Democratic Assemblyman Luis Alejo is attempting to raise California’s minimum wage by $1.25 over the next three years. [LA Times]
Alejo, of Watsonville, is the sponsor of Assembly Bill 10, which could create the first raise in the state’s minimum wage since 2008. If adopted, AB 10 would raise minimum wage from $8 an hour to $8.25 next year, to $8.75 in 2015 and to $9.25 in 2016. Annual adjustments thereafter would occur based on California’s inflation rate.
Last week, the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee passed the bill on a party-line vote.
Alejo told the committee that the bill would “help ensure equity for minimum wage workers.”
Labor unions support the proposed minimum wage increase, while the California Chamber of Commerce, the California Restaurant Association and the Western Growers Association plan to fight its progress through the Legislature. The Chamber of Commerce calls the bill a “job killer.”
Similar bills sponsored by Alejo died in the Assembly in 2011 and 2012.
California currently has one of the highest minimum wages in the nation. Washington state has the highest at $9.19 an hour, followed by Oregon at $8.95 and Vermont at $8.60.
