City of San Francisco Minimum Wage Increase Referred Measure, Proposition J (November 2014)

Voting on Minimum Wage
Ballot Measures
By state
By year
Not on ballot
Local Labor and unions Local wages and pay

A City of San Francisco Minimum Wage Increase Referred Measure, Proposition J ballot question was on the November 4, 2014 election ballot for voters in the city of San Francisco, California, where it was approved.

Proposition J was spearheaded by Mayor Ed Lee and referred to the ballot by the city council as a compromise between a coalition of labor interests and business interests. Upon passing, the measure was designed to raise the minimum wage in the city according to the following timeline:

• $12.25 per hour by May 1, 2015
• $13 per hour by July 2016
• $14 per hour by July 2017
• $15 per hour by July 2018

The final rate of $15 per hour would result in a minimum salary of $31,000 per year for a full-time worker in the city.

Without this measure or some other legislation to increase the minimum wage, the minimum wage in the city would have remained at $10.74 per hour--California's highest as of September 2014.

Oakland voters had a chance to raise the minimum pay in the city to $12.25 per hour at the November election; and they took it. San Jose's minimum wage was raised by voters in 2012 according to Measure D and stood at $10.15 per hour in November 2014. Electors in Eureka voted in November to reject Measure R, which was designed to raise the minimum wage immediately to $12 per hour for all businesses with more than 25 employees.

Moreover, the city councils of Berkeley, Richmond and San Diego voted to increase their city minimum wages to $12.53 per hour by 2016, $12.30 per hour by 2017 and $11.50 per hour by 2017 respectively. San Diego's council had to overrule a mayoral veto to enact its minimum wage proposal finally.

Aftermath

In 2016, a similar compromise was struck between state lawmakers and initiative advocates seeking a statewide $15 per hour minimum wage by 2021. SEIU-UHW West sponsored the initiative, and the petition effort successfully qualified the initiative for the 2016 ballot. The union withdrew it, however, when the legislature passed and the governor signed a bill to enact a phased-in minimum wage of $15 per hour by 2022, with exceptions giving smaller companies longer to implement the increases.

Election results

City of San Francisco, Proposition J
Result		Votes	Percentage
a Yes		174,143	77.43%
No		50,771	22.57%

Election results via: San Francisco General Election Report

The Compromise

Urged by Mayor Ed Lee, this council-referred measure was put on the ballot as a compromise between a coalition of labor interests, the chamber of commerce and business interests. According to the compromise, the labor coalition dropped its efforts to put an initiative on the ballot that would have increased the minimum wage in a more expedited manner and, in return, the city agreed both to put this measure on the ballot and close the healthcare loophole summarized below.

Union-backed initiative

See also: City of San Francisco Minimum Wage Act of 2014 Initiative (November 2014)

If it had been put on the ballot and approved, the Minimum Wage Act of 2014 initiative, which was designed by a coalition of groups that included the union SEIU Local 1021 and the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, would have imposed phased increases to the minimum wage in the city for all workers, including part-time, temporary, contract and full-time employees. For companies employing fewer than 100 workers, the minimum wage would have increased to:

• $13 per hour by 2015
• $14 per hour by 2016
• $15 per hour by 2017

For companies with more than 100 workers, the minimum wage would have had to be raised to:

• $13 per hour by the end of 2014
• $15 per hour by 2016

The abandoned measure also sought to establish an Employment Standards Oversight Committee responsible for ensuring the enforcement of the new minimum wage law. The seven-member committee would have consisted of four members appointed by the board of supervisors and three by the mayor.

Healthcare loophole

The compromise agreed to by the SEIU Local 1021 and the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, which motivated them to drop their initiative efforts, also dictated separate legislation to close a loophole that had allowed employers to reclaim tens of millions of unused dollars from the healthcare accounts of their employees.

Text of measure

Ballot simplification

The Ballot Simplification Committee provided the following statement explaining Proposition J:

“	THE WAY IT IS NOW: In November 2003, San Francisco voters passed the minimum wage ordinance. Only voters can amend this ordinance. The current minimum wage is $10.74 per hour for work performed in San Francisco. This minimum wage increases annually based on inflation. The current minimum wage ordinance does not mention whether or not it applies to City employees or to employees of the In-Home Support Services Public Authority, a State-funded agency that provides services to help elderly and disabled persons in San Francisco remain in their homes. THE PROPOSAL: Proposition J is an ordinance that would increase the minimum wage for employees who perform work in San Francisco as follows: • on May 1, 2015, the minimum wage would increase to $12.25 per hour; • on July 1, 2016, the minimum wage would increase to $13 per hour; • on July 1, 2017, the minimum wage would increase to $14 per hour; • on July 1, 2018, the minimum wage would increase to $15 per hour; and • beginning on July 1, 2019, the minimum wage would increase annually based on inflation. Proposition J would apply to City employees and to employees of the In-Home Support Services Public Authority. Two types of employees would receive a limited increase: employees under the age of 18 working in a government-subsidized training or apprenticeship program; and employees over age 55 working for nonprofits that provide social welfare services and whose positions are government-subsidized. These employees would receive a minimum wage of $12.25 per hour starting on May 1, 2015, with annual increases starting on July 1, 2016, based on inflation. A “YES” VOTE MEANS: If you vote “yes,” you want the City to gradually increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour by July 1, 2018, with increases based on inflation after that. A “NO” VOTE MEANS: If you vote “no,” you do not want the City to increase the minimum wage.	”
—San Francisco Ballot Simplification Committee

Full text

The full text of the ordinance that was enacted by the approval of Proposition J is available here.

Support

Supporters

• Mayor Ed Lee
• SEIU Local 1021
• The Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment
• 15 Now

The Citizens Initiative for Technology and Innovation, one of the largest tech advocacy groups in San Francisco, endorsed a "yes" vote on Measure J.

Opposition

Opponents

Henry Karnilowicz, president of the San Francisco Council of District Merchant Associations, predicted opposition from small businesses, saying, "Most small businesses in the city would oppose it. Thirteen (dollars an hour) they could tolerate, maybe, but more in the range of $11 or $12 an hour."

The Golden Gate Restaurant Association was also opposed to both the council-approved measure and the union-backed initiative. The association estimated significant price hikes, hiring freezes and staff reduction would result from a minimum wage of $15 per hour. It also said some businesses would be forced to close. Gwyneth Borden, executive director of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association, said, "Restaurants would raise their prices. There's no other way to remediate out of it."

Polls

The San Francisco Chronicle obtained a poll showing solid support for a minimum wage hike to $15 per hour among city voters:

San Francisco $15 per hour Minimum Wage
Poll	Support	Oppose	Undecided	Margin of error	Sample size
Poll on $15 per hour minimum wage in San Francisco 03/16/2014	59%	36%	5%	+/-4.9	400
Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org.

Path to the ballot

Early in 2014, a coalition of unions and labor activists began circulating an initiative designed to raise the San Francisco minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2017. Through a compromise with the city council and business interests, the coalition agreed to drop the initiative when the city council put this measure on the November ballot.

Similar measures

Local

a City of Oakland Minimum Wage Increase Initiative, Measure FF (November 2014)
a City of San Francisco Minimum Wage Increase Referred Measure, Proposition J (November 2014)
d City of Eureka "Fair Wage Act" Minimum Wage Initiative, Measure R (November 2014)
a 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)
a Philadelphia Minimum Wage Ordinance, Proposition 1 (May 2014)
a City of Chicago $15 Per Hour Minimum Wage Referendum (March 2014)
a SeaTac "Good Jobs Initiative", Proposition 1 (November 2013)
City of Richmond Minimum Wage Increase Ballot Question (November 2014)

Statewide

a Alaska Minimum Wage Increase, Ballot Measure 3 (2014)
a Arkansas Minimum Wage Initiative (2014)
a 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)

Related measures

City of San Francisco Minimum Wage Act of 2014 Initiative (November 2014)

See also

• Notable local measures on the ballot
• Local wages and pay on the ballot
• Local minimum wage measures in 2014
• San Francisco City and County, California ballot measures
• November 4, 2014 ballot measures in California

External links

Suggest a link

• San Francisco elections department website
• The San Francisco City Charter

Additional reading

• San Francisco Business Times, "San Francisco chamber ‘outraged’ by $15 minimum wage ballot measure," April 7, 2014
• The San Francisco Examiner, "Alternative ballot measure considered as labor union pushes effort to raise SF minimum wage," May 5, 2014