MEDIA RELEASE

Help Us Get the California AB 5 Business License Requirement Extended!

Alexandria, VA, June 24, 202  - In 2019, travel advisors in California were granted an exemption from onerous independent contractor (IC) regulations in a legislative bill named Assembly Bill (AB) 5, which was signed into law by Governor Newsom and became effective on January 1, 2020. This law allows independent advisors in the travel industry to continue to work as they had in the past provided they are themselves a registered seller of travel in California, or covered by a registered seller of travel, and they must have a business license as required by their local municipality (city, town, county, etc).

This requirement is due July 1, 2020. In light of the issues with COVID-19 and the tremendous loss of business in the travel industry, ASTA, the California Coalition of Travel Organizations (CCTO) and their members have been working to request an extension or deferral of the deadline. We are requesting this for a number of reasons, namely that many local or county offices have been closed, making it impossible to obtain the required business license, and in some cases the cost of the business license has become a temporary hardship due to a complete loss of income during the COVID-19 crisis.

Our coalition has been in communication with the office of the author of AB 5, and has also written to the office of the Governor of California requesting an extension. But we need your help! Please take a moment to use the grassroots portal below to make your voices heard and let policymakers knows that this is an issue for our industry. Thank you!

We've created a simple way to get your voice heard on our website.           

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ABOUT ASTA

Rebranded in 2018 as the American Society of Travel Advisors, ASTA is the leading global advocate for travel advisors, the travel industry and the traveling public. Its members represent 80 percent of all travel sold in the United States through the travel agency distribution channel. Together with hundreds of internationally-based members, ASTA’s history of industry advocacy traces back to its founding in 1931 when it launched with the mission to facilitate the business of selling travel through effective representation, shared knowledge and the enhancement of professionalism. For more information about the Society, visit ASTA.org.