Free Republic

As expected, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a minimum wage bill Tuesday that will boost the hourly rate by 75 cents in January, followed by another 50 cents a year later. The result will be $8 an hour, which will be the highest state minimum wage in the nation, if other states' rates remain the same. The increase is a compromise between the Republican governor and Democratic lawmakers who had been at odds over the issue for the past two years. At a bill-signing ceremony in Los Angeles, Schwarzenegger reiterated that California's economy simply wasn't ready until this year. "When I...

Flanked by Democratic lawmakers, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday signed a bill giving California one of the highest minimum wages in the nation, an election-year compromise that upset some conservatives and business groups. The law gives more than 1.4 million people an increase of 75 cents an hour in January and another 50 cents the following year, boosting the rate from $6.75 an hour to $8. Schwarzenegger and legislative Democrats have been at odds over the shape of a minimum wage increase in California for the past several years. Democrats sought annual automatic increases, which Schwarzenegger opposed. The governor supported...

California businesses have been hit hard by this past legislative session. First, they have been forced to swallow a minimum wage increase and caps on industrial emissions of greenhouse gases as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger seeks to bolster his centrist stance in an election year. Now, there are dozens of other bills on the governor’s desk that could impose additional costs on doing business in California. Meanwhile, only a handful of bills supported by business made it through. But it could have been worse. Dozens of other bills dubbed “job killers” were defeated in the closing weeks of the session. Among...

Freedom is a fragile thing. A candlelight in a windstorm, if you will, requiring constant vigilance to preserve. It is never safe, as the old saying goes, as long as the California Legislature (or Congress, for that matter) is in session. That is because the ruling class, that is, elected officials, bureaucrats, and their allies in the private sector, get money, power and prestige from bigger government, and bigger government is an anathema to freedom. Therefore, those who are in charge of protecting our freedom, (i.e. government officials) have a vested interest in taking it away. Human nature being what...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers reached a deal late Monday to hike the minimum wage to the highest level in the nation, aides said on Tuesday. ADVERTISEMENT The agreement between the Republican governor and the Democrat-led legislature's leaders would increase California's minimum wage by $1.25 over the next year and a half to $8 an hour. The deal calls for an increase of 75 cents an hour next January and a rise of 50 cents an hour the following January. The new wage would be 25 cents more than initially offered by Schwarzenegger, who...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers reached a deal late Monday to hike the minimum wage to the highest level in the nation, aides said on Tuesday. The agreement between the Republican governor and the Democrat-led legislature's leaders would increase California's minimum wage by $1.25 over the next year and a half to $8 an hour. The deal calls for an increase of 75 cents an hour next January and a rise of 50 cents an hour the following January. The new wage would be 25 cents more than initially offered by Schwarzenegger, who vetoed...

SACRAMENTO California's minimum wage will increase by $1.25 an hour over the next two years under a deal struck Monday between Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders. The agreement ends, at least temporarily, a stalemate between the governor and Democratic lawmakers and clears a political hurdle for Schwarzenegger as he seeks re-election. Both sides agreed a raise for the lowest-income workers was necessary but differed over whether it should be accompanied by automatic annual increases. The governor has vetoed two previous attempts to raise California's minimum wage, which is far higher than the federal rate of $5.15 an hour but...

Adopting a new tactic in a fight over the minimum wage, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asked a dormant state commission Thursday to raise the wage by $1 an hour without the annual cost-of-living increases sought by Democrats. The Republican governor sent a letter to Bill Dombrowski, chairman of the Industrial Welfare Commission, and asked the panel to consider raising the wage from $6.75 to $7.75 in two steps over a nine-month period. A decision by the commission to grant the increase could give Schwarzenegger political cover if, as expected, he vetoes legislation later this year raising the wage and requiring subsequent...

A Republican lawyer who works as legal counsel to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has filed an initiative that would raise the minimum wage--but also abolish the eight-hour day for overtime. Thomas Hiltachk filed the "Fair Pay Workplace Flexibility Act of 2006" with the Attorney General on Feb. 10. If it makes it to the ballot and is passed by voters, it would lift the state's minimum wage from the current $6.75 to $7.25 on July 1, 2007, and to $7.75 a year later. The initiative does not include automatic cost-of-living increases known as indexing. The initiative would also codify several rules...

Lawmakers split over how to boost minimum wage Assembly to consider four separate measures this legislative session, three proposed ballot initiatives are also making the rounds SACRAMENTO - California's poorest workers will likely receive a pay boost as early as this summer and again next year -- the first increases to the minimum wage since 2002. But whether successive raises will follow remains the source of contention between business interests, politicians and labor advocates who are poring over the fine print contained in four separate measures to raise the minimum wage this legislative session. Three proposed ballot initiatives are also...