State Senate Panel Votes to Raise Minimum Wage to $5.75 an Hour

A state Senate committee voted Wednesday to boost California’s minimum wage to $5.75 an hour after bill backers said the current wage level leaves millions mired in poverty and risks social unrest.

“It is shameful that the most powerful country in the world cannot guarantee its people an income out of poverty,” said Rick Sawyer, a representative of U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich.

The bill--which faces many legislative obstacles, including substantial Republican opposition--would raise the minimum wage from $4.25 an hour to $5.75 in two steps. The first increase, to $5, would take place June 1, 1996. The second would boost the wage to $5.75 a year later.

The Senate Industrial Relations Committee voted 4 to 2 to send the measure to the full Senate. Four Democrats backed the bill and two Republicans opposed it.

The state has not raised its minimum wage since 1988, when it was increased from $3.35 to $4.25.

The measure’s author, Sen. Hilda Solis (D-El Monte), said that 2.5 million Californians make the minimum wage. Most of them are single mothers with children, she added. Those women can make more on welfare than holding a minimum-wage job, Solis said.

“We are talking about (restoring) dignity and respect,” she said.

John Henning, executive secretary-treasurer of the California Labor Federation, said maintaining poverty-level wages raises the threat of social unrest.

“We cannot assume that the underclass will be forever docile . . . and accept that discrimination forever,” he said. “Let us give the lowest economic class in America at least a better grip on survival.

“It’s a social issue as well as an economic issue, and in terms of an orderly society it’s an essential issue,” he added.

But Sen. Rob Hurtt (R-Garden Grove) questioned whether California’s minimum wage was really low when compared to lower wages in some other countries that compete with the United States for jobs and businesses.

“We still have a large number of people coming in from Mexico,” he said. “We can’t say that (our) minimum wage is so low. If it were that low nobody would come here.”

Solis aide Heidy Kellison said the bill would not raise minimum-wage-earners above the poverty line because of inflation. But a bigger increase would not pass the Legislature, she added.