Opening another fissure with members of his own party, Gov. Jerry Brown has come down on the opposite side of a proposed statewide increase in the minimum wage.
Changing course
In an indication of the mood in the governor’s office, Brown’s number-crunchers came down hard on the proposed hike. Kristin Shelton, the state’s budget program manager, said the Department of Finance opposed the bill “because it results in significant, unbudgeted costs to the General Fund,” according to Bloomberg Politics.
“She said the proposed minimum wage would have a negative impact on California’s economy, though losses from higher production costs to businesses would be partially offset from additional spending by minimum wage workers.”
As Bloomberg noted, the finance department has calculated that an additional increase of $1 in wages above what Brown signed into law two years ago “would cost the state almost $400 million this fiscal year in higher wages paid to in-home health care workers, seasonal park employees and other state staff making minimum wage.”
SB3, introduced by state Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, “would raise California’s minimum wage to $11 in 2016 and $13 in 2017, then tie the minimum wage to inflation starting in 2019,” according to the Washington Times. “He says his bill is needed to keep up with the cost of living and help low-wage workers make ends meet. It already passed the Senate.”
Yet Brown has refused to praise the idea. “At a recent luncheon attended by representatives of private industry, Brown touted the 2013 state law that will automatically raises minimum wage to $10 in 2016 as a sign of economic progress;” but, as the Sacramento Business Journal reported, Brown “did not mention the pending legislation to raise it further.”
