By Andrew Sheeler – Reporter, Sacramento Bee

Proposition 22, a response to AB 5 that would reclassify rideshare drivers for companies like Uber and Lyft as independent contractors, just received an endorsement from the National Black Chamber of Commerce.

The NBCC joins the California-Hawaii State Conference of the NAACP, the California National Action Network and the California Urban Partnership and other groups in endorsing the ballot measure.

Supporters of Proposition 22 argue that app-based driving jobs provide opportunities for low-income and minority Californians, and point to a study from Berkeley Research Group that states that an employee-based model would lead to the loss of up to 900,000 jobs in the state.

“We are being threatened with Assembly Bill 5 (AB5). This threatens to take away the right of Californians to work as independent contractors with flexible schedules with app-based platforms and would force them to become employees with flat wages and set schedules,” co-founders Harry Alford and Kay DeBow wrote in a letter endorsing the measure. “An employee model would also greatly limit the availability of these services, resulting in lost work opportunities and reduced access to rideshare and delivery services that many minority communities have grown to rely on.”