June 23--Amid concerns voiced by small businesses, Los Angeles County supervisors on Tuesday delayed a vote to increase the minimum wage in county unincorporated areas from $9 to $15 over the next five years.
Many observers expected the proposal by Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, which mirrored an increase recently approved by the city of Los Angeles, to be adopted Tuesday.
But the five-member board's two Republicans, Don Knabe and Michael Antonovich, were joined by Supervisor Hilda Solis, a Democrat and former U.S. Secretary of Labor elected last year with heavy union support, in raising questions about how the increase would affect businesses.
Solis represents the unincorporated East Los Angeles area, which has many very small businesses with only a few employees that have pushed back against the proposed wage hike.
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FOR THE RECORD: A previous version of this post said a report on the minimum wage had been completed by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Commission. The report was completed by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation.
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Solis said she wants to raise the minimum wage. But she argued the county lacks adequate information on the effects the current proposal would have on small commercial enterprises in county-controlled areas. She called for county officials to develop a plan to assist businesses in the transition to a higher wage.
"I care very deeply about what happens to those mom-and-pop businesses and nonprofits," Solis said.
A county-commissioned analysis released last week included a survey of businesses, but did not separate responses from entities in unincorporated areas, as opposed to those in Los Angeles or other cities.
Solis said after the meeting that if the county creates a broader program to aid small businesses, including potentially reducing fees and streamlining the process of obtaining permits, she would be prepared to support the proposed wage increase.
During Tuesday's discussion of the minimum wage proposal, business groups urged the county board to go slow.
But supporters, including L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti, urged the board to adopt an increase to $15 an hour by 2020. Garcetti noted residents move across jurisdictional lines to live and work.
"Our challenges don't stop at our city limits," he said. "...Our message today to the 2.7 million people in L.A. County who live in poverty, I hope, is that help is on the way."
Garcetti said afterward that he was confident the supervisors would eventually approve the proposed wage increase.
Kuehl said she was disappointed by the delay, but said it didn't represent a significant setback.
"A setback would be if it failed and I had to think about bringing it back next year," she said. "...I think it's clear that [Solis] cares about working people, as do I."
The county's minimum wage proposal is silent on a series of sticky issues that heightened the controversy over the city minimum-wage increase, including whether to require paid sick days and whether to offer union shop employees an exemption from the wage requirements.
Proponents of raising the wage in unincorporated areas -- a move that would apply to about 10% of all workers in the county -- hope it's adoption will encourage more cities to follow suit.
"We need to create a regional effect," said Rusty Hicks, executive secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and one of the leaders of the campaign to raise the wage. "I think ultimately there will be some action at the state level. Obviously, our hope is that it is sooner rather than later."
Some cities, including Santa Monica and West Hollywood, are already considering raising the minimum wage. Hicks said he expects more will follow suit as they find themselves competing for the best employees with higher-paying jurisdictions.
However, some larger cities in the county, including Pasadena and Long Beach, have remained on the sidelines of the debate thus far.
A spokeswoman for Long Beach said the city's mayor and City Council have taken formal positions in support of legislation to increase the federal and state minimum wages, but there has been no proposal to study a wage increase in the city to date.
And the mayor of nearby Torrance said previously that the minimum wage is an issue better addressed by the state.
Some business owners in county-administered areas have pushed back against the increase.
Eddie Torres, owner of a commercial sign business and a board member with the East Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, said businesses there won't be able to pay the higher wage and will have to cut back the number of workers they employ.
"We don't see it being beneficial to anybody, because at least the people who have jobs right now, they have jobs," he said. Torres said East Los Angeles businesses had spoken out against the increase, but he is pessimistic about stopping it.
A report by the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation released last week found that among 1,000 county-area businesses surveyed, none expected to close down or move as a result of a higher minimum wage. Most said they would raise prices to offset higher labor costs, and some said they might reduce their number of employees.
The economists concluded that the wage increase would have "little impact, if any, on poverty in Los Angeles," a conclusion that Kuehl disputed, saying the data in the report proved the opposite.
UPDATE
9:16 a.m.: This story was updated with the information that a vote will be postponed.
The first version of this story was published at 6 a.m.
2:50 p.m.: This story was updated with action and comments from the Board of Supervisors meeting.
