Posted on 08/11/2019 1:23:31 PM PDT by Brilliant
California, the birthplace of the American tech industry, is emerging as a great foe.
On Monday, the state legislature resumes and will consider a bill that, if passed, could classify drivers for ride-hailing companies like Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. as employees, entitled to better wages and benefits.
The bill, along with state laws pending or passed on issues ranging from privacy to net neutrality, could substantially reshape companies across the technology sector, many of which are based in the Silicon Valley area where local ordinances targeting tech are also taking hold. The push by policy makers against local companies is an unusual turn that is setting a precedent for greater tech governance throughout the country...
Regulatory measures introduced in California are setting the precedent for greater tech governance throughout the country.
California also boasts the strongest net neutrality law in the country and recently enacted a law requiring online bots—applications that do automated tasks over the internet—to reveal their “artificial identity.” California is home to what is known as the gig-economy bill, officially titled Assembly Bill 5, that would affect Uber and Lyft drivers. That bill is working its way through the legislative process...
Rigorous business regulation has come to define California, where Democrats control every statewide office and a supermajority in the legislature. California was the first to enact appliance- and equipment-efficiency standards, as well as to mandate that companies hire female board directors. It has among the strictest fuel-efficiency requirements for vehicles and has helped set air-quality standards, pay standards and paper-trail requirements for ballots cast in elections.
Silicon Valley is overwhelmingly liberal and regularly elects Democrats to local office and the state legislature, including officials who support the privacy and gig-economy legislation...
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Schadenfreude!
They deserve each other.
Wait, leftists enacting ballot-protection measures? How did that one slip through?
On the main topic, if I were Lyft or Uber, I’d say “Okey dokey, no more rides for California!”
Can we make an exception for California and allow them to secede from the United States? They do not seem to want to participate any more, and they want to take their ball and go home.
A border wall on the order of the one being built between Mexico and the rest of the border between the Colorado River and the Gulf of Mexico seems to be in order. I have been in the mountainous country between Nevada and California, and many places are pretty formidable terrain to attempt to cross. By any means.
Which is the adversary? Tech or California?
Paywalled.
Transistor - Bell Labs in NJ
IC - Texas Instruments in TX
“There are a lot of other states tech companies could move to.”
But will their highly paid tech workers follow? When one makes $300k working for Google, a lot of the crap of California gets much easier to live with.
[and trust me, I do know of which I speak]
California is under foreign rule.
"It" refers to California, not "Tech Industry" – unclear until one reads the article.
The government of CA serves the great Adversary in many things.
It relies on power. Ry hat isn’t a great advesary, unless we allow ot.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.