California reparations committee calls on state to raise minimum wage above $15.50 to a ‘living wage’

California’s reparations task force is calling on lawmakers to raise the state’s minimum wage, already the nation’s second highest at $15.50, to a “living wage” as part of a broader set of proposals purportedly meant for the Golden State to make amends for slavery and racism.

The task force, created by state legislation signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2020, formally approved last weekend its final recommendations to the California Legislature, which will decide whether to enact the measures and send them to the governor’s desk to be signed into law.

The recommendations include several economic proposals meant to address “stolen labor” and “hindered opportunity” that contributed to alleged systemic racist against Black Californians. One such proposal is to raise the state’s minimum wage.

“The task force recommends that the legislature raise the minimum wage to a living wage,” the committee writes in the final report outlining its proposals. “The minimum wage should also be automatically adjusted on a regular basis to adjust for increases to the cost of living (including inflation).”

Los Angeles long-time resident Walter Foster, age 80, holds up a sign as the California Reparations Task Force meets to hear public input on reparations at the California Science Center in Los Angeles on Sept. 22, 2022. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images / Getty Images)

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California’s current minimum wage of $15.50 per hour is second only to Washington state’s rate of $15.74. Massachusetts and New York follow California at $15 and $14.20, respectively, with New Jersey rounding out the top five at $14.13.

Still, the task force argues California’s rate is “closer to a poverty wage than a living wage” due to the increased cost of living. The report cites a proposed initiative from last year, known as the California Living Wage Act, that would have raised the minimum wage to $18 an hour by January 2025 as a potential model to follow. The measure failed to qualify for the November ballot, because it didn’t garner enough verified signatures by the deadline.

“The task force recommends that the legislature conduct hearings on what an appropriate amount would be for a living wage in California, and raise the minimum wage accordingly,” the report states.

The task force’s recommendations come as new research from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis shows that the push to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour in both Minneapolis and St. Paul has increased the average worker’s hourly pay but also has led to sharp drops in the numbers of available jobs and hours worked.

Fast-food workers and supporters organized by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) protest outside of a Burger King Worldwide Inc. restaurant in Los Angeles, California. (Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

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Supporters of a higher minimum wage argue that current wage levels aren’t enough to live on, while critics counter that higher minimum wages lead to fewer jobs and higher prices as businesses need to be able to afford the increased rates.

Despite the findings from Minneapolis, some states are seeking to raise their minimum wage to as high as $20 an hour.

In California, meanwhile, a Los Angeles city councilman is proposing that the minimum wage for the city’s tourism and hospitality workers be raised to $25 per hour as the cost of living has outpaced wages, and Los Angeles prepares to host several global events in the next few years.

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At the state level, Newsom announced Friday that the Golden State’s budget deficit has grown to nearly $32 billion, about $10 billion higher than he had predicted earlier this year.

The reparations task force has called for initial “down payments” of up to $1.2 million for qualifying Black Californians while they wait for the purported full amount of money lost due to slavery and subsequent racism to be calculated. Estimates have put the total cost of such calculations at about $800 billion, nearly triple California’s total annual state budget of roughly $300 billion.