---
type: "Bill"
title: "Worker status: employees and independent contractors: newspaper distributors and carriers."
description: "Existing law, as established in the case of Dynamex Operations W. v. Superior Court (2018) 4 Cal.5th 903 (Dynamex) , creates a presumption that a worker who performs services for a hirer is an employee for purposes of claims for wages and benefits arising under wage orders issued by the Industrial Welfare Commission. Existing law requires a 3-part test, commonly known as the \"ABC\" test, to determine if workers are employees or independent contractors for those purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20212022"
identifier: "AB 1506"
citation: "California AB 1506 (20212022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Worker status: employees and independent contractors: newspaper distributors and carriers."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Kalra"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 27
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2021-02-19"
last_action: "2021-09-27"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/90c982ee-72aa-4ff8-83db-d8b0777ad181"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1506"
source_hash: "2af5d7a335fee9484e3894760fe857280b9c63f3f34a18671ad22dc573092249"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California AB 1506 (20212022) — Worker status: employees and independent contractors: newspaper distributors and carriers.

Existing law, as established in the case of Dynamex Operations W. v. Superior Court (2018) 4 Cal.5th 903 (Dynamex) , creates a presumption that a worker who performs services for a hirer is an employee for purposes of claims for wages and benefits arising under wage orders issued by the Industrial Welfare Commission. Existing law requires a 3-part test, commonly known as the "ABC" test, to determine if workers are employees or independent contractors for those purposes.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **02/19/21 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1506&version=20210AB150699INT)
2. **03/11/21 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1506&version=20210AB150698AMD)
3. **07/06/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1506&version=20210AB150697AMD)
4. **08/26/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1506&version=20210AB150696AMD)
5. **09/03/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1506&version=20210AB150695AMD)
6. **09/27/21 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1506&version=20210AB150693CHP)
7. **AB1506** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1506)
8. **09/15/21 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1506&version=20210AB150694ENR)

## Votes

- With recommendation: That Senate amendments be concurred in. — **5–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 1506 Kalra Assembly Third Reading — **60–14** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **5–1** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB1506 Kalra By Cortese — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 1506 Kalra Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **73–1** (pass) · lower
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Kalra — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2021-02-19** Introduced. To print. `introduction`
- **2021-02-20** From printer. May be heard in committee March 22.
- **2021-02-22** Read first time. `reading-1`
- **2021-03-11** Referred to Com. on L. & E. `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-11** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on L. & E. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-03-15** Re-referred to Com. on L. & E. `referral-committee`
- **2021-04-26** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 1.) (April 22). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-04-27** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-06-01** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 60. Noes 14. Page 1709.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-06-02** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2021-06-16** Referred to Com. on L., P.E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2021-07-06** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on L., P.E. & R. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2021-07-13** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (July 12). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2021-08-16** In committee: Referred to suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2021-08-26** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (August 26). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage`
- **2021-08-26** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-08-30** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-09-03** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-09-07** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-09-08** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 38. Noes 0. Page 2504.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-09-08** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
- **2021-09-09** Re-referred to Com. on L. & E. pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.2. `referral-committee`
- **2021-09-10** From committee: That the Senate amendments be concurred in. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (September 10). `committee-passage`
- **2021-09-10** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 73. Noes 1. Page 3114.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-09-22** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 2 p.m.
- **2021-09-27** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2021-09-27** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 328, Statutes of 2021. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/90c982ee-72aa-4ff8-83db-d8b0777ad181`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).