An increase to the minimum wage is being proposed by California Assembly Bill 10, authored by Assembly member Luis Alejo of Salinas, CA. Assembly member Alejo seeks to increase the current $8.00 per hour minimum wage to not less than $8.25 per hour. Furthermore, this bill would increase the minimum wage after January 1, 2015 to not less than $8.75 per hour. Finally, on January 1, 2016, California Assembly Bill 10 would increase the minimum wage to not less than $9.25 per hour. The adjustment would begin on January 1, 2017 and these minimum wage increases would continue annually thereafter.
The existing federal law under the Fair Labor Standards Act sets the provisions for the federal minimum wage and requires employers to pay their employees a minimum wage of not less than $7.25 per hour for non-exempt employees. California’s minimum wage is set at $8.00. In his “Statement on California’s Minimum Wage CA AB 10,” Assembly Alejo argued that minimum wages have not kept pace with the cost of living and has equated to a decrease in purchasing power.
Assembly member Alejo has been promoting higher minimum wage in California since he was elected in 2010. You can listen to his 2011 comments here.
CA AB 10 was reviewed by the Assembly Committee on Appropriations on May 1st, which considered the State Controller’s analysis of the fiscal effect of Assembly Bill 10’s increases for the minimum wage as follows:
“According to the State Controller, state government employs approximately 4,500 minimum wage workers, mostly student assistants and seasonal. If the state pays the increased minimum wage for six months each year, the annual GF cost (beginning in January 2014 at $8.25 per hour) to the state would be approximately $500,000 and at full implementation in January 2016, the cost would be approximately $2.6 million for minimum wage workers employed by the state. Upon full implementation of the wage increase in January 2016, there will be increased GF costs for workers currently paid between $8.01 per hour and $9.25, likely in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Likewise, there will be cost pressure to increase wages for state employees who make more than $9.25 per hour. These figures do not include increases that may result from an inflation adjustment required under this measure.”
So far, the list of supporters includes the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the California Nurses Association and the Western States Council of Sheet Metal Workers, just to name a few. The list of those opposing California’s Assembly Bill 10’s increase in minimum wage is much longer and includes the Acclamation Insurance Management Services, the California Association of Health Services at Home, the California Manufacturers and Technology Association, and the National Federation of Independent Business, to name a few.