[lyricaljoke]

The exemptions were very imperfect. Even if musicians and certain types of performers were exempted, this legislation has had an enormous effect on theater organizations, for example, especially at the semi-professional / community level. It's typical for these orgs, which have very limited budget, to hire actors and the creative team (set designers, lighting designers, sound etc.) as 1099 workers. The money is simply not there to be able to pay everybody at an hourly rate for the amount of time that's actual spent on these projects, and the outcome has been that many theater companies are unsure whether they can continue to operate at all. Unless the thinking has changed recently and my understanding is out of date, this is a situation that continues to be worrying to both theater artists and directors of theater orgs.