It's seems plausible to create a "company" around the freelancer to keep things as they essentially are. Make it a company to company contract, freelancer has minimally more overhead
The article is correct: the law's well intentioned but misguided. If, as a freelancer, I decide to focus on one huge contract with the same company for two years, that should be my decision.
And before anyone says that a c corp is a lot harder to form, it's not really. A little bit extra on legal zoom and that's about it. Additionally, as an LLC, you can elect to file taxes as a C Corp. Which again, absolves the "employer" from needing to file a 1099 at all.