The California State Assembly on Thursday passed Assemblyman Luis Alejo’s bill proposing to increase the minimum wage and attach it to an inflationary index.
The Assembly approved the bill in a 44-24 vote, Alejo’s office announced in a statement. The bill now heads to the State Senate before possible consideration by the governor.
A spokesman for the governor’s office on Thursday said Gov. Jerry Brown has not taken a position on the minimum wage bill.
Alejo’s third attempt to adjust California’s minimum wage would increase the figure from $8 to $9.25 over a three-year period and then attach the number to a cost-of-living index that would fluctuate from year to year.
This session’s bill is the first time Alejo’s minimum wage proposal has passed through the committee level.
The Watsonville Democrat who represents San Benito County and Southern Santa Clara County underscored that Californians are seeing increases in the price of food, clothing and rent – but that the state’s minimum wage has not kept pace.
Some opponents have honed in on the indexing portion of the bill, pointing to a potentially negative economic impact. Others have argued the recovery has been slow in California.
Writing in support for a committee-level analysis on the bill, the California Labor Federation argued the change would “strengthen and depoliticize California’s minimum wage.”
“In support of this,” the organization wrote for the analysis, “CLF cites that the California Budget Project has calculated that between 1968 and 2008, the purchasing power of California’s minimum wage fell 24.8%.”
In opposition, the California Chamber of Commerce called the bill a “job killer.”
“The Chamber states that California’s economic recovery is still in the infancy stage and that an increase in the minimum wage in 2014 will negatively impact any economic recovery by either limiting available jobs, or worse, creating further job loss,” according to the document.
As one of his own selling points, Alejo contended there has been “no evidence of adverse impacts” in other states – such as Nevada, Oregon and Washington – which are attaching the minimum wage to an inflationary index. Nationwide, 19 states have minimum wages exceeding the federal rate, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, while President Obama has proposed a federal minimum wage of $9.
There is variation from state to state, but some local jurisdictions in California also have considered minimum wages above the state rate. Alejo has pointed to San Francisco, with a rate of $10.55, as an example of a city compelled to approve its own minimum wage to eclipse the state number, along with San Jose and its $10 rate.
