East CountyToday, March 23, 2016
SAN FRANCISCO – The national movement to raise low-wage workers’ income took its biggest step forward today when a ballot initiative to gradually increase California’s minimum wage to $15 by 2021 officially qualified for the Nov. 8 ballot. ... The California Secretary of State’s office certified that initiative organizers had collected the necessary 402,468 signatures to be immediately placed on the ballot.
The Fair Wage Act of 2016 would raise California’s minimum wage to $11 in 2017 and then gradually increase it a dollar a year until it reaches $15 in 2021. Once the minimum wage reaches $15, it will automatically be adjusted each year to keep pace with the cost of living. ...
“As a small business owner, I know firsthand how hard it can be balancing the books and I also know that a well-paid employee is more productive and helps satisfied customers keep coming back,” said Gary Gerber, CEO of Sun Light & Power in Berkeley. “And in cities like Oakland and San Francisco, which have enacted increased minimum wage laws, unemployment rates continue to drop.”
Advocates of the ballot initiative say it will improve the lives of millions, generate more income tax revenue for state and local government to spend on schools, roads and parks, reduce government spending needed to aid the poor, and will grow the economy as the higher wages are spent in workers’ communities. ...
The initiative has been endorsed by 300 community organizations, labor unions, faith leaders, small business owners and elected officials, including U.S. Reps. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove) and Janice Hahn (D-San Pedro), California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, California Controller Betty Yee, 28 state legislators and Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, who serve as co-chair of the initiative campaign.
According to the Field Poll, 68 percent of registered California voters support the initiative.