The Chairman's Corner

By Thomas McCarthy

August 2019

How was your commute this morning? Mine was a little longer than usual as I flew up to Sacramento to meet with CMSA President Steve Weitekamp, Legal Counsel Mark Hegarty and our Association Lobbyist Josh Shaw, president of Shaw / Yoder / Antwih. We had a meeting this morning with staffers in our State Capitol to discuss AB-5 and how it will impact movers and our business model.

We are attempting to make sure there is an exemption for our businesses as the Dynamex decision changed how independent contractors are viewed, as well as changed from using the Borello test to the new ABC test. Which as I hope you already know, the B prong sinks most of us. We left the meeting at the Capitol with hopeful optimism that we may have a foot in the door to getting language added to the bill or possibly an amendment to the bill that allows for business-to-business work in a prime and subprime relationship.

I am glad I was able to make this trip to participate in the meeting and assist in laying the groundwork for what could be significant in our relationship with independent contractors. While Josh and Steve carried most of the load, Mark made the finer technical points. I did my best to represent movers and give them an idea of who we are.

I introduced myself and my role with the CMSA and told them that CMSA is made up of many multigenerational family businesses who are trying to follow the rules and provide a service. I explained that this ruling could have severe consequences and put many small businesses, sadly out of business.

This is going to take a lot more work and time, but the fact that we even got our foot in the door is an accomplishment. I don’t see any single business, no matter how big or small, getting an audience to try to amend a bill because it would be viewed as self-serving and not in the public interest. But as an Association made up of many movers, we have a voice.

I think what surprised me the most about this meeting was the location. We had it in an office. I know it sounds weird as aren’t most meetings in an office or conference area? Yes, BUT many of these meetings, if they are not willing to listen to you, just take the meeting in the hallway to rush you out. You never make it back to the office. If Steve calls on you and asks you to make the trip to Sacramento, I would encourage you to find time to do it. July 17th was by no means a great day for me to be out of the office, but looking back on my morning, it was well worth the trip.

So here I am flying home back to San Diego and thinking of all the lobbying that CMSA has done and continues to do. Not only are we working on this, but we are also involved in the contentious outsourcing of the DOD program.

While I only came up for this meeting and I am now flying home, Steve is staying behind for a meeting with the Bureau of Household Goods & Services (BHGS) tomorrow. Steve has been serving on the BHGS Advisory Panel since its beginning, representing all of us, so it seems the work never stops.

Well we are beginning our decent into San Diego, so time to wrap this up. As a seasoned procrastinator, I often try to remember this quote, “Why put off tomorrow what you can do today.” That is what we did today, we went to the Capitol and got our message out. I leave you with this question: What are you putting off for your tomorrow’s that you could, or more importantly, should be doing today? McCarthy out.

August 2019 - CMSA Communicator