look at the language in Amendment 260. We believe that this is a small step forward in helping Massachusetts Independent Contractors get back to work. We recognize that this language may still be problematic for some of you -- namely, those of you who do not work in your place of residence. 

If you agree with the language in Amendment 260, please call your State Senators on Monday, May 24th, to ask for their support.

If you do not agree with the language in Amendment 260, we urge you to call Senator Thomas McGee's office (617-722-1350) and state why the language doesn't work. We don't know whether the language can be changed at this point (before the Senate Session on Tuesday, May 25th), but they should hear from you and understand how the amendment language affects your ability to work.

Please leave us your comments below so we can gauge your impressions of the language. 

Don't forget to watch the Senate Session live on Tuesday, May 25th here.

Update and Call to Action

Senator Thomas McGee and others have been working on language to amend the Independent Contractor Law (M.G.L. Chapter 149, Section 148b). This language attempts to allow Massachusetts Independent Contractors to get back to work while protecting those who were being misclassified. The language will be finalized in the next few days and should be available here by Friday evening. We will put the language on the blog as soon as it becomes available. 

This language is part of an amendment to the Senate Budget, which will be deliberated on Tuesday, May 25th. You can watch this debate online here.

If you agree with the language, contact your State Senators on Monday to ask them to vote for this amendment! Find out who your state senator is in the sidebar at the right.

House Bill 1844, by the way, is still alive.  A committee report on that bill should be coming out on May 28th. After that, we will have to follow its progress toward a vote.