Special Episode: Proposition 32 – Minimum Wage Increase

CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: On Wednesday, September 11, 2024, Capitol Weekly hosted the California Ballot Forum: 2024 Election Preview. Through spirited discussion and reasoned debate, proponents for each side explored the strengths and weaknesses of the proposals in a conversation moderated by a journalist.

Today’s episode presents: Proposition 32.

If passed, Proposition 32 would raise minimum wage as follows: For employers with 26 or more employees, to $17 immediately, $18 on January 1, 2025. For employers with 25 or fewer employees, to $17 on January 1, 2025, $18 on January 1, 2026. Fiscal Impact: State and local government costs could increase or decrease by up to hundreds of millions of dollars annually. State and local revenues likely would decrease by no more than a few hundred million dollars annually.

The “Yes” side was presented by Saru Jayaraman

Saru Jayaraman is the President of One Fair Wage and Director of the Food Labor Research Center at University of California, Berkeley. After 9/11, together with displaced World Trade Center workers, she co-founded the Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC), which grew into a national movement of restaurant workers, employers and consumers. She then launched One Fair Wage as a national campaign to end all subminimum wages in the United States. The story of Saru and her co-founder’s work founding ROC has been chronicled in the book The Accidental American, and the story of the One Fair Wage campaign has been profiled in the new film Waging Change. Saru is a graduate of Yale Law School and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

The “No” side was presented by Jot Condie

Jot Condie is the President and CEO of the California Restaurant Association. Before joining CRA, Jot was the legislative director for the California Manufacturer’s Association, where he lobbied on behalf of California’s Fortune 500 companies. He also served as the chief lobbyist for the Southern California Air Quality Alliance, a consortium of aerospace, manufacturing and high-tech companies with an interest in air quality regulation issues. Before joining the Manufacturer’s Association, Jot worked in the State Capitol as staff director for Assistant Assembly Majority Leader, directing a staff of policy consultants and legislative aides. Prior to serving as staff director he was a legislative director for the Assembly Minority Whip and managed political campaigns in state legislative races.

The moderator was Phil Willon of the Los Angeles Times

Phil Willon is an assistant editor based in the Sacramento bureau of the Los Angeles Times and guides coverage of California politics and assists with state capital coverage. He previously covered Gov. Gavin Newsom, the 2018 governor’s race and the 2016 U.S. Senate race. Before heading north, Willon covered Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and roamed Southern California’s mountains and deserts as the newsroom’s state correspondent in the Inland Empire. Prior to joining The Times, Willon served as the Washington, D.C., correspondent for the Tampa Tribune. At the Tribune, Willon also covered Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles, Hurricane Andrew and the investigation leading to the arrest of serial killer Danny Rolling. He began his newspaper career as the Kent Island correspondent for the Capital in Annapolis, Md. Willon grew up in Southern California and graduated from UC San Diego.

Capitol Weekly is a 501c3 nonprofit created to inform, enlighten and educate Californians about public policy and state governance, and to provide a nonpartisan platform for engagement with public officials, advocates and political interests.

Thanks to our underwriters:

BICKER, CASTILLO, FAIRBANKS & SPITZ PUBLIC AFFAIRS, THE TRIBAL ALLIANCE OF SOVEREIGN INDIAN NATIONS, WESTERN STATES PETROLEUM ASSOCIATION, PHYSICIAN ASSOCIATION OF CALIFORNIA; LUCAS PUBLIC AFFAIRS, KP PUBLIC AFFAIRS, PERRY COMMUNICATIONS, CAPITOL ADVOCACY, THE WEIDEMAN GROUP, CALIFORNIA PROFESSIONAL FIREFIGHTERS, THE NO ON 33 CAMPAIGN, and THE YES ON 34 CAMPAIGN