Los Angeles moves a step closer to $15 minimum wage
LOS ANGELES -- Officials have given final approval to an ordinance that makes Los Angeles the largest city in the U.S. to gradually raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour.
CBS Los Angeles reported the City Council voted 12-1 in favor of the increase Wednesday and forwarded it to Mayor Eric Garcetti. His office says he plans to sign it Saturday.
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The wage hike received lopsided majority votes from the council last week and in May despite complaints from the business community.
"We are already seeing the fruits of our labor as our own state and other cities nationwide begin exploring policies to increase their local minimum wage," L.A. City Council President Herb Wesson said.
In L.A., 800,000 people live below the poverty line and 500,000 workers earn the city's current minimum wage of $9 per hour.
The ordinance boosts the wage to $10.50 in July 2016, followed by annual increases to $12, $13.25, $14.25 and $15. Small businesses with 25 or fewer employees and certain nonprofits get an extra year to phase in the increases.
Once both large and small businesses reach $15, the wage will continue increasing after 2022 based on the cost of living, according to CBS Los Angeles. The city council will be able to monitor future impacts and make adjustments to the ordinance as needed.
Earlier this month, California's Senate approved a measure to increase the state's minimum wage to $13 by 2017. The bill is now in the hands of the State Assembly.
Seattle, San Francisco and Oakland also have passed laws that gradually increase the hourly minimum wage to $15. In January 2015, minimum wage increases went into effect in 21 states.
Rallies have been held throughout the country to advocate for the federal minimum wage be raised from $7.25 to $15. A bill was introduced in Congress last month to boost the rate to $12, which would give a raise to nearly 38 million Americans, about one in every four workers.