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How California legislators voted on minimum wage increase

April 1, 2016
Katcho Achadjian

Katcho Achadjian

A bill that will raise California’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2022 passed the Legislature Thursday. Gov. Jerry Brown plans to sign the bill into law on Monday. [LA Times]

On Thursday, the Assembly voted 48-26 in favor of the bill. The Senate voted 26 to 12. Chants of “Si se suede” erupted in the Senate gallery following the vote.

Assemblyman Katcho Achdajian (R-San Luis Obispo) voted against the minimum wage increase. Achadjian is currently a leading candidate in the race for the 24th District congressional seat that Rep. Lois Capps is vacating.

San Luis Obispo County’s representative in the Senate, Bill Monning (D-Carmel), voted in favor of the minimum wage hike.

Two Assembly Democrats — Tom Daly of Anaheim and Adam Gray of Merced — voted against the bill. They were the only legislators to cross party lines.

One Assembly Democrat abstained from the vote, as did one Assembly Republican. A total of five legislators were absent during the vote.

California is set to become the first state in the country to approve a $15 minimum wage. California’s current $10 minimum wage is tied for the highest among states.

Yearly minimum wage hikes are scheduled to begin in 2017.


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One more vote for Katcho.


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This is the new trickle up economics. By increasing the wages of the very bottom of the earnings pool you create more taxes, payroll, income and sales. You also increase inflation which causes all prices to increase over time to match the new bottom. The $15 per hour people will still be poor and at the bottom of the economic scale, the rich will still be rich and at the top, but the middle class will shrink and the government will grow substantially. So in the end who has been helped? Only the government! The population would be much better served if the government were forced to shrink and the excess money that is no longer going to government went to education of the poor. Remember if you give a man a fish you feed him for a day, if you teach him to fish you feed him for a lifetime.


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In 1964 the minimum wage was $1.15. a movie cost 35 cents, a coke 10 cents, a McDonald’s hamburger 20 cents. compare that to the cost of these today?


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When I started working, the minimum wage for workers was $4.25 per hour, while the true minimum wage was $0, the exact amount I was making before I had a job. I worked hard and tried to add value for my employer, so I didn’t stay at $4.25 for long. Back then, I could pay for a matinee movie, 2 gallons of gas, or a drink and a few items from Taco Bell, or meal with fries from Mac Donald’s.


At $10 an hour, minimum wage workers can afford to pay for a matinee movie, or 5 red box rentals, 3 gallons of gas, or a complete meal at a fast food restaurant with $3-$4 spare. This increase is not needed, and is too much, too fast.


At $15 an hour, the employer (Sears) that employed me, which is struggling to stay in business, will probably not make a recovery and will be forced to close more stores, eliminating opportunity for others to get that first job, build skills, and work towards higher paying jobs. Workers currently employed, including many above minimum wage (higher skilled) will be unemployed, and competing with the new higher minimum workers.


Other businesses that can’t afford to absorb the higher wages and taxes by passing along price increases will go under or relocate to states that are cheaper to do business in, including labor costs. Many jobs that could be profitable with basic labor under $15 an hour will simply not exist, just like jobs right now that can’t turn a profit at the $10 per hour level don’t exist. Other jobs will be eliminated through automation. All these factors will hurt the most vulnerable, by making it illegal to create a job that pays less than the new base as it climbs from $10 to $11…up to $15.


Sadly, more people will experience the true minimum wage of $0.


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isoslo,


Yeah, the “Trickle-Down” theory since Reagan has not worked, but only for the wealthy. Instead of increased investment from a lower tax rate, the top ten percent placed their money into tax havens in the Cayman Islands and shipped jobs overseas.


Since the Republicans haven’t gotten off their asses yet in producing those “Jobs, jobs, jobs” that they promised in their 2012 campaign, as they haven’t brought up one jobs bill yet, but have monkey-wrenched the Democrats job’s bills, let’s give the working class poor a break.


“Whoever oppresses the poor to increase his own wealth, or gives to the rich, will only come to poverty.” (Proverbs 22:16)


We are hardly a Christian Nation.


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Ted,


Actually I don’t have a problem giving the minimum wage workers a 50% raise, the point I was making is they will fall farther behind because they have not gained anything after taxes and inflation. Government stealing all of the money is the problem, and if you are going to blame the rich, who do you think owns government? The rich want the government employees to keep them rich which is why the rich allow government employees to become the new middle class. Things will never change until people change.


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isoslo,


You’re not against $15.00 per hour minimum wage? You sure fooled me by your dissertation of what will happen when it goes into effect.


“This increase is not needed, and is too much, too fast.”


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I didn’t say that!


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I guess Black Lives DON’T Matter… after all, minimum wage hikes historically have negatively effected black males the most, out of all demographics.


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Next, the same boo-hooers will be crying about the evil Corps “shipping the jobs away.”


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No shock here. Agricultural types are large low skilled labor buyers. He held up the line for the type of person that lives in SLO.


What this will do is move labor out of fast food and retail and stuff like that. The ‘smart’ politicians and bankers and the market will make people too expensive for those jobs. You might call it the “Wal-Mart killer”, which could be a good thing.


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I want my Chliese stuff!


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This is going to be interesting to watch. Not only do you have the $15 to contend with but don’t forget all of the employer contributions on top of this? How many high school kids looking for part time jobs are going to be deprived of work? How many people are going to pay high school kids with no job or work experience up to $15 an hour to do odd jobs and yard work. I know I have had neighborhood kids work around my place but I probably will not in the future when this goes to $15 an hour. Are the people who work in fast food restaurants even going to be able to eat where they work after the price of their product goes up.

This could become especially difficult for those on Social Security who received no increase, they say because gas went down, and whose medical costs went up.

This was obviously addressed by those who have never owned a business and had to employ people and still make enough to pay the bills and then have some left over for themselves.

I have to support Katcho on this one as he is probably one of the few politicians who has employed people and has run a successful business.


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Mr. Holly,


A 4.3 percent increase in fast food hamburgers is a small price to pay to allow your fellow human being afford a better life, agreed?


http://fortune.com/2015/07/30/15-per-hour-fast-food-prices/


We’re still waiting for the Republicans to keep their word in creating “jobs, jobs, jobs” which was their mantra in their 2012 campaign. When they finally take this position, this too will add to a better life and economy for all.


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Currently the minimum wage is $10 per hour. The new regulation would put it up to $15 per hour. If I’m correct that is a 50% increase to the employer plus other costs. Do you really believe that the cost for the product will only go up 4.3%?


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Mr. Holly,


It’s a different math equation, again, check out the link that I provided.


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I guess the Big Mac will become the Mini Mac with a price increase.


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We’re all too fat anyway. Dump supersizing!


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Burger flippers aren’t worth 15 bucks an hour. Get some damn skills if you want a better standard of living.


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junkag,


They’re burger flippers for a reason, because more than likely they don’t have the funding to gain higher skills that you mention.


What you’re essentially saying is that you would still enjoy your hamburger nonetheless even if you knew the person that prepared it for you was hanging on by their teeth in trying to make a living at the current minimum wage?


Or, if you wouldn’t be caught dead in a fast food hamburger joint because of living a comfortable life because of your income, explains the other side of the coin where its so easy to disparage the low income worker without knowing all of the facts.


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Not addressed are the negative consequences of this plan, including the jobs that will be lost, the businesses that will close or move out of state, higher prices for goods, reduced buying power and a general lack of motivation amongst those workers who will see their wages effectively reduced (those who have worked to increase their wage from minimum to $15 through training, experience, etc.). There may be a brief window of relief for those whose pay is going to increase 50% (roughly 10% per year); however, this window will close quickly as the cost of goods rise and jobs are lost. The bigger companies may be able to absorb the increased wages, payroll taxes, worker’s comp. premiums, etc., but the small companies will not.


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