Tuesday, March 30, 2010

SENATE TO DEBATE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BILL WHICH CONTAINS AN INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR CHANGE

PLEASE TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION

The language from HB.1844 - An Act Relative to Independent Contractors has been added as an amendment to the Senate Economic Development Bill S. 2345. It will be debated this Thursday, April 1st. Call your State Senator and Senate President Therese Murray (617-722-1500) to support the Independent Contractor Law Amendment in the Economic Development Bill (Amendment #4). To find your State Senator go to http://www.mass.gov/legis/memmenus.htm.

Following is the language in Amendment 4:

Messrs. Tisei, Tarr, Knapik and Hedlund move to amend the bill (Senate, No. 2345) by inserting at the end thereof the following:

“SECTION X. Section 148B of chapter 149 of the Massachusetts General Laws, as amended by section 26 of chapter 193 of the acts of 2004, is hereby amended by striking out paragraph (a) and inserting in place the following new paragraph: -

(a) For the purpose of this chapter and chapter 151, an individual performing any service, except as authorized under this chapter, shall be considered to be an employee under those chapters unless:-

(1) the individual is free from control and direction in connection with the performance of theservice, both under his contract for the performance of service and in fact; and
(2) the service is performed outside the usual course of the business of the employer; or,
(3) the individual is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, profession or business of the same nature as that involved in the service performed.”

If you would like to read the bill for debate in its entirety, here is the link:
http://www.mass.gov/legis/bills/senate/186/st02pdf/st02345.pdf
The link for the amendments that will also be debated during the Senate’s consideration of the primary bill S.2345 is: http://www.mass.gov/legis/senate/s2345_amendments.htm. These amendments include the change to the Independent Contractor law (Amendment #4).

Note that House Bill 1844 is still alive in another committee. The exact language used in 1844 is covered in the amendment above. It is another way to get this legislation passed.

Please tell as many people as you can to contact the Senate President and their State Senator urging them to support Amendment #4 for S 2345. Your phone calls really matter!

Friday, March 19, 2010

Update on Committee Decision and Globe Article

Busy week! Here's an update for you:
 
Per the Committee office, they have officially asked for an extension to this bill.  They have asked for 45 days but will probably get less time.  The extension has to be approved by the House and Senate but will be done in an informal session.  The reason is that the committee can't make a decision and is considering whether to make changes to the language of the bill.  
 
This has turned out to be a hot topic, and the committee's received the most calls ever on this bill. You can call the House side of the committee at (617) 722-2014 and the Senate side of the committee at (617) 722-1350). Even better, reach out to your Representatives and Senators! Use the link at right to find out who your representatives are. The more they hear from us, the less likely they are to ignore the issue!
 
There is a Boston Globe article in the works about this law and the people it's affected. When we know its publication date (very soon), we will inform you. Continue to watch this space for more news!

Monday, March 15, 2010

Update

The Legislative committee has asked for more time to report out on this bill. This doesn't mean that they will get more time. If they do get the time, it should still be reported out fairly soon. I will keep checking on it.

The Globe article is still in process. Again this should come out soon as well.