California Minimum Wage Rises To $9 Per Hour
LOS ANGELES (CBS/AP) — California's minimum wage increased to $9 an hour on Tuesday, which provided workers with the first such increase since 2008.
That amount will increase again to $10 an hour starting on Jan. 1, 2016, under AB10, which Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law last fall.
"This first modest increase will help put more money in the pockets of hardworking Californians to provide food, clothes and housing for their families," Assemblyman Luis Alejo, D-Salinas, said in a statement.
Fanny Valasquez, a single mom raising three children in South Los Angeles, said she earns minimum wage as a cashier at a fast-food chain.
"My rent is $550 and basically I take $250 every two weeks," she said.
Valasquez supports a campaign to raise the minimum wage in Los Angeles to $15 an hour.
"Sometimes [my kids] ask me, 'Mom, buy me this.' I tell them, 'Oh, I don't have money because I have to pay the rent,'" she said.
Irma Gonzalez, the owner of 161 Street Pizzeria in Universal City, said the wage increase is going to hurt her business.
"Dollar-wise it's going to add up," she said.
Gonzalez said the lunch specials that she offers at her pizza store may be a thing of the past.
"We're going to have to increase our prices and send it over to the consumers," she said.
AB10 is one of several laws that took effect July 1.
Other bills include:
— AB93 and SB90 allow manufacturers and certain researchers and developers to obtain a partial exemption of sales and use tax equal to 4.2 percent on some manufacturing and equipment purchases through July 1, 2022. The measures were authored by Sens. Cathleen Galgiani, D-Stockton, and Anthony Cannella, R-Ceres.
— AB161 permits a court, when issuing a domestic violence restraining order, to restrain one party from changing insurance coverage. It was authored by Assemblywoman Nora Campos, D-San Jose.
— AB176 by Assemblywoman Nora Campos, D-San Jose, gives domestic abuse victims greater protection by having police follow the toughest protective order when there are multiple or conflicting orders.
— AB218 says state and local government agencies must determine a job applicant's minimum qualifications before obtaining and considering information regarding the applicant's conviction history. It was authored by Assemblyman Roger Dickinson, D-Sacramento.
— AB1121 by Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, will help transgender people change their names by eliminating the requirement that people announce the name change in a newspaper before seeking a court order for it.
— SB652 by Sen. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Concord, requires property sellers to disclose to homebuyers all pre-litigation claims presented to the builder.
— SB770 broadens the definition of family under Family Paid Leave to allow workers to receive partial wage replacement benefits while taking care of seriously ill siblings, grandparents, grandchildren and parents-in-law. The bill was authored by Sens. Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara, and Mark DeSaulnier, D-Concord.
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