City of Richmond Minimum Wage Increase Ballot Question (November 2014)
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A City of Richmond Minimum Wage Increase Measure ballot question was not put on the November 4, 2014 election ballot for voters in the city of Richmond in Contra Costa County, California. The Richmond City Council, instead, voted to implement an ordinance to increase the minimum wage to $12.30 per hour themselves, without a city vote.
Richmond City Councilwoman Jovanka Beckles proposed three different versions of a bill that sought to raise the minimum wage in the city. The three proposals provide for a minimum wage of $11/hour, $12.30/hour and $15/hour respectively. If the council as a whole had approved of one of these rates and had gone forward with the mayoral directive to put the question on the ballot, voters would have seen the question in November 2014. Each proposal also included exemptions for employers with fewer than 10 employees and local businesses that had been open for less than two years and had fewer than 26 employees. Although the city council members voted 6-1 in a preliminary reading of the proposals to move forward with the $12.30 per hour rate, Mayor Gayle McLaughlin rescinded her directive for a ballot measure. McLaughlin, defending her move to avoid a city election, said, "It's clear we want a minimum wage increase, so why not sooner rather than later. Why wait until November? It's a phased-in approach."[1]
Beckles, before McLaughlin recanted her call for an election, said that, although the city council could simply approve a minimum wage increase themselves, she believed that it was important for the city voters to have a say in the matter. Beckles said, "It should be on the ballot for community input on the process, rather than the council just telling the community. It's not a special election, so the costs of the ballot measure would be low." Ultimately, Beckles agreed with McLaughlin that a council ordinance would be a better route because of the delay a ballot measure would necessitate and the fact that the city council cannot amend voter-approved measures.[2]
- In 2014, the state minimum wage was $8 per hour, set to increase to $9 per hour in July 2014.
- In 2014, San Francisco had the highest minimum wage in the region at $10.74 per hour.
- In 2014, San Jose featured a minimum wage rate of $10.15 per hour.
Path to the ballot
The city council considered putting a minimum wage increase measure on the ballot for the election in November 2014. Ultimately, the city council decided to enact a minimum wage increase ordinance themselves instead of putting it before voters. Minimum wage proponents filed the paperwork for a signature petition to put a minimum wage increase initiative on the ballot if the city council did not pass an ordinance that satisfied them.
Similar measures
Local
City of Oakland Minimum Wage Increase Initiative, Measure FF (November 2014)
City of San Francisco Minimum Wage Increase Referred Measure, Proposition J (November 2014)
City of Eureka "Fair Wage Act" Minimum Wage Initiative, Measure R (November 2014)
Raise Wisconsin minimum wage increase advisory referendums
Philadelphia Minimum Wage Ordinance, Proposition 1 (May 2014)
City of Chicago $15 Per Hour Minimum Wage Referendum (March 2014)
SeaTac "Good Jobs Initiative", Proposition 1 (November 2013)
Statewide
Alaska Minimum Wage Increase, Ballot Measure 3 (2014)
Arkansas Minimum Wage Initiative (2014)
South Dakota Increased Minimum Wage, Initiated Measure 18 (2014)
See also
- Contra Costa County, California ballot measures
- November 4, 2014 ballot measures in California
- Notable local measures on the ballot
- Minimum wage on the ballot
- Local labor and unions on the ballot
External links
Additional reading
- Contra Costa Times, "Richmond set to approve ballot measure that would hike minimum wage," March 17, 2014
- Inside Bay Area Opinion, "Contra Costa Times editorial: Richmond's minimum wage effort misguided," March 25, 2014
Footnotes
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