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Mayor Lee's Statement on Landmark Agreement to Raise California's Minimum Wage

Mayor Edwin M. Lee today issued the following statement regarding Governor Jerry Brown and State legislators’ tentative agreement with labor unions to raise California’s minimum wage to $11 an hour in 2017 and increase it to $15 an hour by 2022:


“San Francisco has proven that raising the minimum wage is good for small business, good for our economy, and good for our residents. It is critical that all Californians benefit from a raised minimum wage where they can earn enough to succeed in the 21st Century new economy.

I thank Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom for his leadership and Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf who served as co-chair with me on the campaign with Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West for a November ballot initiative to gradually increase California’s minimum wage to $15 an hour. I also thank Controller Betty Yee and Los Angeles Supervisor Sheila Kuehl for their early Statewide leadership. Collecting the 366,000 signatures necessary for the referendum to appear on the ballot and the outpouring of support from more than 300 community organizations, labor unions, faith leaders, small business owners and elected officials shows a broad coalition of support for our lowest-paid workers across the State, and helped get the attention of policymakers in Sacramento. I urge the Legislature to pass this legislation authored by Senator Mark Leno expeditiously, so that the working people of California get the raise they need and deserve.

California is the eighth-largest economy in the world, and I thank Governor Brown, lawmakers and labor for helping our State lead the way for working families.”