I doubt that AB5 was itself the target of much particular care.

Prop 22 is viable this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the dire straits so many are in. It's supported by those who need any source of income they can lay claim to, no matter its quality, and by those who know someone like that, and so on. In a year (or a society) in which fewer people were so desperate, I would very much like to believe that this perverted lawbuying would be shot down by a wide margin.

That's an interesting observation. I didn't really think about the fact that a lot of people may be quite desperate and that Uber/Lyft just going away (which they wouldn't dare--but that was the threat) immediately might be quite bad for a lot of people right now.

Wasn’t this put to a vote? Why do you call it “lawbuying”? Because you don’t like the result?

> but it can't buy enough votes to win on its own

Money can't buy love either, but being a billionaire makes that way, way, way easier.

So it can't buy something with 100% guarantee, but if it gets you to 90%, the difference is ... academic.