Gov. Jerry Brown made it clear earlier this year he had significant misgivings about proposed ballot measures to raise California’s minimum wage to $15 an hour. A “noble goal,” he said, but one that needed to be achieved “very carefully.”
“It has to take into account recessions,” Brown told reporters in January.
The nationally watched minimum wage measure Brown will sign in Los Angeles on Monday rests on the inclusion of offramps demanded by the Democratic governor. Starting in July 2017, Brown or his successor will have the power to pause any of the scheduled annual increases to $15 in the event of certain recessionary fiscal and economic conditions.
Administration officials say the pauses could have been triggered for 2008 and 2009, as the state slid into recession. Yet the criteria are complex and could be open to interpretation. Business critics, meanwhile, have predicted that public pressure would make governors hesitant to trigger any pauses and say the provisions, even if used, offer little help to employers.
In a letter to Brown last week, the California Business Roundtable warned that any pause in minimum wage increases would lift just as the state began its recovery.
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