Allegations of underhanded tactics in this fast-food industry battle

Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Friday, Nov. 4. I’m Suhauna Hussain, a reporter on the L.A. Times business desk. I write about issues affecting workers.

I’ve been closely following the expensive battle over new California law Assembly Bill 257, known as the Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act. The law seeks to boost protections for workers at large chain restaurants and could raise their minimum wage as high as $22 next year.

It’s a pretty big deal. The law, signed by Gov. Newsom earlier this year, creates a first-of-its-kind council with authority to set workplace standards governing wages, working hours and other conditions across the state’s fast-food industry. The model could transform the way workers negotiate conditions with their employers not just in California but also across the U.S.

Currently there is a massive push underway by a fast-food industry coalition — which deems AB 257 an existential threat to restaurant businesses — to block the law until the issue can be put before voters. The coalition is in the process of collecting enough signatures by the Dec. 4 deadline to get the referendum on the November 2024 ballot.

But the coalition faces allegations from a big California labor union that it is making false claims to voters to persuade them to sign its circulating petition.

Since I published a story on the union’s allegations last week, a couple of people have reached out to tell us they feel they were duped by petition-gatherers, that folks peddling the petition falsely told them it was for a measure that would raise the minimum wage for fast-food workers.

It’s hard to know whether these incidents are one-offs or if the issue is more widespread in the campaign to undo AB 257. I’m hoping you, reader, can help me figure this out.

If you have been approached by someone seeking your signature on a fast-food-related petition in California in recent weeks, I want to hear about your experience — what you were told the petition was for and whether you signed.

You can reach me by sending an email to suhauna.hussain@latimes.com.

Read more here about AB 257, what the law would do, the arguments for and against it, and the coalition backing the referendum to overturn it.

And now, here’s what’s happening across California:

Note: Some of the sites we link to may limit the number of stories you can access without subscribing.

An Orange County Transportation Authority bus in Newport Beach in February.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Buses aren’t running in Orange County due to a maintenance workers strike. Amid stalled labor negotiations between workers and the Orange County Transportation Authority, about 100,000 bus riders found themselves stranded. Los Angeles Times | Orange County Register

Thousands of UC researchers and teaching assistants authorize a strike. More than 36,500 academic workers from across University of California campuses voted Wednesday night to strike after the university system failed to meet demands that include living wages and child-care subsidies. Sacramento Bee

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

A guide to L.A.’s “mansion tax” proposal. On a crowded November ballot, one measure is getting special attention in a city suffering a severe housing and homelessness crisis. Los Angeles Times

Plus more help for those still trying to decide how to vote: We’ve rounded up election guides and endorsement lists from newspapers, other media outlets, political parties and others across the state. Consider this your guide to voting guides.

Rick Caruso’s dad made two fortunes, did jail time. How he shaped his son’s ambitions. Caruso could never convince his father politics was a worthwhile pursuit. Los Angeles Times

A battle over who is the true progressive defines L.A. congressional race. We take a look at the 2022 midterm race to represent California’s 34th Congressional District between Rep. Jimmy Gomez and David Kim. Los Angeles Times

A fight for Asian American voters. With a multimillion-dollar war chest, Rick Caruso has been able to target a range of Asian voters with in-language mailers and TV ads. Bass, outspent more than tenfold, has had to rely more heavily on earned media from ethnic news outlets. LAist

CRIME, COURTS AND POLICING

Tom Girardi faced more than 150 complaints before the State Bar took action, records show. The Los Angeles legal legend faced allegations he misappropriated settlement money, abandoned clients and committed other serious ethical violations during his four-decade career. Los Angeles Times

Brooke Jenkins gets a crash course in San Francisco politics. Like her predecessor, the interim San Francisco district attorney has become a polarizing figure in the city’s politics. Los Angeles Times

Polling the sheriff’s race. Retired Long Beach Police Chief Robert Luna has gained support among likely voters in the race for Los Angeles County sheriff, solidifying his lead over incumbent Alex Villanueva, according to a new poll. Los Angeles Times

CALIFORNIA CULTURE

Abelardo de la Peña Jr. looks at a collection of posters showing missing people.

(James Carbone / For The Times)

A new L.A. exhibition gives voice to immigrants who have tried to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. A UCLA professor visited the desert to collect photos, abandoned items and other media for the exhibition, which he calls a testimony to the ongoing calamity at the border. Los Angeles Times

A worker’s guide to wage theft. What to do if your boss steals your wages. Cal Matters

The best ramen noodles in the Bay Area are being secretly perfected by this one obsessive engineer. His noodle crusade began about six years ago. San Francisco Chronicle

CALIFORNIA ALMANAC

Los Angeles: 68, sunny. San Diego: 67, sunny. San Francisco: 63, mostly sunny. San Jose: 64, mostly sunny. Fresno: 61, sunny. Sacramento: 64, sunny.

AND FINALLY

Today’s California memory is from Robert A. Benowitz:

If you have a memory or story about the Golden State, share it with us. (Please keep your story to 100 words.)

Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com.