Free Republic

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...

Following up a suggestion made last month by a Republican legislator, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has moved to increase California's minimum wage by $1 an hour between now and early next year. Schwarzenegger today petitioned the state's Industrial Welfare Commission (IWC) to increase the minimum wage from its current rate of $6.75 an hour. The last increase was in January 2002. Last month, Sen. Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria) suggested the very same plan-- a way to avoid the current impasse with Democrats in the Legislature. Schwarzenegger and Maldonado have advocated for only the $1 hike, while Democrats also want a provision...

THE MOST important thing for any poor person trying to improve his or her condition is, of course, a job. It is the entry-level job that accords impoverished workers — even those with no skills, no references and no employment record — the invaluable opportunity to succeed and to prosper. It is literally the first rung up the ladder of success. If that is true, then the most vicious governmental policy would be one that eliminates entry-level jobs, making it harder for the poor to get a foothold in life. Yet that is precisely what the state of California is...

I KNOW FIRSTHAND how the minimum wage affects California's low-wage earners and small-business employers. As a young man, I worked long hours in the strawberry fields alongside my father, who also worked for minimum wage. My mother and father understood the daily struggle of providing the necessities for their children while earning only the lowest allowable wage. Later on, through years of hard work, faith and perseverance, my parents turned a half-acre strawberry farm into a 6,000-acre family business that today employs more than 200 people and ships produce around the world. To this day they have not forgotten their...

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...

State Sen. Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria, is under fire by a right-leaning arm of his own political party for authoring legislation that would increase the minimum wage by a dollar an hour. The California Republican Assembly, a conservative activist group, has released a radio ad urging voters to call the senator -- it provides Maldonado's Sacramento office phone number -- and voice their displeasure about his bill. The ad is airing about a month after Maldonado introduced Senate Bill 1167, which would boost the minimum wage by 50 cents an hour to $7.25 this coming September, and then to $7.75...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed legislation that would raise the minimum wage by a dollar over the next two years, though his proposal lacks a mechanism to keep wages in step with rising prices. The new bill (SB 1167), introduced by State Senator Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria), would raise the minimum wage from $6.75 to $7.25 starting in September 2006. A second bump to $7.75 would take effect in July 2007. Last September, Schwarzenegger vetoed legislation (AB 48) for an identical wage hike that included automatic annual increases to keep pace with inflation. In his veto message, the governor cited...