California - Land of Loss and Sorrow

I am a fifth generation Californian and I am grieving for the devastating loss of the freedom to choose ones livelihood in what used to be a great state. California has always been a mecca for the brave, adventurous independent people of this nation and of the world! But no longer. Our legislature has voted out the freedom to be an independent self employed business person unless you are in certain specific industries . California voted to pass AB5 last year and as of January 2020 this law is destroying livelihoods for small business and sole proprietors. Due to the confusion in interpreting the convoluted language of this new law, business are not hiring independent contractors who live in California in fear of being exorbitantly fined for misclassification. Even if the person in business for themselves is on the exempt list and everyone thinks the classification is correct, they are not willing to chance it. Even out of state companies are not using gig workers in California in 2020. What a crime against humanity especially when lives are being destroyed due to the shut down of business in California due to the Covid pandemic. Now more than ever people need to be resourceful and self reliant to earn a living. Millions of jobs are gone as businesses big and small are going out of business. Having AB5 just makes matters worse.
Since the passage of AB5 once lawful independent contractors are now unable to be paid, unless someone is willing to pay them under the table, which is wrong. When someone is paid that way the state and federal government loses out on taxable income that would have been reported on a 1099, and the business paying is deprived of taking the legitimate deduction for paying for services. Once law abiding writers, musicians, artists, actors, teachers, teaching artists, tutors, translators...millions of others, are now illegal. Worse yet, even if the business that needs their services for a few hours or a few weeks does make them an official employee they would be only a part time employee not eligible for any benefits such as health care etc. Companies are notorious for limiting hours to being under full time so as to save on benefits. And even if they are somehow made a full time employee with benefits, another travesty of this law is, as an artist, musician, writer, film maker, the legal rights to any original creative work are forfeited if created as an employee instead of an independent contractor. 
This law needs to be repealed before any more damage is done. It can be revamped properly for the purpose it was intended, helping misclassified workers. Bring back freedom to California!