Three Bills to Hike Minimum Wage
Today, California legislators are debating three different bills to raise the minimum wage in California. California's minimum wage at $6.75 per hour is currently the seventh highest in the country.
One bill (SB 1167) written by State Senator Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria, proposes to increase the minimum wage to $7.25 on July 1, 2006 and again to $7.75 on July 1, 2007. (Click here to see SB 1167 history and status) This bill does not include a provision that would automatically increase the minimum wage each year according to inflation. The Governor vetoed a minimum wage increase last year because the minimum wage increase was automatically indexed to increase with inflation subsequent years. The Governor argued that automatically increasing the minimum wage each year would not provide lawmakers the ability to take current economic factors into account before the minimum wage automatically increased.
Another bill, written by State Senator Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, proposes to increase the minimum wage to $7.25 sixty days after the bill is signed into law. The minimum wage would increase again on July 1, 2007 to $7.75, and contains a provision that would increase the minimum wage annually based on inflation. (Click here to see SB 1162 history and analysis)
The third bill, proposed by Assembly Member Sally Lieber, D-Santa Clara, raises the minimum wage to $7.25 on July 1, 2007, increases it again to $7.75 on July 1, 2008, and is indexed to the Consumer Price Index for increases each year. (Click here to see AB 1835 history and analysis)
UPDATE: The bill backed by the Govenor, (SB 1167) written by State Senator Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria, was stalled in the Senate Labor Committee without a vote.