Bill would tie Calif. minimum wage to inflation
By Kathleen Miles, Huffington Post
California may soon require the highest minimum wage of any U.S. state.
State Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, introduced a bill Monday to raise the state minimum wage to $11 per hour in 2015, $12 per hour in 2016 and $13 per hour in 2017. Beginning in 2018, the state minimum wage would be adjusted annually with the rate of inflation.
Leno said that, in part, he is responding to President Obama’s State of the Union address last week urging mayors, governors and state legislators to take the lead on raising the minimum wage.
California is already ahead of the pack in the national movement to raise the minimum wage. In the fall, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law that raises the state’s current $8 an hour minimum wage to $9 per hour in July and to $10 per hour in 2016.