Gov. Rick Scott Tries To Lure California Companies To Florida With Low Minimum Wage
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Florida Governor Rick Scott is attempting to lure California companies to Florida by highlighting his state's low minimum wage.
Scott is in San Francisco to talk jobs. Specifically, he's talking about moving people out of California and into Florida.
The visit comes after California Governor Jerry Brown said Scott shouldn't be trying to steal California jobs.
Scott didn't get a very cordial welcome recently at a Starbucks in Florida.
"You're an a**hole! You don't care about working people! You should be ashamed to show your face around here," one person told him in a heated YouTube video.
On Tuesday, Scott said, he got a much more polite reception in San Francisco.
Scott said, "This is my second trip out here. I came about a year ago. I've gotten a very good response."
A radio ad got here before he did, stating: "No state income tax, and Governor Scott has cut regulations..."
The ad aims at getting workers, and companies, to move from coastal, expensive California to coastal, inexpensive Florida.
But so far no California company, after over a year of trying, has made plans to move to Florida public.
And despite Scott's very vocal attempts, he's coy about results he says are positive.
This current trip is centered around California's vote to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2022.
"The projections are with this minimum wage increase, 700,000 people will lose their job," Scott said.
Florida's minimum wage is currently $8 an hour and a move to increase it recently failed.
Does a hike in the minimum wage cost jobs?
Even liberals like Michael Burnick, former California employment development director, says some jobs will be lost. But he says those who keep them will be better off. And he doesn't think Scott's trips will work.
"Most of the jobs that we're talking about are service jobs that can't easily be moved," Burnick said.
Governor Scott said he met with several companies in the Bay Area, including Google, though that's the only one he'd talk about.
Scott's staff said there have been two companies that have moved to Florida from California, Universa and GSEmanufacturing,
