California’s Proposition 32: Something’s Better Than Nothing, I Suppose
Let’s Consider Trading Minimum Wage for Maximum Wealth Laws
Proposition 32, accelerating the state’s minimum wage increases, was supposed to be on the ballot in 2022. It failed because some counties conveniently failed to verify signatures in time. The lawsuit to undo that decision failed. Ultimately, enough signatures were verified, and the decision was made to put the measure on the 2024 ballot.
Voting Yes, which despite my cynicism, is something you should do. Every little bit helps. The incremental increases that brought the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour have already taken place; we’re in the cost-of-inflation adjustment phase.
Proposition 32 would raise the minimum wage to $17 –from $16– for the remainder of 2024, and $18 an hour starting in January 2025. Small businesses with 25 or fewer employees would be required to start paying at least $17 next year, and $18 in 2026.
Thereafter the minimum wage would be adjusted annually based on inflation.
Some groups have already broken free of the initial minimum wage scale: fast food workers are getting a $20 hourly wage; a graduated bump for health care workers has seen delays due to state budget concerns, but it will happen in the next six months. University of California health care workers now have a $23 hourly minimum wage with annual $1 increases scheduled.
Some employers didn’t need a state law to increase wages; a tight labor market left many fast food franchises with no choice but to pay more. Nearly 40 California cities have higher than the state’s local minimum wages, including six already at $18 and several just a small inflationary adjustment away from it.
The Federal Minimum Wage remains at $7.25 hourly, as it has been since 2009. This is another travesty we can thank Republicans for.
If libertarian fantasies were true, there would be no need for a minimum wage. A ‘free market’ would allow for wages based on demand and business profitability. But the free market doesn’t exist, and it’s getting less free everyday.
It galls me when Koch Brothers funded “small business” associations claim that increasing minimum wages are tied to inflation. There is a mountain of economic data and studies showing otherwise, and many of us are living with evidence (tent encampments) of this oft repeated fallacy.
What really stinks is that the business ‘experts’ dragged out in public to oppose minimum wage increases are aware of what the real cost of living is in California and just how far even proposed increases are from meeting that standard; currently at $27+ hourly for a single adult.
Side note: For many of the not-wealthy, the price of housing rising rapidly has been the most damaging aspect of inflation. The most recent Justice Department action against the RealPage Inc. unlawful scheme to decrease competition among landlords in apartment pricing and monopolize the market for commercial revenue management software used by landlords price apartments proves higher interest rates for borrowers is not driving housing inflation.
Solving the problem of the cost of living increasing faster than income for working families requires understanding how markets have become structured to help corporate players in a multitude of ways, ranging from deregulation to both horizontal and vertical monopolization. It’s not just corporate greed; it’s the incestuous system of corporate governance that’s arisen in the neo-liberal (Reagan) era.
The forces opposed to minimum wage increases constantly contort the truth when discussing wage increases. There are no massive closure of stores because of wage hikes. The recent closure of Shake Shack locations in California, for example, was part of a nationwide purge of locations that were not performing as expected sales wise. And the anti-wage increase people don’t have much to say when it comes to the question of how people are to survive on substandard wages.
The Biden administration has taken steps to even up the playing field for wage earners, but these are often incremental and/or require time to take effect. The MAGA movement folks aren’t taking this sitting down, they’re working on lawsuits to neuter or eliminate the federal agencies required to make these changes happen.
What is happening nationwide is that wages aren’t keeping up with living costs. States are throwing minimum wage increases at the problem and it’s not enough. The role of governance in maintaining a social safety net and reigning in oligarchs needs to improve.
Wealth needs to be taxed, just like wages are. Elon Musk doesn’t need a paycheck; he can live to scam another day by simply leveraging stock holdings. The “socialist” idea of taxing the on paper wealth for people worth more than $100 million is a good start.
Following are some details on Prop 32:
Proposition 32 - The Living Wage Act of 2022
The full text of the law points out that if the Federal Minimum Wage had kept pace with inflation it would be $24. (In 2022- It would be closer to $26 today).
Researching minimum wage statistics is difficult, as the bias of researchers and the criterion used has a disproportionate influence on the final number. Google’s incorporation of Artificial Intelligence into its search algorithms means even specific searches with many qualifiers produce garbage results.
The Living Wage Act would not be on the ballot if not for the efforts of Very Rich Person Joe Sanberg, who has borne most of the costs of signature gathering and legal representation. He says his life’s mission is to eradicate poverty, and increasing the minimum wage in California is a worthy ambition.
The fact that the measure has one high profile backer is used by opponents to suggest Prop 32 is a rich man’s plaything. My problem with it is that he’d already put so much time, money, and effort into the measure that resources were in reach for a re-do for 2024, taking into consideration changes in the economy.
The guy means well, and if an additional dollar an hour helps even one person get through the day it’s a win.
Official Ballot Arguments: https://vig.cdn.sos.ca.gov/2024/general/pdf/prop32.pdf
Yes on the CA Living Wage Act
X (formerly Twitter) - No Facebook page.
(There appears to be very little active campaigning in support of this Proposition)
The California Chamber of Commerce and the Koch-sponsored National Federation of Small Business have both been public with their opposition, but the Californians Against Job Losses and Higher Prices, No on Proposition 32 has no online presence, and has only raised $10,000.
You should vote YES on Proposition 32. Polling shows it will likely pass.
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About the Voter Guide.
I’ve been compiling voter guides for San Diegans for over a decade on various platforms. I have a progressive point of view tempered with life experience informing me of what’s possible and what’s bullshit.
Portions of this guide will be published most weekdays throughout September. I’ll publish a comprehensive guide (with links if you care) on Monday of the week ballots are mailed out. (October 7)
The Democratic supermajority in California has given rise to some mediocre politicians. I won’t recommend Democratic candidates unless I can say I feel more than ‘meh’ about them.
I can’t recommend Republicans because they’ve chosen to ally themselves with authoritarian, anti-democratic, and theocratic forces. I won’t suggest third parties because they can’t win in today’s system –this is a guide for THIS election.
While I’d like for everybody to agree with my choices, we all know that won’t happen. As long as you actually vote, I’ll be satisfied.
Yesterday: California Ballot Measures Two thru Six
Tomorrow: California Proposition 33 - Rent Control Redux
Check your voter registration at
https://www.sdvote.com/content/rov/en/voter-info-lookup.html
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Tuesday’s Other News to Think About
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The MAGA plan to stop forest fires: Remove the forest by Arielle Samuelson at HEATED
As the world continues to burn fossil fuels, the climate crisis has pushed wildfires into unnatural “megafires” that consume millions of acres in a single season. This year’s wildfire activity is nearly 3,000 percent higher in California than last year; and within the next three decades, one in seven homes could be at major risk. More concerning is the threat to human lives; last year, the deadliest wildfire in over a century killed 102 people in Maui; and much of the East Coast experienced its worst air quality ever because of Canadian wildfires.
But MAGA Republicans have put together a plan that they say will help ease the wildfire crisis. It’s laid out in Project 2025, a more than 900-page document published by conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation.
In a brief section easily missed, the authors detail an overhaul of the U.S. Forest Service, the federal agency charged with managing wildfires on public lands. Currently, the Forest Service is implementing a 10-year strategy to reduce wildfire risk, which includes science-backed methods like prescribed burns, tree thinning, and pruning.
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GOP network props up third-party bids - Republican operatives hope liberal ‘spoiler’ candidates will swing the race for Trump. Via Associated Press
Italo Medelius was leading a volunteer drive to put Cornel West on North Carolina’s presidential ballot in the spring when he received an unexpected call from a man named Paul who said he wanted to help.
Though Medelius, co-chairman of West’s Justice for All Party, welcomed the assistance, the offer would complicate his life, provoking threats and drawing him into a state election board investigation of the motivations, backgrounds and suspect tactics of his new allies.
Across the country, a network of Republican political operatives, attorneys and their allies is trying to shape November’s election in ways that favor former President Trump. Their goal is to prop up third-party candidates such as West who offer liberal voters an alternative that could siphon away support from Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee.
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Oside library helps tackle food insecurity via Steve Puterski at North County Pipeline
A food program through the city’s library has been a force and a much-needed respite for thousands of residents.
The Oceanside Lunch at the Library has doubled its reach from 2023 to 2024, according to Lisa Ferneau-Haynes, senior librarian of youth services. The city partners with the Boys and Girls Club of Oceanside, Oceanside Unified School District and Feeding San Diego as those three entities distribute food to school children during the summer months to address food insecurity.
Additionally, the city uses grants from the California State Library to fund programming and interns, she said. Ferneau-Haynes said the program strives to deliver healthy food and engaging activities for kids, many of whom who live in food deserts, whose families struggle to afford healthy food and who qualify for free meals during the school year.
