Bill hiking California minimum wage to $15 passes state Assembly, goes to Senate

Bill hiking California minimum wage to $15 passes state Assembly, goes to Senate

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By Sharon Bernstein
March 31, 2016https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/VH...STS.JPG.cf.jpg

Fast-food workers and their supporters join a nationwide protest for higher wages and union rights outside McDonald's in Los Angeles, California, United States, November 10, 2015. REUTERS/Lucy NicholsonMore

By Sharon Bernstein

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - A plan to raise California's minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2022 cleared its toughest legislative hurdle on Thursday, putting the state on track to become the first in the nation to commit to such a large pay hike for the working poor.

The measure, incorporating a deal Governor Jerry Brown reached with labor leaders and fellow Democrats in the Legislature, was approved in the state Assembly, where it faced opposition from Republicans and some moderate Democrats, and was expected to go before the more liberal state Senate as soon as Thursday afternoon.

"If you work full time, your family shouldn't live in poverty," Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, a Southern California Democrat, said in support of the bill during debate on Thursday.

Lawmakers from the state's poorer regions said the measure could harm small businesses that are barely hanging on amid double-digit unemployment, ultimately leading to job losses.

If enacted, the bill would put California, home to one of the world's biggest economies, among a growing number of U.S. states and cities that have moved in recent years to surpass the federal minimum wage, which has remained at $7.25 an hour since 2009.

The measure would gradually raise California's hourly minimum wage from the current $10 to $15 by 2022 for large businesses and by 2023 for smaller firms.

It also would head off two competing ballot initiatives lacking a provision to allow the governor to suspend increases in hard economic times, a deal breaker for Brown.

The proposal, expected to pass easily in the state Senate before heading to Brown's desk, sped through the legislative process after the governor's office reached a deal with labor unions pushing a similar minimum wage hike in the form of two ballot initiatives.

With polls showing strong support for those measures at the ballot box, Brown emphasized that a version passed through the legislature would allow lawmakers to amend it if needed over time instead of going back to voters to request amendments in expensive and uncertain campaigns.

Moreover, the deal allows the state to opt out of minimum wage increases if the economy is doing poorly, a provision not in either of the union-backed ballot initiatives.

Even so, several moderate Democrats and most Republicans complained that it was being rushed through, and would disproportionately harm businesses in poorer parts of the state, where the cost of living is not high enough to warrant such a dramatic wage hike.

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Legislature approves minimum wage increase, sending historic measure to Gov. Jerry Brown

http://www.trbimg.com/img-56fd5d70/t...01/550/550x309Assemblyman Sebastian Ridley-Thomas is greeted by supporters of a measure to raise the state's minimum wage.
(Rich Pedroncelli / AP)

Liam Dillon Contact Reporter

In a move that puts the state at the forefront of efforts to raise wages for low-income workers across the country, state lawmakers approved a sweeping plan Thursday to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour over the next six years, a move that will boost the paychecks of millions of workers in California.

The Senate voted 26-12 — with loud cheers of "Si se puede" from the gallery above — to give final approval and send the measure to Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk less than one week after the legislative compromise was reached on the matter. Brown will sign the wage hike into law on Monday.

"At its core, this proposal is about fairness," Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León said just before the vote. "This is historic, and today I am proud to be a Californian."

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Live Updates: Gov. Jerry Brown to sign minimum wage legislation on Monday

The plan passed the state Assembly earlier in the day 48-26, receiving broad support from Democratic lawmakers who called the compromise effort an important step forward for California. No Assembly Republicans voted in favor of the increase. Opponents complained it was rushed and did not include a wide group at the negotiating table.

Just two Assembly Democrats voted against the deal: Tom Daly of Anaheim and Adam Gray of Merced. During what at times was an emotional debate, opponents advocated for a regional approach out of concern for small businesses.

The measure moved immediately to the state Senate.

The swift approval from the Legislature puts California at the forefront of efforts from liberals and labor groups nationwide to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour. The action caps a whirlwind week in the Capitol. Brown formally unveiled the plan Monday, and it is now ready for his signature just three days later.

"This is an argument about economic justice," Assemblyman Sebastian Ridley-Thomas (D-Los Angeles) said during floor debate. "Justice is not something that can be negotiated or compromised."

Under the plan, the state’s hourly minimum wage would increase from the current $10 to $10.50 on Jan. 1, 2017, then to $11 the following year, and increase by $1 annually until 2022.

Businesses with fewer than 26 employees would get an additional year to comply, and Brown and his successors could delay the increases by one year in the case of an economic downturn.

Assuming no pauses, the minimum wage would increase each year based on inflation starting in 2024.

Economists have estimated the measure would increase the pay of 5.6 million workers across the state — nearly 1 in 3.

Gray said in an interview after the vote that the impact on the state budget and automatic cost-of-living increases were deal-breakers for him.

He said his Central Valley district was very different from the wealthier coastal areas of California.

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California’s minimum-wage increase to $15 an hour over the next six years passed its most critical legislative test Thursday morning, with the state Assembly approving the deal.


"We have systemic, decades-long double-digit unemployment,” Gray said. "While $15 an hour probably isn’t even high enough for areas like San Francisco and parts of Los Angeles and our other urban centers, it’s too high for some small businesses and some communities."

The package is less aggressive than two labor-sponsored ballot measures that would have increased the minimum wage to $15 an hour more quickly. The leverage created by the ballot measures spurred Brown, who previously had been hostile to raising the wage beyond its current levels, to make a deal.

Still, Republicans and major business groups, including the Chamber of Commerce and California Restaurant Assn., warned that the package raised the wage far too much and far too fast. The Chamber of Commerce included it on its list of “job killer” bills and said it would be a burden to struggling businesses.

During debate, GOP lawmakers repeatedly raised the specter of job losses and increased automation by forcing businesses large and small to increase the wage to levels not seen in any other state.

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Restaurants have most at stake over $15 minimum wage

Aside from affecting low-wage workers, the deal will have broad consequences on all sectors of the economy and the state budget. The state Department of Finance has estimated that the wage increase would cost the state $3.6 billion annually by 2023, primarily from a pay boost for in-home healthcare workers in the public sector.

Beyond that, the wage hike also will increase the pay of workers whose salaries are tied to the minimum wage. For instance, teachers and other workers who are exempt from state overtime rules must be paid at least double the minimum wage or receive overtime.

As the debate moved to the Senate, Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) told his colleagues that his bill would lift many hard-working Californians out of poverty.
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Workers are struggling." Leno said. "Two point two million Californians are currently earning minimum wage, and they are struggling in poverty because it is a sub-poverty wage."

But Republican Sen. Ted Gaines of Rocklin called the bill a "death sentence" for struggling businesses in his district.

"Our job in this building is to help people climb the economic ladder, not cut off the bottom rungs," Gaines said on the floor. "That is exactly what will happen if we shove this unprecedented cost increase on businesses."

Republican Sen. Jim Nielsen said increasing the minimum wage will hurt new workers and lead to mechanization of jobs. "You will go to the hamburger store, and you won't have a young person or elderly person to wait on you," he said.

Throughout the week, members of a group of business-aligned Democrats expressed reservations about the plan’s far reach.

Their opinion was countered by numerous Democrats in the majority, who argued it was a measure of economic fairness that puts the state ahead of the nation.

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Gov. Brown Signs Bill Enacting Highest Statewide Minimum Wage

POSTED 9:44 AM, APRIL 4, 2016, BY AP WIRE

LOS ANGELES (AP) — California has enacted the nation’s highest statewide minimum wage of $15 an hour to take effect by 2022.

Gov. Jerry Brown’s signing of the bill Monday in Los Angeles, and a similar New York effort, mark the most ambitious moves yet to close the national divide between rich and poor.

Business groups fear the increase will cost thousands of jobs.

Democratic lawmakers approved the measure last week with no Republican support.

Republicans and business groups warn that the move could cost thousands of jobs, while a legislative analysis puts the ultimate cost to taxpayers at $3.6 billion a year in higher pay for government employees.

The Democratic governor negotiated the deal to head off competing labor-backed ballot initiatives.
Brown says the most populous state’s fast-growing economy can absorb the raises.

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NY state in tentative deal to raise minimum wage toward $15 an hour