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City of Los Angeles $15 per Hour Minimum Wage Initiative (2016)
| Los Angeles $15 per Hour Minimum Wage Initiative |
|---|
|
| The basics |
| Election date: |
| Unknown |
| Status: |
 Not on the ballot
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| Topic: |
| Local wages and pay |
| Related articles |
| Local wages and pay on the ballot Local ballot measures, California Los Angeles County, California ballot measures Using local measures to advance national agendas |
| See also |
| Los Angeles, California |
A $15 per hour minimum wage initiative was not put on the ballot for Los Angeles city voters in Los Angeles County, California, in 2016.
| A "yes" vote would have increased the city's minimum wage to $15 per hour immediately for businesses with more than 10 employees and by January 1, 2017, for businesses with fewer than 10 employees and nonprofits. |
| A "no" vote would have left the city council's minimum wage ordinance in place, which was designed to increase the city's minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2020. |
If approved, the initiative, which was backed by the Los Angeles Workers Assembly, would have increased the city's minimum wage to $15 per hour. For most employers, the wage would have become $15 per hour immediately on approval of the measure. For small businesses—defined as businesses that employ fewer than 10 workers in any given week—and nonprofits, the jump to $15 would have had to be made by January 1, 2017. Moreover, the ordinance would have required that the minimum wage be adjusted annually based on the Consumer Price Index for Los Angeles. Another key provision would have established that tips and service charges would have not been counted toward the minimum wage requirement but would have been in addition to the minimum wage.[1][2][3]
On May 19, 2015, the Los Angeles City Council voted 14 to one in favor of an ordinance to increase the city's minimum wage from $9 per hour to $15 per hour by 2020. The ordinance approved by the city council was written to phase in the minimum wage increase to $15 per hour over five years. The provisions in the initiative proposed by the Los Angeles Workers Assembly were designed to make the jump immediately, with exceptions only for small businesses and nonprofits.[4]
Moreover, the California State Legislature approved Senate Bill 3, which was designed to phase in a statewide $15 per hour minimum wage.
The initiative was cleared for circulation on September 9, 2014. The petitioners needed to collect the required 61,486 valid signatures in a 120-day stretch within two years of that date. Signatures were not submitted in time to qualify the initiative for the ballot in 2016.[2][5]
Background
The big picture
Local politics has always been affected by larger agendas and issues, as well as outside interests and funding. In local ballot measure races, the influence of state or national interests on local issues has been brought into sharp relief when advocates for certain statewide and national agendas or outside corporations back local measures. As this occurs more frequently and in races that garner national attention, the use of local ballot measures to advance a statewide or national agenda has become an important narrative in U.S. politics.
Text of measure
Summary
The following summary of the initiative was cleared for circulation:[5]
| “ |
This proposed ordinance establishes a minimum wage of $15 per hour in the City of Los Angeles. The minimum wage requirement would apply to most employers upon the effective date of the ordinance, and to small businesses and nonprofits on January 1, 2017. The minimum wage rate is subject to a yearly increase based on the Consumer Price Index for Los Angeles. The ordinance provides that tips or service charges shall be retained by employees and shall not be included in the minimum wage calculation. The ordinance requires employers to post notices of the minimum wage rate at job sites. The ordinance authorizes the City to issue guidelines, investigate violations, hold administrative hearings and impose administrative penalties, including fines to help offset the City's enforcement costs. The ordinance also authorizes civil court actions against employers for violations of the minimum wage requirement.[6] |
” |
Full text
The full text of the proposed initiative is available here.
Support
The Los Angeles Workers Assembly was the group behind the initiative.[2]
The following individuals signed the petition submission form as the official sponsors:[3]
- John Parker
- Jose Medina
- Maggie Vascessenno
- Scott Scheffer
- Essie Crosby
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Reports and analysis
Los Angeles Times
A Los Angeles Times report estimated that nearly half of the workforce in Los Angeles made less than $15 per hour as of the beginning of 2015. The report put the number of employees affected by a $15-per-hour minimum wage at about 800,000.[4][7]
Comparing the minimum wage increase in Los Angeles with other increases in cities such as Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago and Oakland, University of California at Berkeley economist Michael Reich said, "The effects here will be the biggest by far. The proposal will bring wages up in a way we haven't seen since the 1960s. There’s a sense spreading that this is the new norm, especially in areas that have high costs of housing."[4]
Path to the ballot
Members of the Los Angeles Workers Assembly submitted a notice of intent to circulate their petition in fall 2014, and the county elections office cleared the initiative petition for circulation on September 9, 2014. Petitioners needed to collect the required 61,486 valid signatures—a number based on 15 percent of the total number of votes cast for the office of mayor in the last conclusive mayoral election—in a 120-day stretch within two years of the initiative clearing for circulation. If they had succeeded, the city council would have had to either approve the initiative ordinance themselves or submit it to the voters at either a special election between 110 and 140 days after the council action or the next regular election that was at least 110 days after the council action.[1][8]
Similar measures
2014
Local
City of Oakland Minimum Wage Increase Initiative, Measure FF (November 2014)
City of San Francisco Minimum Wage Increase Referred Measure, Proposition J (November 2014)
City of Eureka "Fair Wage Act" Minimum Wage Initiative, Measure R (November 2014)
Raise Wisconsin minimum wage increase advisory referendums
City of San Diego $12 per Hour Minimum Wage Initiative (November 2014)
City of San Diego $13.09 per Hour Minimum Wage Measure (November 2014)
City of Las Cruces Minimum Wage Increase Initiative (November 2014)
Washington D.C. Minimum Wage Initiative (November 2014)
City of Seattle $15 Per Hour Minimum Wage Increase Veto Referendum (November 2014)
City of Seattle $15 Per Hour Minimum Wage Initiative (November 2014)
City of San Francisco Minimum Wage Act of 2014 Initiative (November 2014)
Philadelphia Minimum Wage Ordinance, Proposition 1 (May 2014)
City of Chicago $15 Per Hour Minimum Wage Referendum (March 2014)
SeaTac "Good Jobs Initiative", Proposition 1 (November 2013)
City of Richmond Minimum Wage Increase Ballot Question (November 2014)
Statewide
Alaska Minimum Wage Increase, Ballot Measure 3 (2014)
Arkansas Minimum Wage Initiative (2014)
South Dakota Increased Minimum Wage, Initiated Measure 18 (2014)
California Minimum Wage Supplement for Home Health Workers (2014)
Idaho Minimum Wage Initiative (2014)
Massachusetts Minimum Wage Increase Initiative (2014)
Michigan Minimum Wage Initiative (2014)
Missouri Minimum Wage Initiative (2014)
New Mexico Minimum Wage Amendment (2014)
See also
External links
Additional reading
- CBS Los Angeles, "Ballot Initiative Hiking Minimum Wage To $15 To Begin Collecting Signatures," September 10, 2014
- West Side Today, "Ballot initiative regarding minimum wage begins collecting signatures," September 11, 2014
- Los Angeles Rising, "Los Angeles Rising A City That Works for Everyone," March 19, 2015
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedcir - ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Peoples Power Assemblies, "Home," accessed January 16, 2015
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Los Angeles Patch, "Los Angeles $15 Minimum Wage Petition Approved For Circulation," September 10, 2014
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 The New York Times, "Los Angeles Lifts Its Minimum Wage to $15 Per Hour," May 19, 2015
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Los Angeles City Government, "Press release announcing clearance for circulation," September 9, 2014
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Entrepreneur, "Los Angeles Becomes Latest U.S. City to Approve a $15 Minimum Wage," May 20, 2015
- ↑ Los Angeles City Charter, "Elections: Initiative," accessed January 16, 2015
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