AgdaPkt 2017-09-25 Closed and Joint SA PFA

Browse Search

The Effects of a $15 Minimum Wage by 2019 in Santa Clara County and San Jose 51 rest of the market, it will make it harder for them to attract and retain workers. But requiring higher wages without addressing the need to increase funding streams, or without providing sufficient phase-in time, is likely to result in cuts to services. Ultimately, the solution is to increase public funding for the services provided by these nonprofits. San Jose and Santa Clara County could choose to fund the higher wages in certain sectors. San Francisco’s C-Wages program, for example, provides County wage subsidies to child care centers and family child care providers that meet certain quality measures and enroll at least 25 percent of their children from low-income families. Funding for this program was increased to assist providers in meeting the higher minimum wage in 2015. San Jose could also engage with private philanthropy to help support nonprofit agencies through the transition. This should include both financial aid and technical assistance and management support in adjusting to the higher wage rate. A number of city minimum wage laws have provided for slower phase-ins for nonprofit organizations to provide more time to adjust to the higher minimum wage. In San Francisco’s 2003 law, implementation was delayed by one year for nonprofits; however, its recent 2014 law had no such phase-in. Berkeley’s 2014 law exempts nonprofits for one year, at which point they are required to pay the same minimum wage as for-profit firms. Los Angeles allows nonprofit organizations to seek a one year deferral provided that either the chief executive officer earns a salary that is less than five times the lowest paid employee; it is a transitional employer as discussed above; it serves as a child care provider; or it is primarily funded by public grants or reimbursements. The new California minimum wage law treats nonprofits the same as all employers. Small Businesses The California State minimum wage law and a number of the city laws that reach $15 an hour have provided slower phase-ins for small businesses. The State of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, Long Beach and Santa Monica all delay the raises by one year for businesses with 25 or fewer employees. Emeryville has a slower phase-in for businesses with 55 or fewer employees (combined with a one year 60 percent increase in the minimum wage for larger firms). San Francisco, Sunnyvale, Mountain View and El Cerrito treat all firms equally, regardless of size. In all of these cases the wages ultimately converge between large and small firms. This is important to reduce any perverse incentives created by permanently different wage structures for different business sizes. The State of California and Los Angeles area policies all begin indexing the year after the small firms reach the final mandated wage level, leaving the wage for larger firms at $15 for two consecutive years. Emeryville increased the wage for large firms to $14.44 in one step in 2015 and began indexing the following year. Wages for small firms reach $15 in 2018 and are increased to match the rate for larger businesses the following year (estimated at $16 an hour). 8.A. - Page 65