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Bass’ masterclass in crushing small business — and minority entrepreneurs

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LA’s roads are in a shocking state of disrepair. The state of California has the third-worst roads in the nation, according to the Construction Coverage newsletter, with 28.4% in poor condition. And Angelenos know that the problem starts here.

Karen Bass’ team looked at a 130-year-old LA program that actually got stuff done to fix roads — and torched it in the name of compliance with AB 5.

That’s the 2019 law that unions pushed through the state Legislature to force independent contractors to work as employees in some industries.

It’s a story of rigid ideology trumping real-world results.

For decades, independent owner-operators hauled asphalt, debris, and materials for LA’s streets and got the ax. Nearly 100 of these truckers showed up at City Hall in 2023, to protest the bureaucratic guillotine dropped on their livelihoods. The city called it following the law.

The financial bloodbath was, unfortunately, spectacular.

These weren’t app-based side hustlers; they were multi-generational business owners who had bet everything on the city’s long-standing contracts. Many were marginalized people of color.

Families dropped up to $300,000 per........

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