BY Alexandra Mendoza
California Governor Jerry Brown signed a historic bill that will gradually increase minimum wage until it reaches $15.00 an hour.
This will make California the first U.S. state to commit to such wage increase, benefitting more than 2 million workers throughout the state, including close to 300,000 San Diego County residents.
“It is about economic justice, about the people,” stated the Governor after passing this initiative. “This is not the end of the fight, but it is a very important step forward.”
The Governor also stated that California can assume this measure without affecting the State’s economy.
On the contrary, legislators who supported this bill agree that giving workers more purchasing power will bolster the economy.
Under Bill SB-3, submitted by Democratic Senator Mark Leno (San Francisco), minimum wage will increase from $10 to $10.50 starting in 2017 for business with more than 25 employees. There will be a dollar per year increase each subsequent year until minimum wage reaches $15 an hour in January, 2022.
Small businesses with 25 or fewer employees will have one additional year to implement the increase.
Once the bill is fully implemented, a full-time worker’s wages would increase from $20,800 per year to $31,200 per year.
The bill is drafted so that it will go hand in hand with the state’s economic growth, including a series of “locks” that would halt the wage increase should an economic crisis or budget issues arise.
The Governor will have the ability to delay each year’s increase until September 1 during times of economic slowdown.
In spite of the State’s minimum wage increase bill having already been passed, Councilmember Todd Gloria’s local bill will remain in the June 7 ballot, as it also includes other benefits for workers, such as five paid sick days per year.
The San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, on the other hand, feels that the minimum wage increase will impact small businesses. Chamber Chair and former San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders stated in a press release that the increase will lead to losing jobs, since some businesses will be forced to make staff cuts, adding that there are businesses that are still struggling to adapt to the increase to $10/hr. which went into effect at the start of this year.