Californians Reject Proposal to Increase Minimum Wage for First Time in State History

A woman speaks during a rally held by California fast-food workers as they celebrate their minimum wage increase to $20 an hour during an event in Los Angeles, Calif., April 5, 2024.

California will become the first state to reject a statewide minimum-wage increase in almost 30 years.

Californians voted down Proposition 32, aballot measure to increase the minimum wage from $16 to $18, marking the first time in state history that voters rejected a statewide minimum-wage increase ballot measure. The proposition failed with 50.8 percent of voters rejecting the measure, with over 99 percent of the vote counted, according to the Associated Press.

Trade groups — including the California Chamber of Commerce, the California Restaurant Association, and the California Grocers Association — opposed the measure, arguing the ballot measure would have hurt small and family-owned businesses, increased prices for Californians, and jeopardized funding for public safety and education.

“It is important that policymakers hear the message being sent by the voters — stop using California consumers as guinea pigs for public policy experiments that make life more expensive for everyone,” said Jot Condie, the president and CEO of the California Restaurant Association.

John Kabateck, the California state director of the National Federation of Independent Business, said voters “correctly saw Prop 32 as another broadside on the ever-shrinking budgets of working-class families.”

Proposition 32 would have immediately raised the minimum wage for any business with 26 or more employees to $17 an hour. On January 1, the minimum wage would have increased again to a national high of $18 an hour. Roughly 40 California cities and counties already have minimum wages higher than the current statewide rate of $16, including six cities and counties that requireminimums above $18 per hour as of this year.

Entrepreneur Joseph Sanberg spent $10 million on qualifying the proposal for the ballot. He argued the “close result shows that California workers are ready for change and won’t back down.”

“The fight for higher wages and economic dignity for millions of California workers doesn’t end here,” he said.

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