Minimum wage bill vetoed again Minimum wage bill vetoed again (October 07, 2005)

Sally Lieber's pet project falls to gov's pen

By Jon Wiener

State Assembly member Sally Lieber's second effort to increase California's minimum wage met with the same fate as the first: a veto by the governor.

Naturally, the Mountain View rep will try again later.

After Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed last year's bill calling for 50-cent increases over each of the next two years, Lieber came back with an even more ambitious bill. Seeking to capitalize on the governor's fading public approval, she proposed the same set of increases but added regular cost-of-living adjustments in the future.

"Obviously we're disappointed," said Lieber. "We'll definitely bring it back next year."

The governor said in his veto message that he could not support the bill because the mandatory cost-of-living adjustments would absolve officials of their "duty to consider all of the impacts each increase to the wage will have" on workers and businesses. Lieber called this an "excuse," pointing out that last year the governor vetoed a bill without the cost-of-living adjustments for an entirely different reason.

Business coalitions, including the California Chamber of Commerce and the Restaurant Association, both opposed the bill, referring to it as a "job-killer."

Lieber, a former Mountain View mayor, continues to enjoy strong support from the state's unions. As a city council member, she was instrumental in passing a rule that requires city contractors to pay their workers a prevailing wage, typically a union wage.

"Minimum wage is no longer just a young person's wage, it's not a training wage anymore," said Lieber. "It's become a wage-ghetto for primary bread winners who lack English skills or are workers of color."

E-mail Jon Wiener at jwiener@mv-voice.com

E-mail a friend a link to this story.