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Tucson, Arizona, Proposition 206, Minimum Wage Initiative (November 2021)

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Tucson Proposition 206
LocalBallotMeasures Final.png
Election date
November 2, 2021
Topic
Local wages and pay
Status
Approveda Approved
Type
Initiative		Origin
Citizens

Tucson Proposition 206 was on the ballot as an initiative in Tucson on November 2, 2021. It was approved.

A "yes" vote supported amending city code to incrementally increase the city's minimum wage from $12.15 (the state's minimum wage) to $15 by January 1, 2025, and increasing it every January thereafter by the rate of inflation rounded to the nearest multiple of $0.05.

A "no" vote opposed amending the city's code to incrementally increase the city's minimum wage to $15 by January 1, 2025, thereby maintaining the existing state minimum wage of $12.15 adjusted annually by the increase of the cost of living in the state.


A simple majority was required for the approval of the initiative.

Election results

Tucson Proposition 206

Result Votes Percentage

Approved Yes

52,907 63.13%
No 30,895 36.87%
Results are officially certified.
Source


Measure design

Minimum wage increase

Proposition 206 was designed to increase the city's minimum wage incrementally from $12.15 to $15 by January 1, 2025. The minimum wage will increase by the following increments:[1]

  • $13 by April 1, 2022,
  • $13.50 by January 1, 2023,
  • $14.25 by January 1, 2024,
  • $15.00 by January 1, 2025, and
  • Increased by the rate of inflation rounded to the nearest multiple of $0.05 every January thereafter.

In 2016, Arizona voters approved Proposition 206, which incrementally increased the minimum wage to $12 by 2020, tied it to the cost of living, and created a right to paid sick time off from employment.[1]

Department of Labor Standards

The initiative also established a Department of Labor Standards by April 1, 2022. The department was authorized to receive complaints from employees, investigate employers, and educate workers about their rights under the initiative. A violation of the initiative would be a civil infraction with a civil penalty of up to $100 per employee affected by the violation paid to the city. If multiple violations occur, the city may revoke, suspend, or decline to renew any licenses of the employer.[1]

The initiative orders the department to take a survey of low-wage workers in the city by December 1, 2022, to identify industries where minimum wage violations are most likely to occur. Every year thereafter, the department is required to use a portion of its resources to investigate employers in these industries for violations.[1]

Text of measure

Ballot title

The ballot title for Proposition 206 was as follows:

“

THE 'TUCSON MINIMUM WAGE ACT,' PROPOSED BY INITIATIVE PETITION:

OFFICIAL TITLE

PROPOSING AMENDMENTS TO THE TUCSON CODE TO: • CREATE A MINIMUM WAGE WITHIN THE CITY OF TUCSON OF THIRTEEN DOLLARS ($13.00) AN HOUR ON AND AFTER APRIL 1, 2022, THIRTEEN DOLLARS FIFTY CENTS ($13.50) AN HOUR ON AND AFTER JANUARY 1, 2023, FOURTEEN DOLLARS TWENTY-FIVE CENTS ($14.25) AN HOUR ON AND AFTER JANUARY 1, 2024, AND FIFTEEN DOLLARS ($15.00) AN HOUR ON AND AFTER JANUARY 1, 2025; • PROVIDE FOR SUBSEQUENT INCREASES IN THE CITY MINIMUM WAGE ON JANUARY 1, 2026, AND ON JANUARY 1 OF EACH SUCCEEDING YEAR, BASED ON THE INCREASE IN THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR'S CONSUMER PRICE INDEX; • PROVIDE THAT IF THE FEDERAL OR STATE MINIMUM WAGE IS INCREASED ABOVE THE CITY MINIMUM WAGE, THAT FEDERAL OR STATE MINIMUM WAGE WILL, ON ITS EFFECTIVE DATE, ALSO BECOME THE NEW CITY MINIMUM WAGE. • REQUIRE EMPLOYERS TO PAY EMPLOYEES NOT LESS THAN THE CITY MINIMUM WAGE FOR WORK DONE WITHIN THE CITY; • REQUIRE LARGE EMPLOYERS TO PAY A MINIMUM OF THREE (3) HOURS OF WAGES WHEN AN EMPLOYEE'S SHIFT IS CUT SHORT OR CANCELLED WITH LESS THAN 24 HOURS NOTICE; • MAKE VIOLATIONS A CIVIL INFRACTION; AND CREATE A  PRIVATE CAUSE OF ACTION; • CREATE A NEW CITY 'DEPARTMENT OF LABOR STANDARDS' TO IMPLEMENT AND ENFORCE THE CITY'S MINIMUM WAGE AND OTHER PROVISIONS OF THE ACT; • PROHIBIT RETALIATION FOR FILING A COMPLAINT OR ASSERTING RIGHTS UNDER THE ACT.


DESCRIPTIVE TITLE CREATING A CITY MINIMUM WAGE OF $13.00 IN 2022, RISING TO $15.00 BY 2025, THEN INCREASING ANNUALLY BASED ON THE CONSUMER PRICE INDEX, AND AUTOMATICALLY RISING TO MATCH ANY HIGHER FEDERAL OR STATE MINIMUM WAGE. CREATES PRIVATE CAUSE OF ACTION AND NEW CITY DEPARTMENT FOR ENFORCEMENT.

”

Full Text

The full text of this measure is available here.


Support

Tucson Fight for $15 led the campaign in support of Proposition 206. A full list of local businesses who have endorsed the initiative can be found here.[2]

Supporters

Organizations

  • AFL-CIO, Pima chapter[3]
  • Jobs with Justice[3]
  • Tucson Education Association[3]
  • Our Family Services[3]
  • Primavera Foundation[3]
  • Community Foodbank of Southern Arizona[3]
  • Pima County Interfaith Council[3]
  • Emerge Center Against Domestic Abuse[3]
  • Arizona Center for Economic Progress[3]
  • National Nurses United[3]
  • Casa Maria[3]
  • Center for Economic Integrity[3]
  • Child and Family Resources[3]
  • Primavera Foundation[3]
  • Legislative District 3 Democrats[3]
  • Salt of the Earth Labor College[3]
  • Souther Arizona AIDS Foundation[3]
  • Green Party Pima County[3]
  • Southwest Fair Housing Council[3]
  • Healthcare Rising Arizona[3]
  • Stand Up for Kids[3]
  • Literacy Connects[3]
  • Working Families Party[3]
  • Living Street Alliance[3]
  • YWCA[3]

Arguments

  • Billy Peard, the co-author and co-organizer of Tucson Fight for $15, said, "Tucson’s has one of the fastest-growing rents and housing costs in the country. Tucson is the second poorest city in the southwestern United States, as measured by per capita income. There’s simply no way that a family, or even an individual without children, can pay a one-bedroom apartment these days on the current minimum wage of $12.15."[4]
  • C.J. Boyd, campaign manager of Tucson Fight for $15, said, "It’s hard to convince people that raising their wages is a bad thing when they’re barely surviving. And even folks who aren’t in that situation understand the economy is rigged against poor folks. I think there’s overwhelming acceptance of that in Tucson, and this is going to be something we’re going to win by a healthy margin."[5]

Opposition

Tucson Business Owners led the No on $15 minimum wage campaign. If you are aware of any opponents or opposing arguments, please send an email with a link to editor@ballotpedia.org.[6]

Opponents

  • Tucson Business Owners[7]
  • Arizona Restaurant Association[8]
  • Tucson Metro Chamber[8]
  • Southern Arizona Leadership Council[8]
  • Arizona Association of Providers for People with Disabilities[8]

Arguments

  • Amber Smith, president and chief executive officer of Tucson Metro Chamber, said, "The act would put Tucson businesses at a disadvantage, forcing them to pay higher wages than competitors elsewhere in our community — including some that could be located right across the street. The Tucson Metro Chamber supports building an affordable community with competitive wages. The issue of poverty cannot be solved while looking at only one side of the equation. Affordability reflects the cost of goods and services as well as housing, child care, transportation, in addition to higher wages."[5]
  • Ed Ackerley, owner of Ackerley Advertising and co-president of Tucson Business Owners, Inc, said, "We just can’t afford it. Many of the businesses in Tucson are suffering as it is just trying to stay afloat the last 18 months. To try to come back from reducing staff and barely getting by, and now all of the sudden getting hit with an increase in hourly wage for some companies that could be the last straw."[5]
  • Carlos Ruiz, owner of HT Metals in Tucson, said, "I think the biggest thing is that [the initiative] gets in between the business owner and their employees."[7]

Media editorials

Ballotpedia identified the following media editorial boards as taking positions on Proposition 206.

Ballotpedia lists the positions of media editorial boards that support or oppose ballot measures. This does not include opinion pieces from individuals or groups that do not represent the official position of a newspaper or media outlet. Ballotpedia includes editorials from newspapers and outlets based on circulation and readership, political coverage within a state, and length of publication. You can share media editorial board endorsements with us at editor@ballotpedia.org.

Support

  • Arizona Daily Star Editorial Board: "Fifteen dollars an hour is not a fully livable wage, but, as proposition co-author Billy Peard told the Editorial Board, 'We have to start somewhere.'"[9]

Opposition

Ballotpedia did not identify media editorial boards in opposition to the ballot measure.

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing local ballot measures in Arizona

In Tucson, Arizona, petitioners needed to submit 14,826 valid signatures by July 2, 2021, to qualify for the November 2021 ballot. The signature requirement was based on 15% of the votes cast for mayoral candidates in the previous mayoral election. After signatures are certified for an initiative in Tucson, the measure goes before the city council. The city council has two options: (a) approve the initiative, precluding an election, or (b) send the initiative to the ballot.

Details about the initiative

  • Tucson Fight for $15 filed the initiative on February 27, 2021.[10]
  • On July 2, 2021, the campaign submitted 29,526 signatures to the city's clerk office.[11]
  • On July 22, 2021, the Tucson City Clerk verified that enough of the submitted signatures were valid to qualify the measure for the ballot. The city clerk used a random sample of 1,338 signatures to verify the submitted sigantures. The city clerk determined 470 signatures of the random sample were invalid, which means the validity rate for the petition based on the random sample was 64.9%.[12]
  • The initiative was set to go before the mayor and the city council at the city council's meeting on August 10, 2021.[13]
  • On August 10, 2021, the Tucson City Council and mayor voted to send the initiative to the November ballot.[14][14]

Reports and analyses

Note: The inclusion of a report, white page, or study concerning a ballot measure in this article does not indicate that Ballotpedia agrees with the conclusions of that study or that Ballotpedia necessarily considers the study to have a sound methodology, accurate conclusions, or a neutral basis. To read a full explanation of Ballotpedia's policy on the inclusion of reports and analyses, please click here. If you would like to submit a report or analysis to be considered for inclusion in this section, email editor@ballotpedia.org.

City attorney analysis of the initiative

On October 1, 2021, Mike Rankin, the city attorney, sent a memorandum to Michael Ortega, the city manager, regarding the various provisions of the initiative. The memorandum did not provide legal advice related to action by the mayor or city council but instead documents the legal implications of the initiative perceived by Rankin. Rankin argued that the provision that governs how employers pay employees, specifically prohibiting payment methods that require a valid social security number, "is in conflict with federal and state law, which generally require that an employee either have a valid SSN or apply for one within a short time after commencing work."[15]

To read the full memorandum, click here.

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Tucson Fight for $15, "Text," accessed July 9, 2021
  2. ↑ Tucson Fight for $15, "Home," accessed July 9, 2021
  3. ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 3.15 3.16 3.17 3.18 3.19 3.20 3.21 3.22 3.23 3.24 3.25 3.26 3.27 3.28 3.29 3.30 3.31 3.32 3.33 3.34 3.35 3.36 3.37 3.38 3.39 3.40 3.41 3.42 3.43 3.44 3.45 3.46 3.47 3.48 3.49 3.50 3.51 3.52 3.53 3.54 Tucson Fight for $15, "Endorsements," accessed July 9, 2021
  4. ↑ KGUN9, "Tucson Fight for $15 qualifies for Nov. Ballot," July 2, 2021
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Tucson.com, "Voters to decide if Tucson will be second Arizona city to enact $15 minimum wage," July 24, 2021
  6. ↑ KVOA, "Tucson Business Owners Inc. to host ‘No on $15 minimum wage’ campaign," June 18, 2021
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 KGUN 9, "Battle to Raise the Minimum Wage to $15 in Tucson," accessed July 9, 2021
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Tucsonaz.gov, "2021 Election Pamphlet," accessed October 21, 2021
  9. ↑ Arizona Daily Star Editorial Board, "Star Opinion Endorsements: Tucson city elections Wards 3 &6, Props. 410 & 206," October 3, 2021
  10. ↑ City of Tucson, "Initiative filing," accessed July 9, 2021
  11. ↑ KOLD, "Tucson group delivers petitions to get $15 minimum wage initiative on November ballot," July 2, 2021
  12. ↑ Tucson.com, "Voters to decide if Tucson will be second Arizona city to enact $15 minimum wage," July 22, 2021
  13. ↑ Ballotpedia staff writer, "Email correspondence with the Tucson City Clerk," July 23, 2021
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Tucson City Council, "Ordinance calling for an election," accessed August 11, 2021
  15. ↑ ""KOLD, "Tucson City Attorney: Parts of minimum wage initiative are unconstitutional," October 18, 2021
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