Hillicon Valley — Biden proposal could alter gig economy

A proposal unveiled by the Biden administration on Tuesday that would reclassify some contractors could disrupt the gig economy.  

Meanwhile, NASA said its historic planetary defense mission was successful.  

This is Hillicon Valley, detailing all you need to know about tech and cyber news from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. Send tips to The Hill’s Rebecca Klar and Ines Kagubare. Someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.

Labor unveils rule to reclassify contractors 

The Labor Department on Tuesday unveiled a proposed rule that would reclassify some independent contractors as company employees, a move that could disrupt the gig economy. 

The highly anticipated rule takes aim at companies that the Biden administration says “misclassify” their employees as contractors. By becoming employees, those workers would be covered by overtime and minimum wage laws that don’t apply to contractors.  

“Misclassification deprives workers of their federal labor protections, including their right to be paid their full, legally earned wages,” Labor Secretary Marty Walsh said in a statement.  

• Labor unions have been pushing the Biden administration to go after industries that rely on contractors, including ride-share companies such as Uber and Lyft, noting that those workers are losing out on key benefits and will have trouble unionizing due to their contractor status.  
  
• The Labor Department said Tuesday that misclassification is a problem in a host of industries, including home care, janitorial services, delivery, trucking and construction. The department said the widespread issue makes it difficult for some businesses to compete with those that classify their workers as contractors. 

Read more here.  

NASA hails asteroid mission as a success 

NASA on Tuesday said its historic planetary defense mission was successful after a spacecraft that purposefully smashed into a tiny asteroid called Dimorphos last month altered its orbit by 32 minutes. 

At a press conference, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) team explained that before the impact, Dimorphos orbited a larger asteroid called Didymos in 11 hours and 55 minutes — after the strike, astronomers observed the orbital period is now 11 hours and 23 minutes. 

• NASA Administrator Bill Nelson noted the DART mission captured the attention of the entire world and “felt like a movie plot.” 
  
• “But this was not Hollywood,” Nelson said. “We showed the world that NASA is serious as a defender of the planet.” 
  
• The DART spacecraft struck Dimorphos, an asteroid that weighs about 5 billion kilograms and is roughly 7 million miles from Earth, on Sept. 26 at more than 14,000 miles per hour. 

Read more here.  

MUSK DENIES TALKING WITH PUTIN BEFORE TWEET 

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is denying claims by Ian Bremmer, president of political risk research firm Eurasia Group, that he spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin before posting a controversial tweet implying that Ukraine should not retake more land from Russia than it has lost this year. 

Musk had a “direct conversation” with Putin about the war, Bremmer wrote in a newsletter on Monday, and is convinced that the Russian dictator will use nuclear weapons against Ukraine if the smaller country does not back down. 

• Bremmer, a well-known foreign policy analyst, wrote that he had spoken to Musk two weeks ago and that Musk had told him of the conversation with Putin. 
  
• But a short time after a news story in Vice News about Bremmer’s newsletter was published, Musk tweeted a denial of the claims. 
  
• “I have spoken to Putin only once and that was about 18 months ago. The subject matter was space,” wrote Musk. 

Read more here.  

BIDEN TOUTS PLANNED BATTERY PLANT 

President Biden on Tuesday touted the plans for Honda to build a joint-venture battery factory in Ohio, saying new investments are part of the backbone of his economic agenda. 

“Just as my CHIPS and Science Act is spurring record investments in communities across the country, my Inflation Reduction Act is driving a manufacturing boom for electric vehicles. This has been the backbone of my economic plan: America is leading the world again, rebuilding our supply chains, infrastructure, and manufacturing here at home,” Biden said in a statement. 

Honda will team up with LG Energy Solution of South Korea to build the $3.5 billion battery factory as a joint-venture southern Ohio. The factory is expected to employ 2,200 people. 

Additionally, Honda announced it will invest $700 million and add 300 jobs to three of its Ohio factories so they can start manufacturing electric vehicles. 

Read more here.  

BITS & PIECES

An op-ed to chew on: The CHIPS Act alone won’t secure US semiconductor supply chains 

Notable links from around the web: 

Amazon Labor Union, With Renewed Momentum, Faces Next Test (The New York Times / Noam Scheiber and Karen Weise) 

The Bizarre Duality of Meta’s New Quest Pro VR Headset (Wired / Lauren Goode) 

Rising premiums, more restricted cyber insurance coverage poses big risk for companies (CNBC / Bob Violino) 

🐍 Lighter click: The cutest snake

One more thing: No more emojis for Harris 

Vice President Harris told late-night host Seth Meyers on Monday that she hasn’t been able to use emojis or group chats since taking on her role. 

“Obviously you have to make many sacrifices to hold this office, but is it true you can no longer send emojis?” Myers asked Harris during an interview on NBC’s “Late Night.” 

“OK, high class problems,” Harris jokingly responded. “I have not received directly an emoji in a year and a half.” 

The interview marked Harris’s network late-night TV debut during her vice presidency. Since taking office, she appeared on one other late-night show, Comedy Central’s “Tha God’s Honest Truth,” with host Charlamagne Tha God last December. 

Read more here.  

That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hill’s Technology and Cybersecurity pages for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you tomorrow.