If you follow state-level legislation aimed at helping working people, you’ll see the name Lorena Gonzalez come up often. As a member of the California Assembly, Gonzalez wrote California’s paid sick leave law, but that’s not all:
Assemblywoman Gonzalez also passed legislation prohibiting HOAs from fining homeowners for replacing grass lawns with drought resistant landscaping, created the first workplace bullying training requirement in the nation, and paved the way for stronger safety standards for high school student athletes by classifying high school cheerleading as a sport. She also co-authored the nation’s toughest rules to close the gender pay gap, and passed California’s New Motor Voter Act to streamline the registration for nearly seven million eligible voters.
Even in deep blue California, Gonzalez’s bills don’t always become law, but she’s been instrumental in moving the ball forward there, showing the rest of the nation that laws so often characterized by their opponents as unworkable pie in the sky are in fact sound policy. We asked Gonzalez five questions.
LAURA CLAWSON: Some of your highest profile efforts have involved workers like cheerleaders and Uber drivers, who haven't been classified as employees and have been denied the protections that comes with that status. Going in, did you think that this was the overarching problem you were tackling, or did you find the groups of workers separately and then see what connected them?
ASSEMBLYWOMAN LORENA GONZALEZ: In my "former life" as a labor leader in San Diego, I knew that misclassification of employees as independent contractors was a huge and growing problem. The professional cheerleaders bill brought forward a number of folks—including journalists, radio personalities, announcers and other gig workers who brought up their similar situations. That's when I started really looking at the workers in the new economy, including uber drivers and others, who lack traditional workplace protections. It is an issue area that will require us to really work together with organized labor and the currently un-organizeable workforce to come up with a long-term solution.
LC: Your first attempts to tackle some issues, like diaper affordability, have failed, and you've had to come back for a second try. What lessons would you want to convey about that? How much is that about reining in your aspirations, and how much is it about changing the debate so that the previously unpassable becomes law?
GONZALEZ: I think some issues definitely need the public debate to grow in order to create the political will necessary to get legislation passed and signed. I am currently working on a few multi-year efforts, including tackling the diaper gap, lowering the voting age to 16, eliminating gender bias in workers compensation, and ensuring farmworkers get overtime. Clearly, I am shameless when it comes to moving an agenda for social and economic justice. I think that is one of the benefits of coming from a job where I was unabashed advocate - you don't necessarily expect to win without substantial time spent organizing and educating folks inside and outside the legislative process. I hate losing a bill, but I am committed to the long term and know we will eventually win on all of these issues.
LC: We so often see Republicans gain control of a state government and come in with a ready-made (often ALEC-made) agenda, from tax breaks for the wealthy to attacks on unions to defunding Planned Parenthood and radically restricting abortion. Where Democrats control state governments, they don't tend to have the same kind of comprehensive agenda and drive to get big things done. California is something of an exception to that, and you're a significant part of that exception. Obviously California Democrats have a lot of power in the state, but what can Democrats in other states learn from California about passing legislation that helps working people?
GONZALEZ: I don't think that's always been true in California, and even now I don't see a coordinated agenda so much as a lot of talented, motivated people who are in a position to really run on the issues that they're passionate about. California has often been referred to as the laboratory for new progressive ideas, which means it's harder to look elsewhere for pre-packaged policies, but I think legislators here take that responsibility to innovate new solutions very seriously. Most importantly, I hope what we're demonstrating in California is that aggressive, progressive policy can work if given a chance, and that people really do respond if you give them an agenda that's about respecting them and empowering them to succeed. Too often in this country our politics has devolved into simply scaring people with a longer list of excuses why we can't help, but we're working hard here to show government can do a lot of good for a lot of people and I think Californians have shown us they're willing to show up and fight alongside us when we stand for them.
LC: A lot of the legislation you've sponsored has had some fairly predictable sources of opposition—pro-worker legislation always upsets business lobby groups, for instance. Was there one issue where the source or intensity of opposition surprised you?
GONZALEZ: I've been surprised by the strength and form of resistance to our diaper legislation. I knew from the beginning that it would take a lot of work to educate people about the importance of helping poor families secure an adequate supply of diapers, but some folks across the country responded with a lot of angry, knee-jerk reactions that were sexist, racist, and simply inhumane. This is still a new idea for people, and there's a long way to go to fully explain how diapers improve employment and self-sufficiency, empower women, and set children on course to be successful their whole lives.
LC: Who are some of the people in politics you most respect—elected or not, nationally known or not?
GONZALEZ: My role model and mentor for most my professional life has been former Los Angeles Labor Fed Secretary-Treasurer Maria Elena Durazo—one of the strongest, most effective and principled leaders I have ever met. I had a professor at UCLA Law School, Kimberlé Crenshaw, who taught me to rethink race and gender issues in a way that have seriously affected my politics from the beginning.
And, I love some of the incredible up-and-coming elected officials throughout the nation—Jane Kim in San Francisco is an incredible progressive voice who I think will go far, and I have really enjoyed working on ideas with Assemblywoman Nily Rozic in New York.
But, when I grow up, I would like to be Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor ... or Beyoncé.