CA Lawmakers Move To Hike Minimum Wage
It's apparently never a bad time to price labor out of jobs
SACRAMENTO — A bill to raise the minimum wage in California from the current $8 an hour to $9.25 over the next three years and then to require inflation-adjusted increases every year after passed its first legislative test Wednesday.
Assembly Bill 10 would increase the state's minimum wage for the first time in six years. It passed the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee on a party-line vote, with majority Democrats in support.
"This bill goes to the heart of economic security," testified Mitch Seaman of the California Labor Federation. "For workers, the minimum wage is all that's keeping you from sinking further down as the economy moves on without you."
Eighteen states have a minimum wage above the federal level of $7.25 an hour, led by Washington at $9.19 an hour and then Oregon at $8.95. Ten of those states provide for annual, inflation-adjusted increases.
