Last week, BizFed members turned out in force to support the Small Business Initiative motion put forward by Supervisors Hilda Solis and Don Knabe and to make their voices heard on LA County’s effort to raise the minimum wage. Many thanks to the following BizFed members who were there and testified:
Regional Black Chamber of Commerce of the San Fernando Valley, LA Area Chamber of Commerce, Santa Clarita Chamber of Commerce, Rosemead Chamber of Commerce, Valley Industry and Commerce Association, Central City Association, Santa Clarita Valley Economic Development Corporation, LAX Coastal Chamber of Commerce, Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce, and Long Beach Chamber of Commerce
In addition to so many BizFed voices, some of the most compelling testimony came from a number of employers from across LA County who took time out from running their businesses to share the details of what a minimum wage increase will mean to their ability to continue employing people. The Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce did an especially impressive job delivering compelling testimony from the owners of the Depot Restaurant and Buffalo Fire Department Restaurant, the Torrance Bakery, and the Red Car Brewery and Restaurant.
One final note about last week’s hearing: An elected official from West Hollywood misrepresented the position of the West Hollywood Chamber of Commerce on the minimum wage in urging Supervisors to support the increase. In response, the West Hollywood Chamber issued this statement clarifying their position.
NEXT STEPS:
Small Business Initiative: LA County’s Department of Consumer and Business Affairs has been designated the lead agency to develop the details of the Small Business Initiative, and has been directed to engage with business stakeholders during that process. They have until January 2016 to develop the details of the initiative and then until July 2016 to begin implementation. BizFed is actually mentioned by name in the motion as a key business stakeholder in this effort, and we plan to engage very actively to help craft a program that provides real relief for small businesses. If you are interested in being engage in this effort, please send a note to dustan.batton@bizfed.org and we will make sure you are on the list.
LA County Minimum Wage: County Counsel has been directed to prepare and submit a Countywide Minimum Wage Ordinance for Board of Supervisors review in 45 days, so we expect the ordinance to be before the Board of Supervisors on Sept. 1. We are drafting a letter to the County Counsel to outline specific ordinance details that we hope can be addressed, such as ensuring exemptions for teenaged workers, avoiding a definition of “employee” that opens businesses to litigation and burdensome administration, and ensuring that any minimum wage applies fairly to all employees regardless of their union status. We will send our draft letter to our BizFed Minimum Wage Working Group for review and feedback prior to finalizing it.
LA City Minimum Wage: As described in this recent LA Times article, sometime in August we expect LA City Council to take up the outrageous and hypocritical proposal by labor leaders to exempt unions from the minimum wage rules that they have successfully imposed on everyone else. We will need your voice to reach out to LA City Council members and remind them how outrageous it would be to deny a person minimum wage simply because they are a union member. Stay tuned!
Thank you to everyone who remains engaged in this work!
