REPORT TO COUNCIL (REPUBLISHED 5/21/2014)
SUBJECT
Title
Establish a City Advocacy Position on Minimum Wage, and Provide Further Input Regarding Creation of a Local Minimum Wage Ordinance, Including Enforcement and Implementation of Such Ordinance (Study Issue)
Report
BACKGROUND
In June 2013, Council sponsored Study Issue OCM-14-01, Consider Adopting a Local Minimum Wage Ordinance Modeled on the City of San Jose Initiative (Attachment 1). At that time, the City Manager made no recommendation on the study issue paper. In the fall of 2013, Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation that would increase the state's minimum wage rate to $9.00 per hour on July 1, 2014 and $10.00 per hour on January 1, 2016. Staff updated the study issue paper to include information on the new California law and the City Manager updated the staff recommendation from no recommendation to drop, citing the new law as the basis for no longer needing a local ordinance. At the 2014 Study/Budget Issues Workshop, however, Council directed staff to study a local minimum wage ordinance similar to the one recently enacted in the City of San Jose that would adopt a $10 per hour minimum wage with an annual adjustment tied to the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The City of San Jose's ordinance is presented as Attachment 6.
Staff has been researching and evaluating the requirements, including both programmatic and community consequences, for adopting a minimum wage ordinance similar to the initiative passed by San Jose voters in 2012. That initiative increased San Jose's minimum wage from $8.00 per hour to $10.00 per hour effective March 11, 2013. Beginning on January 1, 2014, the minimum wage was to be adjusted annually by the amount corresponding to the prior year's August Consumer Price Index (Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, U.S. City Average for All Items) as published by the U.S. Department of Labor. Employers in Sunnyvale are governed by the state's minimum wage requirement, w...
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